Stephenson Harwood acts on Piramal deal after Ashurst corporate hire

Baker & McKenzie acted for longstanding client Abbott on the deal, with Chicago M&A partners Pablo Garcia-Moreno and Olivia Tyrrell leading.

Edge brought Piramal on board as a client at Ashurst in 2006 through the firm’s recently closed Indian liaison office. Since then he has undertaken M&A work for the company on German and US acquisitions.

The Stephenson Harwood team included another former Ashurst corporate partner Duncan Stiles as well as IP partner Eifion Morris.

It is understood that Edge was first instructed on the transaction while still at his former firm, days before moving to Stephenson Harwood. Ashurst IP partner Ian Starr also continued to advise throughout the transaction

He commented: “I’ve been lucky because with M&A it’s hard to predict when deals will materialise. If you’ve got good relationships these things will happen, but to be instructed on a deal of this size within the first couple of months is great for us.

“There were two reasons I joined Stephenson Harwood: I liked the people and thought they were excellent lawyers. I’ve repeated that to friends about 30 times and working with the SH team on this deal has confirmed it on both counts.”

Since his February move, Edge has also acted for another former Ashurst client in the shape of GDF Suez on the energy provider’s acquisition of the Utilicom Group.

Other clients of Edge’s at Ashurst included Russian metal giant Rusal and biotech company BTG.