Berg hoping to mine a rich seam in the City

LAW firm Berg Legal is hoping a successful legal action for rebel shareholders in an AIM-listed mining company will open the door to more work in the Square Mile.

The Manchester firm’s commercial and dispute resolution team advised minoroity shareholders in Metals Exploration plc, who were opposing to a £35.7m takeover deal by Soloman Capital, a business owned by the high profile property investor Christian Candy.

Berg took the shareholders’ concerns over the 13p offer to the Takeover Panel, and a deal has now been agreed between the parties, without the need for litigation, which will see more money injected into the business by investors and it retaining its listing.

Metals Exploration, which is mining for gold in the Phillipines, is set to ratify the
£25m fund-raising at a shareholders meeting tomorrow.

Ruben Berg, senior partner at the Peter Street-based practice said: “We are delighted with the outcome of this case – traditionally a matter like this would have gone to a Magic Circle firm, so this shows what can be acheived by a boutique commercial firm from Manchester at the highest level.

“We were asked to represent the shareholders after a recommendation, and I hope this case will lead to more work.”

The 65-strong firm’s head of dispute resolution Lee Dunnill and head of corportate Stephen Foster led on the Metals Exploration case.

Mr Berg says the firm has seen strong growth in its dispute resolution and commercial litigation practice in the last year, in what has been a ‘brutal’ time for the legal sector.

“We have cut back, like many others, but have continued to win new work. The Manchester legal market is in an enormous state of flux, and it helps that we have been around for more than 30 years and have strong relationships and a track record of delivering results.

“I believe that people are no longer seeing big as beautiful, we’re winning work from significant organisations who value trusted advisers with a focus on outcome rather than process.”

He said having cut back – at its peak Berg had around 85 staff – Mr Berg said the firm is well-placed to “do extremely well” in the coming years.

“We have a pool of extremely talented people across all sectors. We are back on the growth path, but it will be considered, and we’ll go for quality rather than quantity in both hiring people and in attracting business.”