Corporate

Mergers & acquisitions

Our mergers and acquisition solicitors are able to provide expert legal advice on all areas of M&A transactions. We work with a range of organisations, public and private businesses, financial institutions and individuals across the UK and worldwide.

There are many technical aspects that need to be identified and addressed when dealing with merger and acquisition transactions including M&A due diligence, tax, pensions, employees, data and regulatory issues and employee share incentives. Our corporate solicitors ensure they collaborate with colleagues across the firm who are sector specialists to ensure you have access to a broad spectrum of expertise specific to your business and goals.

So, whether you need advice on mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships or company disposals we will work with you to understand your objectives and advise you in the most appropriate manner.

As a full service firm we have experts in all these areas to ensure a smooth transaction for you and your business.

Start ups

Setting up a new business is both an exciting and daunting prospect. There are many financial and legal elements to consider from the structure of your new business, raising finance and protecting your brand to drafting agreements and employing your first team.

Our business lawyers are able to advise on all aspects of starting a business; whether you are setting up for the first time or a seasoned entrepreneur, we can provide you with a full suite of advice on company structures and agreements, employee contracts, outsourcing, supplier contracts, data protection, health and safety and commercial property. Our considerable experience across a range of sectors means we can tailor our service and advice to your exact requirements and company goals. 

Joint venture

There are many advantages to joint ventures because they allow you to share risk, responsibly and resources and ultimately - success. They can be complicated transactions though and problems can arise if they are not set up properly from the outset so it is important to seek independent legal advice.

There are many aspects that you will want to consider when you choose to go into business with another party, it’s important you have the same vision for your business and you are comfortable with the terms in which you’re working together, our team can iron those out for you to ensure your commercial objectives are met.

We can advise you on the most appropriate way to set up your joint venture structure including articles of association, shareholder agreements, due diligence, co-operation agreements and funding.

Partnership

As a form of joint venture our business lawyers are able to advise you on the formation of partnerships, the drafting of partnership agreements, partnership exits and helping you resolve any partnership disputes.

We can help you to form your partnership and advise on the best route forward for the structure of your business, this could follow a general partnership or a limited liability partnership (LLP). We also work with general partnerships to convert them to LLPs so they can benefit from the increased likelihood of raising finance which this route can offer.

We recognise that partnerships differ depending on the sector you work in; we have a strong reputation for working in the agricultural sector setting up and advising farming families on the best way to structure their farm business. We also work with businesses in manufacturing, logistics, construction, engineering and finance and banking institutions.  

Private equity & venture capital

Our corporate law team can provide you with a comprehensive range of venture capital and private equity transactions. Our unparalleled experience of private equity and venture capital transactions puts us in a strong position to support our clients in all stages of their business from early growth, management buy-ins and buy outs, refinancing, restructures and exits. 

Equity capital markets

Our experienced lawyers offer plain English, straightforward advice to business owners who are looking to make changes to their business; this could be by taking their company public particularly in relation to an AIM listing, moving from AIM or taking their company private.

We can work with you and your business to give access to the right and most strategic investment teams whilst ensuring your business remains compliant with the UK regulatory regime.

We are able to uniquely combine our specialist knowledge of equity capital markets and our experience across a multitude of sectors to deliver sound legal advice tailored to your business and situation. 

Restructuring & demergers

There are many reasons you may be looking to restructure your business, you may look to take this approach for income generation, investment, tax, succession planning, exit structuring, reducing losses, releasing surplus capital or corporate governance reasons.

Our team work closely with you and your professional advisers to ensure we adopt the most effective approach to the restructure in line with your overall business goals and objectives whilst making sure all compliance with all corporate laws are handled correctly. 

Management buyouts (MBOs) and Management buy-ins (MBIs)

The process of buying or selling a business using an MBI or MBO can be complicated due to the complexities of managing all the interests and differing priorities of the various parties, including the seller, investors and management team. 

Our corporate lawyers have unrivalled experience of dealing with both MBIs and MBOs. Their extensive knowledge allows them to be flexible in their approach and provide bespoke legal advice to management teams, vendors, private equity firms and a range of other funders. 

Sector expertise

We work across a range of sectors providing legal expertise to businesses operating in advanced manufacturing, agriculture, retail, charities, creative, housing and financial. Regardless of the sector we are able to closely align ourselves with our clients and their business to ensure we understand their overall objectives in order to deliver their transactional goals.

Added value and cost certainty

Drawing on in-depth legal and commercial knowledge, we provide a fixed fee model wherever possible in order to deliver value for money and financial and budget certainty.

Our corporate solicitors have a strong reputation for quality and expertise and we are known throughout our diverse client portfolio to have a thorough understanding of all the elements involved in ensuring a smooth corporate transaction.

If you’re looking for business legal advice please call our corporate lawyers for an expert consultation.