Hot 100: Jonathan King, Osborne Clarke

Not only is he a main adviser for Carphone Warehouse, he has also been a driving force behind the firm’s push into the investment banking sphere that has seen it develop relationships with mid-market banks and brokers such as Investec, on whose legal panel it sits, and Canadian investment bank Canaccord Genuity.

The ECM practice now acts for more than 50 AIM and main market clients, with Digital Barriers and Peel Hunt among the most active recently. King advised the former on its AIM flotation in 2010 and has been by its side for the 12 acquisitions it has completed since. Most recently, he advised on the company’s December 2012 fundraising. Similarly, King advised Peel Hunt in its role as nominated adviser to DP Poland’s November placing, having earlier acted for the broker on a £6m placing and associated acquisition by Stanley Gibbons.

It is this return business that has made King’s practice the envy of Osborne Clarke’s rivals. With the firm acting on 10 per cent of all public M&A since the revamped Takeover Code started in 2011, it is hardly a surprise.

“The fact we can say to the market that as Osborne Clarke we’ve been able to act on 10 per cent of all public M&A since the code changed was really positive for us,” says King. “It’s a function of client activity.”

Who said the corporate world was quiet?