Post-Brexit deals flurry boosts Birmingham law firm
A FLURRY of deals post-Brexit have helped to boost the corporate team of law firm Mills & Reeve.
The firm said the year had been capped off by six post-Brexit deals, bucking the cautious trend seen elsewhere in the UK corporate sector.
It said UK and European businesses looking to increase their presence in each other’s market place ahead of leaving the European Union was the driving force behind the £100m of deals in July.
Half of the deals completed involved UK businesses strengthening commercial ties with businesses in France and Belgium.
Peter McLintock, corporate partner at Mills & Reeve, said: “The decrease in activity created by the uncertainty in the lead up to the referendum, and then in the weeks afterwards, appears to be shaking out.
“There was an inevitable pause, a collective breath held and a re-evaluation of whether planned deals still made sense. However, as we’ve experienced in July, many deals still stack up despite the referendum result.
“Although there is a cooling down in activity, there is still a real opportunity out there – companies in Europe looking to keep and grow a foothold in the UK before the country leaves the EU coupled with a competitive pound are making UK businesses attractive at the moment.”
Meanwhile, the corporate team has seen an 11% growth on last year’s business levels, with the completion of several high profile national and international corporate deals for new clients.
In addition, deals worth in excess of £250m were connected to venture capital investments, while the banking and finance team completed £1.45bn of transactions.
Kevin Lowe, head of corporate, said: “The variety and value of the deals completed is a real testament to the hard working and talented team, not to mention the great trust our clients have in us. And while there has been some uncertainty recently with the EU referendum result, the flow of deals within the team remains strong into the new financial year. We expect these great results to continue.”
Some deal highlights from the corporate team include the sale of Bupa Home Healthcare to Celesio; the acquisition by Boparan Restaurant Holdings of the Giraffe restaurant chain from Tesco; London and New York based digital advertising technology company Grapeshot’s latest fundraising round; a public bond launch for Cardiff University; FTSE 250 business Paypoint’s sale of its online payment operation to Capita; and more than £350 million of real estate finance deals for AgFe.
The results follow a number of important investments into the group.
David Varnham, who has a strong track record in domestic and international financings, was appointed from Allen & Overy to build Mills & Reeve’s banking practice in Birmingham, while a new corporate team was brought into Leeds, headed by Paul Johnson.
Steve Allen, head of office at Mills & Reeve in Birmingham, said: “Birmingham and the wider region is an exciting place to do business at the moment and as a team that understands this thriving economy we are perfectly poised to support clients across a range of sectors.”
