Fergus Payne

I have thirty or so years experience on acting on M&A transactions from both a buyer’s and sellers’ perspective. This is where I cut my teeth as a practitioner and an area of work I continue to enjoy!

Recent examples of work include:

• acting for the advertising agency, Beattie McGuinness Bungay on the acquisition of Neon, a leading experiential agency;
• advising Infocash Limited on the acquisition of the business and assets of Cashbox plc from its administrator;
• advising Macquarie Bank International Limited on the sale of its asset transformation business to the management team;
• advising a German lighting company on the acquisition of its UK sales company;

Acting for an Irish property development group on the sale of a property SPV to an Austrian hotel operator.

More about Mergers & Acquisitions

I am a partner and joint head of the firm’s Partnerships and LLPs group. I advise on partnerships and LLP agreements for both firms and individual partners and have worked on a large number of LLP conversions over the last ten years. This area of work started with conversions of law firm partnerships, including a magic circle law firm, and other professional services firms. Over time and with the increased popularity of the limited liability partnership as a business vehicle, I now routinely advise on corporate to LLP conversions in a variety of sectors including communications, financial services and consultants. I also advise on the use of LLPs as joint venture vehicles.

I am recommended in both Chambers and Legal 500 directories as a leading practitioner in this area. I am also a regular writer and speaker on issues affecting professional services, particularly the legal and accountancy sectors.

More about Partnership & LLP

I routinely advise on a wide range of corporate transactional matters including mergers & acquisitions, LLP and partnership advice, start ups and shareholders’ agreements, joint ventures and corporate reorganisations. I also advise on debt and grant financing and corporate borrowing, corporate recovery and insolvency issues. The clients I deal with come from a variety of sectors including marketing and communications, professional services and businesses operating in the public sector.

More about Corporate

I advise a variety of corporate clients on bank facility agreements and security and subordination arrangements, typically in the context of acquisitions or new borrowing and refinancing.  I also advise with inter-group borrowing and property finance.

For many years I have acted for National Lottery distributors including Big Lottery Fund (and its statutory predecessor, the Millennium Commission) and the Olympic Lottery Distributor in relation to grant funding arrangements for capital projects.

More about Banking & Finance

I have worked with the marketing services sector since I started in the law, my first transaction being the sale of the advertising agency, Everetts, to Grey. I have worked numerous transactions in the sector including the IPO of Mission Marketing Group and its subsequent acquisition strategy, agency start-ups and reorganisations.

Recent work includes:

• acting for the advertising agency, Beattie McGuinness Bungay on the acquisition of Neon, a leading experiential agency
• setting up various LLP structures for a listed communications group
• acting for Beattie McGuinness Bungay on its conversion to an LLP
• Advising a Canadian marketing communications group on its banking facilities

More about Advertising & Marketing