Corporate

Metro Bank

Hogan Lovells and Pinsents lead as NatWest buys Metro Bank portfolio

Hogan Lovells and Pinsent Masons have scored roles on a deal that will see NatWest purchase nearly £2.5bn worth of Metro Bank’s residential mortgage portfolio. The two firms are the latest to get involved in recent transactional efforts made by Metro Bank to bolster its finances and manage potential risks to its clients and shareholders. […]

Cannes Lions

Clifford Chance and Slaughters win roles on Informa’s £1.2bn purchase

Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May are both cashing in on longstanding ties to PLC clients with Informa’s proposed acquisition of Ascential. Clifford Chance is leading for FTSE 100 company Informa, a UK heritage events business, on its acquisition of PLC rival Ascential – the operator of Cannes Lions and Money20/20. The deal is valued […]

Cooley’s London boss leads three-partner move to Akin

Akin Gump has recruited three of Cooley’s London partners, including its City managing partner Justin Stock. Stock moves to Akin along with Stephen Rosen and David Bresnick. The three focus on transactions with a life sciences and technology element. At Akin, Stock will become the firm’s international head of technology. Both Stock and Bresnick joined […]

CC

City talk: Clifford Chance’s corporate strategy still relies on its banking roots

For elite firms with ties to big banks, the first half of 2024 has been fruitful for corporate transactions. Sainsbury’s banking business was sold to NatWest Group last month, with Linklaters and A&O Shearman advising, while Addleshaw Goddard, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Paul Hastings led on Co-operative Bank’s sale to Coventry Building Society in an […]

London Stock Exchange

Simpson Thacher leads as Melrose founders list new business

The former bosses of Melrose Industries is listing a new company – Rosebank – on the alternative investment market (AIM), with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett advising on the float. Simpson Thacher partner Adam Signy has long advised Melrose in its acquisition deals and is at the helm of this listing along with partner Lucy Gillett. […]

Analysis

people in a group

The recipe for corporate success? More junior associates

Corporate teams at Slaughter and May and Travers Smith are relying on larger – and younger – teams of associates to power up their revenues. According to data collected by The Lawyer’s Practice Analysis service, firms housing a larger number of junior lawyers help to grow revenues quicker compared to firms with a more senior […]

Puzzle

City talk: The Weil jobshare is an elegant fudge

Does nobody really want Mike Francies’ job? Or has Weil Gotshal & Manges been incredibly diplomatic in its choice of two London managing partners? The firm has appointed corporate duo David Avery-Gee and Jonathan Wood to share the top office role. The two incoming leaders will have a year with Francies before he retires. They […]

London city skyline

The $4m man: what competitors think of Cravath’s new hire

It’s a turbulent time in London’s legal leveraged finance market – and one that’s resulted in an estimated offer of around $4m to Shearman & Sterling’s most loyal. For the first time in the firm’s 50 years in London, Cravath Swaine & Moore is to offer English law services by poaching Shearman finance duo Korey […]

Travers Smith

Travers Smith’s PE team is now a youth squad

Five years ago, The Lawyer revealed that the youngest partnership within the top 100 UK firms was Travers Smith. A key reason behind this was that Travers’ partnership tends to comprise firm lifers with a typically quick trajectory to the top. The firm’s outgoing private equity head Ian Shawyer, for instance, made partner nine years […]

Milbank London

Dickson Minto-Milbank merger: “We want to steal your clients”, say rivals

When The Lawyer revealed earlier this week that Milbank was snapping up Dickson Minto’s London team, the juddering reverberations of the news resounded loudly around the City of London. “When the story broke, the City ground to a halt and everyone in the legal market was gossiping for an hour,” recalls one corporate partner. “It […]

Featured briefings

Financier Worldwide roundtable: Corporate fraud

Financier Worldwide regularly bring together leading experts from around the world to discuss issues at the centre of their audiences’ interest. Shoosmiths were invited to contribute to the November 2021 roundtable which covers the significant, ongoing challenge many companies face: corporate fraud.

SPACs: Next stop Europe

This article reviews the key features of a SPAC structure and explains why the Cayman Islands, Jersey and Luxembourg are ideal jurisdictions to establish a SPAC issuer.

A New Offshore Option for SPACs – SPAC to the (TISE) future…?

A special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”) is a public company which raises funds via its listing, typically in order to acquire an existing business. They are by no means new, but as is well documented, have been enjoying a huge resurgence. In the US, SPAC Insider reported $36.2 billion raised in gross proceeds during 2020 […]

A better future – What next for the Thames Valley?

As part of our ‘Future Cities’ campaign, Shoosmiths is holding a series of virtual ‘think tank’ discussions with prominent local stakeholders in different locations across the UK to share insights and ideas around what the future holds for these locations.

Austria: Coronavirus: Impacts on employment in Austria

Summary of potential coronavirus measures that employers can take: Information current as of: 23.03.2020 Home office / telework Employees who telework are normally “on duty”, they are simply working from home. Hence there is neither a reduction of working time nor any compensation or subsidy by the Austrian state. This measure is applicable to white-collar […]

Improve and demonstrate marketing ROI with interactive content: Case study

New research highlights strategies to boost marketing’s profile and accelerate business success Effective marketers should communicate with personality and personalization. Generate and grow valuable leads for sales teams. Meanwhile, clearly prove ROI of their content and demonstrate direct business value. Sound familiar – and stress inducing? You’re not alone. 94% of B2B firms, according to […]

Balancing fear and greed: Does an expansion of the UK foreign direct investment rules beckon?

By Bernardine Adkins, Sean Giles In 2018, new measures were introduced to expand the scope of government intervention in mergers. This year, the government’s briefing note accompanying the Queen’s Speech proposes new rules on investment screening. What does this mean for business? Our experts examine the existing UK foreign direct investment rules, and explain what any […]

Trends in the food and drink sector

By James Webb Despite 2018 being a very tough year for many in the food and drink industry, according to research compiled by Grant Thornton, M&A and private equity deal activity in the sector remained steady with a fall of just 2.8% compared to 2017. This is supported by our experience during the period where […]

Liability for intentional torts by workers

By Mark Josselyn Earlier this year the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (“HRTO”) found that a corporate respondent was liable for the violations of the Ontario Human Rights Code perpetrated upon the applicant by the personal respondent in the course of his employment, relying upon the analysis of the Supreme Court of Canada in Robichaud v. […]

UK and Germany – A new post-Brexit partnership

For decades, Germany has been one of the biggest foreign investors in the UK. While the British love to talk about their ‘special relationship’ with the United States, there is now every chance that, in a post-Brexit world, Germany will become the UK’s new priority…

Court confirms breach of contract despite absence of negligence

By Daniel Wood The Supreme Court has handed down judgment in the high-profile case of MT Højgaard v E.ON Climate & Renewables. The Supreme Court has overturned the Court of Appeal’s decision and – in so doing – has provided useful clarification in respect of various important principles… …In this decision, the Supreme Court was willing […]