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PRIVATE EQUITY
LAWYERS

Open Opportunities. Close Deals. Minimise Risk. Maximise Returns.

Welcome to our award-winning Private Equity team. Collaborating globally, we will help you build and execute your deal pipeline, supporting your investments through to a successful exit. Explore further details below to discover how we create value for investors, management teams, and founders.

Investors

FROM OPPORTUNITY TO EXIT

We help over 50 prominent private equity investors – including advising 8 of the top 10 most active UK buyout investors in the last 5 years – minimise their risk whilst maximising returns. Using all our experience, grit and imagination, we help sponsors build and execute their deal pipeline, support investments throughout their growth, and achieve the best possible exit.

In the last five years, we've advised on over 500 buyouts, investments, follow-on acquisitions and exits.

Challenges we help investors address include:

Unearthing new opportunities – via direct deal origination, market coverage calls and divestment trackers.
Execution of buy-side mandates with speed and certainty when processes are competitive.
Advice through the life of an investment to support value enhancement strategies.
Achieving better exits – helping our clients present their investments in the best possible light to maximise value on sale or IPO.

Management Teams

WIN: WIN, NOT SO SO

We support management teams through the complexities of any private equity transaction, negotiating terms opposite most of the big names in the market. With more than 500 private equity deals under our belt in the last 5 years, we help management teams secure the best possible management incentive package for themselves whilst protecting the ongoing interests of the company.

In the past three years, we successfully completed over 40 management advisory mandates.

Challenges we help management teams address include:

Balancing the right incentives package for them as individuals with the right deal for the growth of the business
Protections to avoid unfair treatment on departure from the business or when things go wrong
Helping managers choose the right investor for them - using our extensive market experience and knowledge of different bidders

Discover more about our management advisory experience >

Founders

MADE-TO-MEASURE ADVICE FOR FOUNDERS

Taking on private equity investment is a pivotal moment for any growth company. We offer straight talking advice, informed by our unrivalled experience on both sides of the table, to help founders choose the right investor as well as secure the right terms.

We have supported more than 70 companies in their raising of private equity financing in the last 5 years.

Recent challenges we’ve helped founders address include:

Preparing the business for investor scrutiny, to be "PE ready"
Comparing different investment structures and the different types of private equity investors
Negotiating a deal on the right terms, and with the right partner

Deal highlights

CBPE

Advising CBPE on its investments in digital transformation consultancy FSP, accountancy and tax advisory business Berg Kaprow Lewis, and leading mobile app development company Apadmi.

Inflexion

Advising on its investments in Celnor Group, made up of member companies providing services in the TICC arena, and Village Vets, a series of Ireland-based veterinary practices.

IK Investment Partners

Advising IK Investment Partners on its investment in Ipsum, a leading provider of specialist infrastructure services to highly critical assets in the UK power and water markets, to support Ipsum's existing clients towards their energy transition, grow Ipsum's presence across new high growth markets and help further develop their use of technology to support their service offering.

Phoenix Equity Partners

Advising Phoenix Equity Partners on its investment in Nostra Technologies, a leading IT services provider in Ireland, in order to support its rapid growth journey through further acquisitions and development of its operating platform and service offering.

Lendscape

Advising Lendscape, a leading technology provider on the investment by Bowmark Capital, in order to help Lendscape accelerate its product development and expand its international reach.

Kerridge Commercial Systems

Advising long standing client Kerridge Commercial Systems, a global provider of enterprise resource planning, on its sale to CapVest Partners. The successful transaction, which will take Kerridge Commercial Systems to the next stage of its growth, was supported by the detailed understanding our team has developed through advising KCS on multiple transactions over 10+ years.

SK Aerosafety Group

Advising the management team of SK AeroSafety on Bridgepoint Capital's investment in SK AeroSafety Group, a leading global provider of maintenance, repair and overhaul services for aircraft safety equipment, in order to continue to build on the growth SK has achieved since its inception in 2011.

Equistone Partners Group

Advising Equistone Partners Europe on its investment in Nexus Vehicle Solutions, a leading B2B vehicle rental aggregator platform.

LDC

Advising LDC on its investment in Boston Energy, a technical services provider to the wind energy industry, which will support Boston Energy's further international expansion.

Elysian

Advising Elysian and United Living Group on the sale of United Living, a leading provider of essential infrastructure, social housing maintenance and construction services in the UK, to Apollo's Global Impact Fund, having also advised on the merger of United Living and Fastflow Group in 2019.

ECI Partners

Advising ECI Partners on its initial investment in Bionic, the UK's market-leading SME marketplace, and the subsequent sale of Bionic to OMERS, which delivered a 4.8x return on exit.

O'Connor Group

Advising O'Connor Group, a leading UK multi-utility services specialist, on its sale to Triton Partners, in order to provide further investment in non-regulated opportunities as the UK economy increasingly focuses on renewable power as part of the country’s energy transition.