Travers Smith is known for training up some of the brightest minds in UK private equity. Genna Marten is no exception. Although not a complete Travers lifer (she trained at Scottish firm Burness Paull), Marten careered through the ranks and made partner within eight years of qualifying. After time off from maternity leave, Marten returned to the fold at the start of a busy 2021. There’s been little let up in dealmaking ever since.
Looking back on it as a pivotal deal in her career, Marten led for Epiris on the acquisition of Sepura, a supplier of digital radio devices used by the police, fire and ambulance services. Given the transaction’s security implications, this was the UK’s first deal to be cleared with conditions under the National Security and Investment Act 2021. Marten played a critical role in negotiations with the Government’s business department in a one of kind acquisition deal. Alongside this, she added Quilvest as a client to Travers’ private equity team and advised Access Group on a £9.2bn investment deal with TA Associates. A follow-on deal for Access’s client PaySuite saw Marten take the lead once more as it agreed the purchase of Pay360. This Travers dealmaker is on a roll.