Greg is a corporate lawyer with over 25 years’ experience of M&A and equity capital markets transactions and advising companies from start-up through to mid-market, to IPO, with fundraisings at all stages and ultimately, exits, including public takeovers. He also has a particular niche in advising management teams on sales of companies to private equity.
Greg’s work encompasses a variety of sectors, but he has particular expertise in natural resources, financial services (including regulatory compliance software) and sports, and his clients include listed/public companies through to private companies, high-net-worth individuals and family offices. Greg also assists overseas law firms who require assistance with transactions which are subject to English law.
Greg was invaluable in helping us to deliver a complex transaction, involving numerous stakeholders, within a very tight timetable.
Andy Alderson, CEO, Vanarama
Expertise
- Start-ups and structuring
- Private and public fundraisings
- Sales and purchases of companies and acquisition / disposal of strategic stakes
- IPOs (principally, AIM) and advising on the AIM Rules and best practice
- Management investment and incentive programmes on sales to private equity
- Company reorganisations including demergers and capital reductions
- Partnership advisory and mergers
- Shareholders agreements and joint ventures
- Corporate real estate
Experience
Mergers and Acquisitions
- Acted for vehicle-leasing company Autorama UK Limited in its c. £190 million sale to Auto Trader Group PLC.
- Acted for privately owned companies in the UK and Monaco on a £140 million sale of land and properties to a US-backed buyer.
- Acted for the shareholders of a financial data consulting company to a Belgian, private equity-backed buyer.
- Acted for AIM-quoted Brave Bison PLC on its acquisition of two companies in the digital marketing sector.
- Acted for the controlling shareholder of West Bromwich Albion Holdings Limited (owner of WBA FC) on the sale of the company to a Chinese buyer.
- Acted for then AIM-quoted Lombard Risk management PLC, a supplier of financial regulatory software, in its public takeover by Vermeg Group N.V.
Equity Capital Markets
- Acted on the AIM IPO of Lombard Risk Management PLC and on subsequent acquisitions and placings, through to exit and de-listing.
- Acted on the AIM IPO of software company, IDOX PLC and on a number of subsequent acquisitions, disposals and fundraisings.
- Acted on the IPO of publishing software company Ingenta plc together with subsequent acquisitions, fundraisings and share buybacks.
- Acted on the IPO on AIM and subsequent funding rounds for Alba Mineral Resources PLC which has various oil and mining interests in the UK and overseas.
- Acted for GreenRoc Mining PLC (extracting graphite and other minerals in Greenland) on its IPO and associated fundraising.
- Acted for Nominated Adviser and Broker, Shore Capital, on the AIM IPO of Cake Box Holdings plc.
Partnerships and Professional Services
- Acted for accountancy firm, BDO on its acquisition of Moore Stephens including the preparation and negotiation of a complex merger agreement and dealing with the respective rights and obligations of equity and salaried partners in each firm.
- Acted for a number of LLPs in the financial services sector on reorganising their LLP members’ agreements to accommodate a new class of tax-efficient securities, involving adjustment of profit waterfalls.
- Structured a partnership to accommodate profit sharing and promote fees for commercial real estate joint ventures.
- Acted for equity research and broking business Atlantic Equities LLP on updating their LLP members’ agreement and dealing with incentivisation and exits of members.
- Acted for a firm of commercial property agents in establishing an LLP to deal with an “eat what you kill” compensation structure.
- Acting for a French individual in reorganising his interests in an LLP carrying out corporate advisory work which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Shareholders’ Agreements and Joint Ventures
Corporate Real Estate
- Acted for British Land Company PLC on a series of joint ventures to buy and develop commercial real estate.
- Acted on the purchase of The Relay building in the City of London from its private equity owner through a complex, multi-jurisdictional corporate structure.
- Acted for Balmoral Investment and Development Limited, the Asset Manager and Adviser, in documenting their promote fee through a Limited Partnership for the acquisition of commercial property in Scotland.
- Acted on the £140 million sale of two companies collectively holding land, dwellings and caravans in Essex.
- Acted on numerous sales and purchases of high-value residential properties and development sites through corporate entities.
- Acted for a US-based investor in the co-funding and development of a hotel at Shoreditch House in London.
Sports
- Acted for West Bromwich Albion FC (“WBA”) on various matters, including player contracts and sponsorship.
- Acted for the controlling shareholder of West Bromwich Albion Holdings Limited (owner of WBA) on stake-building, share buybacks and eventually, the sale of the company to a Chinese buyer.
- Acted for Sunderland FC on various corporate matters and advice to the Board.
- Acted for Saracens rugby club on various corporate matters and stadium funding / development.
- Acted for a specialist California-based sports advisory practice on football club acquisitions and a joint venture with a UK company operating in the same sector.
Financial Services
- Acted on a tax-efficient compensation structure for Cedar Rock Capital Limited, a privately owned UK-based asset management company.
- Acted for Ingenious Group on the disposal of its asset management business to Tilney Bestinvest Group Limited.
- Acted for the former CEO of MF Global on the acquisition of an Indian financial futures broker.
- Acted for the French owner of a volatility fund in the sale to Marex Spectron Group.
- Acted for equities research house Atlantic Equities LLP on its acquisition of a US equity broker from Execution Noble holdings, LLC.
- Acted on the sale of financial data consultancy DTSquared Limited to Projective Group NV, a pan-European Group headquartered in Belgium and backed by a Belgian private equity fund.
Technology
- Acted on the AIM IPO of software company, IDOX PLC and on a number of subsequent acquisitions, disposals and fundraisings.
- Acted on the IPO on the Techmark segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, of PAT Systems PLC, a derivatives trading platform.
- Acted on various corporate, IP and employment matters for Outcomes Based Healthcare Limited, a business using algorithmic analysis of patient treatment data.
- Acted for Qomply Limited, a designer of software for financial regulatory reporting, on a Round A funding round and associated shareholders agreement.
- Acted for Ingenta PLC, a designer and supplier of software to the publishing industry, on its AIM IPO and numerous other corporate matters.
Energy and Natural Resources
- Acted on the IPO on AIM and subsequent funding rounds for Alba Mineral Resources PLC which has various oil and mining interests in the UK and overseas.
- Acted for GreenRoc Mining PLC (extracting graphite and other minerals in Greenland) on its IPO and associated fundraising.
- Acted for Kolar Gold PLC, an AIM-listed licence holder of mineral rights in the Kolar region of southern India.
- Acted for Cenkos Securities PLC as Nominated Adviser and broker to AIM-listed Papua Mining PLC, focussed on gold and copper exploration and extraction in Papua New Guinea.
- Acted for Eleuthera Capital Limited in negotiating extraction licences for naturally occurring helium in the Navajo Nation region of the United States.
Healthcare
- Acted for three professors of immunology in setting up a new company and agreeing a shareholders’ agreement for The Food Allergy Immunotherapy Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
- Acted on various corporate, IP and employment matters for Outcomes Based Healthcare Limited, a business using algorithmic analysis of patient treatment data.
- Served as a trustee of a UK charity providing residential care homes for elderly residents in the Jewish community.
- Acted for a domiciliary care provider on funding and a “buy and build” strategy.
- Acting for a domiciliary care provider which is embarking on a buy and build strategy.
- Served for seven years as a trustee of Nightingale Hammerson, a registered charity, providing residential care for elderly persons in the Jewish community and oversaw their building of Hammerson House, a state-of-the-art facility in north London.
Career
Greg qualified as a solicitor in 1988. Prior to joining Keystone Law, he worked at the following firms:
- Memery Crystal
- Walsh Lawson
- SJ Berwin & Co
- Berwin Leighton