Travers Smith LLP has announced today the appointment of Adrian West as Head of the Corporate M&A and Equity Capital Markets Group, with effect from 1 January 2024.
Adrian succeeds Andrew Gillen, who has recently been elected Senior Partner. Adrian will work alongside Lucie Cawood, Head of the Private Equity & Financial Sponsors group, in leading the firm's Corporate offering.
Adrian's practice is focused on equity capital markets and M&A, and he is renowned as a leading adviser on IPOs. He is also Head of the Retail Sector Group. Adrian has extensive experience in domestic and cross-border M&A, public takeovers, demergers, and joint ventures, as well as providing boards with general corporate and strategic advice. In more buoyant IPO times, Adrian is routinely engaged as either underwriter counsel or issuer counsel on Main Market and AIM IPOs and secondary fundraisings. Adrian has also advised management teams or significant shareholders on a number of the highest profile IPOs in recent years.
Adrian West said:
“I am thrilled to be taking over as Head of our Corporate M&A and Equity Capital Markets Group. Our department continues to be a crucial part of our firm's core business, and I will focus on continuing to drive forwards our acceleration in complex, cross border M&A, whilst ensuring we are well placed for the future resurgence of the IPO market."
Edmund Reed, Managing Partner, commented: "Many congratulations to Adrian on his appointment as Head of the Corporate M&A and Equity Capital Markets Group. I know he will do a fantastic job working alongside Lucie Cawood in leading our stellar corporate practice. I look forward to working more closely with Adrian in delivering outstanding results for our clients."
The Corporate practice, made up of 21 partners and over 100 lawyers, also includes the firm's pre-eminent Private Equity & Financial Sponsors group, which delivers high profile transactions for some of the most active private equity houses in Europe.
Recent standout transactions for established clients include:
- A team, led by Adrian West, advised international data security company Blancco Technology Group plc on its £175m cash takeover offer by White Bidco Ltd, a vehicle of funds managed by US private equity firm Francisco Partners.
- A team led by Jon Reddington and Adrian West advised AIM-listed venture capital firm Forward Partners plc on its recommended all-share acquisition by Main Market and Euronext Dublin-listed Molten Ventures plc, a leading venture capital firm investing in and developing high growth digital technology businesses.
- A team, led by Aaron Stocks, and including over 30 lawyers from across the firm, has advised Zegona Communications plc on its proposed acquisition of Vodafone Spain for an enterprise value of €5.0 billion and a proposed €600m placing on the London Stock Exchange. The cross-practice team included lawyers from Funds, Corporate, Tax, Technology & Commercial and Competition. The proposed acquisition marks Zegona's third transaction in Spain, all of which the firm has advised on.
- A team led by Tom Hartwright and Adam Orr, and including over 20 lawyers from across the firm, advised Inflexion Private Equity on their investment in aosphere, the legal and compliance data subscription platform. As part of the transaction, Inflexion's Partnership Capital II fund will make a strategic investment alongside A&O and Endicott Capital, a US-based investor specialising in the information services industry. In addition to Private Equity & Financial Sponsors, the team included lawyers from Tax, Technology & Commercial, Environment & Regulatory and Employment.
- A team led by George Weavil and including Victoria Bramall and Edmund Reed advised Ascential on the sale of WGSN to Apax. The sale is for consideration of up to £700 million (subject to customary closing adjustments and contingent consideration). The team included lawyers from Private Equity & Financial Sponsors, Tax, and Technology & Commercial.
- Finally, a team led by Ian Keefe and Laura Kelly and including lawyers from PEFS, Competition and Tax, advised longstanding client ICG on its agreement to sell 6point6 to Accenture. 6point6 is one of the UK’s leading technology consultancies, specialising in complex digital transformations, with a highly specialised and multi-disciplined offering, encompassing cyber and data. Travers Smith also acted for ICG on its original investment in 6point6 in 2021.
