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US & the Americas

Through a combination of our expert desks and our tried and tested strategic alliances and other close relationships with law firms across North America, we can leverage our in-depth market and sector knowledge, to provide market-leading legal services across the continent.

We have extensive experience of advising US-based corporates on the acquisition and disposal of companies and businesses in the UK and around the world. Clients include publicly-listed corporations, private equity-backed businesses and closely-held family businesses all across the US and Canada, and recent transactions have involved sectors including high-value manufacturing and software and data businesses. The experience built up over many years enables us to advise North American clients not only on the UK legal aspects, but on the surprising differences that can arise between deal practice in the UK and Europe as compared to the US and Canada.

Our recent experience in the region includes advising:

  • Harbour Group, a privately-owned diverse manufacturing business based in Missouri, USA on its sale of an omni-channel gaming provider
  • John Bean Technologies Corporation, a NYSE-listed multinational manufacturer, on the acquisition of Autocoding UK and its US and Australian subsidiaries
  • Spark44, the agency established by Jaguar Land Rover, on their contracts with Ben Kingsley, Mark Strong and Tom Hiddleston for the launch of the Jaguar F-Type, which broke during the Super Bowl
  • A US pharmaceutical company on changes to its senior executive team's terms and conditions of employment and share scheme benefits in preparation for a NASDAQ listing
  • Xact Data Discovery, Inc., a private-equity owned litigation support services business based in Kansas and owned by Consilio, on acquisitions of IT and legal support services companies in the UK
  • 365 Retail Markets, a private-equity owned global leader in unattended retail technology based in Michigan, on the acquisitions of UK businesses Spoonfed and Kafoodle
  • McCarthy Capital, a US mid-market private equity fund, on its investment in web services business Kinsta Ltd
  • Harbour Group on its 100% share sale of biopharmaceutical processing equipment, life sciences equipment and lab apparatus products manufacturer, SP Industries to Automation Tooling Systems
  • SpotSee Holdings, a subsidiary of Harbour Group, its acquisition of TMC Hallcrest and LCR Hallcrest, which are pioneers of temperature sensitive, colour changing graphic technology and specialise in the manufacturing of temperature indicating labels, pigments, inks and paints
  • The founders of digital transformation consultancy Public Digital, on the sale of a material stake in Public Digital to New York-headquartered Kyu
  • The Boston-based owner of the Saltie Girl restaurant group on a corporate joint venture which will operate a London Saltie Girl location
  • The Ladies Professional Golf Association on its joint venture collaboration with the Ladies European Tour

     
 UK M&A: A Guide for US Buyers

 

One of the constant themes of mid-market M&A in the UK is the significant activity generated by US-based buyers acquiring British targets.

Whilst the M&A process and deal practice in the US and UK have many similarities, there are nonetheless some important differences which a US-based buyer should take into account at an early stage in any transaction.

In our UK/US M&A series we focus on some of these areas of difference in deal practice and terms, including:

 

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UK M&A deal practice – an introduction for US-based buyers

18 March 2024

We continue to see a lot of mid-market M&A activity in the UK driven by US-based buyers, including both corporate buyers and financial investors. Unsurprisingly, a lot of that activity is focused on sectors such as technology, creative and high-value manufacturing businesses.

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In our second article in the US/UK M&A series, we explore deal certainty, the different appetite for risk and measures that are used to apportion risk between the parties.

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Venture capital in the US and UK – a comparison

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The increasing number of innovative scale-up companies and the UK’s ability to attract world class talent means that the UK is an attractive destination for investments by US venture capital funds (US VCs). In turn, this means that US VCs have become an increasingly important source of capital for UK based high growth businesses.

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Lewis Silkin has advised 365 Retail Markets LLC on its acquisition of Spoonfed

20 December 2021

Lewis Silkin has advised leading provider of self-service commerce technology to the foodservice industry – 365 Retail Markets, based in Michigan (USA), on its acquisition of Spoonfed, a Glasgow-based company whose software is used by global contract caterers, restaurant chains and independent caterers across the US, UK and western Europe.

US/UK M&A: Introduction

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One of the constant themes of mid-market M&A in the UK is the significant activity generated by US-based buyers acquiring British targets. The US is, by some distance, the single largest holder of foreign direct investments (FDI) in the UK (holding over US$800bn), and those investments represent around 12% of total global US FDI holdings and around 25% of total US FDI in Europe. That translates into a constant stream of acquisition activity here in the UK by both corporate and financial buyers from the US seeking either to expand their access to transatlantic markets or to access British technology and products.

US/UK M&A: Price Adjustment Mechanisms - The Locked Box

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Price adjustment mechanisms are common in both UK and US style M&A transaction documents to determine the final price that the buyer pays. However, the manner in which the price adjustment is achieved varies; in the US, a closing accounts mechanism is generally used, and although these have remain common in the UK, in recent years we have seen increasing use of “locked box” mechanisms in UK style share purchase agreements governed by English law.

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Lewis Silkin has advised client Xact Data Discovery (XDD) on the acquisition of Paralaw UK Limited as part its ongoing growth strategy to expand market reach on an international stage

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Lewis Silkin advises NYSE listed JBT Corporation on its acquisition of AutoCoding Systems for $17M

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