Osborne Clarke, the one-time cheerleader for all things TMT, has had its head down these last few years. On 28 April, however, TMT was back. Top tech partner Simon Rendell was even heard to utter the word “convergence”.
The firm was holding one of its occasional invitation-only networking events, this one modestly titled ‘The Future of Telecoms’, at its swanky new office at One London Wall. Like a dotcom float in the good old days, it was massively oversubscribed. It was standing room only for those craning to hear the Carphone Warehouse’s Charlie Dunstone’s words of wisdom on how the UK is the most competitive market in Europe after Sweden, and for telecoms companies, making a profit was only going to get tougher.
But someone must be doing all right, as Rendell let slip that Osborne Clarke is working on nine telecoms and tech-related AIM floats. The energy in the room reflected the resurgence in the corporate technology market generally, and at Osborne Clarke in particular. It’s enough to make Leslie Perrin smile – but then, it never did take a lot.
