Mergers & Acquisitions
Successful mergers and acquisitions demand much more from corporate lawyers than just executing the transaction. The lawyers in our M&A team invest time in understanding our clients’ businesses and industry as well as being cognisant of our clients’ corporate and personal ambitions.
We tailor our advice and the transaction to each situation recognising that one size never fits all. We always focus on what really matters and won’t make a fuss over small points. We will add value in the planning and the execution of a transaction and will work to resolve issues pragmatically and speedily.
We never lose sight of our clients’ commercial objectives and we constantly look for the most direct route to achieve them. We draw on the expertise of our specialists in tax, real estate, employment and intellectual property to deliver a truly integrated team completely focused on delivering a knowledgeable, efficient and focused experience for our clients.
We have a long history of:
- advising shareholders in privately-owned businesses on their exit
- advising management on exit terms
- acting for in-house teams in private and publicly-owned companies on their acquisitions
- acting for private equity clients on their acquisitions.
Our depth of knowledge and a lifetime of working with people and companies in the media, advertising, marketing and digital economy delivers tangible benefits when advising our clients on transactions in those sectors. Our M&A team is consistently highly ranked and in the leading UK legal directory, Chambers, we are ranked in the top band for lower to mid-market M&A.
Related items
Lewis Silkin advises Sideshow Group on its acquisitions of Catch Digital and Widerfunnel Marketing Inc.
12 October 2021Lewis Silkin has advised Sideshow Group, the award-winning independent digital agency, on its acquisitions of Catch and Widerfunnel. Together with the acquisition of TRGT in July, Sideshow have announced three acquisitions since Waterland Private Equity made a significant investment in February. These demonstrate that the Sideshow Group is following through on its ambitions to become a global challenger in digital experience and marketing services, and we are delighted to support those ambitions.
Lewis Silkin receives tier 1 ranking in Legal 500 UK 2022 for Employment, M&A and Media and Entertainment
01 October 2021Lewis Silkin continues to receive strong recognition in the latest Legal 500 UK guide released yesterday, earning 67 individual lawyer and practice rankings – of which 7 are top tier practice rankings, 3 were new entries and 7 were improvements on last year.
US/UK M&A: Miscellaneous/common issues
21 September 2021In our final instalment of our US/UK M&A series we will explore some of the common issues in the M&A process and deal practice in the US and UK.
US/UK M&A: Disclosure
21 September 2021The disclosure exercise against the warranties contained in the share purchase agreement (SPA) is a common element of an M&A transaction on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In this article we will identify some of the different approaches taken in relation to disclosure in the UK and the US.
US/UK M&A: Introduction
21 September 2021One 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: Risk Allocation
21 September 2021In our second article in the US/UK M&A series, we explore deal certainty and the different appetite for, and measures that are used to apportion risk between the parties.
US/UK M&A: Warranties
21 September 2021In this article we examine the different approaches to giving warranties in US and UK share purchase agreements (SPA) including the terms and scope of the warranties, who gives them, the basis of recovery under the warranties, the basis of the sellers’ liability and other protections available to buyers.
US/UK M&A: Price Adjustment Mechanisms - The Locked Box
21 September 2021Price 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.