Manchester Corporate Team Makes a Flying Start to 2021 with £1BN First Quarter

May, 2021 - Manchester, England

The Manchester Corporate team at leading UK law firm Shoosmiths has made a record-breaking start to the year by advising on more than a dozen deals worth over £1bn in the last three months.

Highlights include acting for Berkeley De Veer on the acquisition of Avant Homes, acting on the international sale of Premier League stalwart Burnley Football Club to US buyers, acting for South Manchester-based cloud data software developer Matillion on its US$100m Series C fundraising, acting for Foresight Private Equity on the disposal of Lancashire-based Hedges Direct Group and acting for Compusoft GB on its acquisition of First Degree Systems Limited and First Degree Services Limited.

The team, led by Partners Tim Jackson-Smith and Andrew Millar, supported by Leah Cairney, Matthew Newall and Kendra McCullough, is on track for a record year.

As well as the above deals, the team also acted on the following transactions in the last few months:

• Advising Wirral-based in vitro diagnostics (IVD) business Biofortuna on its acquisition of Compass Bioscience Ltd
• Advising ambitious Manchester-based fibre broadband provider 4th Utility on its acquisition of London company Vision Fibre – the first step on its buy-and build strategy
• Acting for a US pension fund on its investment into a Football League club

Head of Corporate Tim Jackson-Smith said: “We have had one of the busiest times I can remember and to have been involved in such high profile, high-value transactions across such varied sectors and jurisdictions demonstrates the strength and ability of Shoosmiths and of the team here in Manchester.

“Our levels of activity show no signs of slowing down and, as the UK starts to relax COVID-19 restrictions, we expect to remain busy throughout 2021.

Tim added: “The regional economy has been incredibly resilient overt the past 12 months, and we are now seeing strong appetite for M&A among our corporate clients and also from the North West’s cohort of 20-plus private equity firms.

“After a challenging 2020, it’s great to see confidence return strongly with technology, e-commerce, health and life sciences leading the way, which is hugely encouraging for the remainder of this year and beyond.”

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