Shoosmiths completes £100m deals hat-trick

SHOOSMITHS’ new corporate team in Manchester has closed a hat-trick of deals worth more than £100m – just weeks after joining the national law firm.

Partner Mark Dawson and associates Alexandra Laver and Karen Procter, who all joined the firm in July following the collapse of Manchester-based Halliwells, have acted on the sale by Manchester-based Zeus Private Equity of XLN Telecom and the purchase of a Gloucester hotel from Ramada for another Zeus investment, Hallmark Hotels.

The trio also advised a management buy-in team that bought Scottish holiday and leisure park business, Dunham Leisure, after receiving funding from private equity firm RJD Partners and Yorkshire Bank.

“We wanted to hit the ground running, and that’s exactly what we’ve done, while at the same time achieving the best possible outcome for our clients,” said Dawson.

“To complete so quickly on three such high quality private equity transactions illustrates the strength in depth of both the Manchester corporate team, and Shoosmiths’ wider corporate practice.”