Corporate

Heathrow Airport

Clifford Chance and Latham score roles on £3bn Heathrow buyout

Clifford Chance and Latham & Watkins have scored mandates on the acquisition of a stake in Heathrow Airport by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF and Ardian. The Lawyer has learnt that Latham advised its long-standing client, the PIF. The Lawyer understands the relationship manager for the PIF is UAE-based finance partner Harj Rai, who […]

London bishopsgate

Akin duo leave for Latham after 10 months

Two partners from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld have left the firm, having joined 10 months ago to build out its private credit credentials. Fergus Wheeler and Paul Yin are moving to Latham & Watkins. Wheeler’s move to Akin from White & Case was announced in January, followed by the news a month later […]

Hotel Chocolat

Freshfields and HSF seal £534m Hotel Chocolat deal

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Herbert Smith Freehills have been instructed to wrap up the £534m buy-out of boutique chocolatier Hotel Chocolat by confectionary conglomerate Mars. The magic circle firm is advising Mars, fielded by corporate partners Piers Prichard Jones and Victoria Sigeti, senior associate Angus Scott and associate Nikki Willson. Mars is a longstanding client […]

running after figures

City talk: Work with TA Associates? Goodwin’s after you

Goodwin Procter’s London growth has been rapid, with its latest expansionist strategy focused on swiping partners from competitors who work with its largest longstanding clients like TA Associates. Between 2017 and 2023, the Boston-headquartered firm has climbed up the The Lawyer’s US 50 rankings coming up from 39 to now sitting comfortably amongst Paul Hastings […]

Paul Hastings seals Abry Partners’ buy-out of Chambers & Partners

Paul Hastings has scored a mandate acting for PE sponsor Abry on its buy-out of legal intelligence provider Chambers & Partners from Inflexion. The Lawyer has learnt that Abry Partners was spearheaded by London private equity head Anu Balasubramanian, with help from partners Jamie Holdoway and Arun Birla on tax, as well as Michael Wise […]

Analysis

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 […]

trading money

Fresh capital: there’s a lot riding on the new listings regime

Many in the City feared that IPO activity would stall after Brexit. For high growth technology companies seeking investment, a listing in Germany or Amsterdam seemed more appealing. However, not to be outdone, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last year revealed a series of rule changes for the listing regime, in what was welcome news […]

Public M&A rankings: UK firms go missing in action

A number of success stories come to light in the public M&A rankings for Q1, with firms that have been busy investing being rewarded for their labours. But the magic circle are mysteriously absent, for now. The first few months of 2021 have seen over 8,900 transactions preliminarily agreed globally, according to Refinitiv data, the […]

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 […]