Legal news: Hovell’s Olympics brief; Gateley; Brabners & more
HIGH profile Manchester sports lawyer Mark Hovell of Mills & Reeve is to attend the Rio 2016 Olympic Games this summer.
Hovell has been selected as a result of his role as an arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
CAS is preparing to open a temporary office on the site of the Olympics in order to resolve disputes which may arise during the games. This special tribunal, called the CAS ad hoc Division, has operated at the summer and winter Olympics since 1996, as well as at other major sporting events such as the
Commonwealth Games and the football World Cup.
Hovell, who has been a CAS arbitrator for a number of years and recently heard the appeal by violinist-turned-skier Vanessa Mae against her four-year ban from competitive skiing, is the only UK arbitrator selected to attend Rio 2016. In 2010, he was an arbitrator for CAS at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
He said: “I am thrilled to be selected for Rio 2016. As an independent authority, CAS plays a vital role in resolving international sports-related disputes and it is an honour to represent the organisation at the world’s biggest sporting event. It is also a reflection of the ever increasing international work undertaken by the Mills & Reeve sports team.”
The partner and heads of the sports team at Mills & Reeve, is also on the UK’s Sports Resolutions tribunal panel and accredited to its National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP).
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THE Manchester office of national law firm Gateley has advised Just Childcare, the North West based nursery operator, on a series of acquisitions in recent months.
The financial partnership with Phoenix Private Equity has enabled the expansion which saw Just Childcare grow significantly during 2015, with the acquisition of 14 nurseries, seven of which were completed in the last six months. Gateley have acted on all the acquisitions.
Its cross-discipline team included corporate partner Charles Glaskie, corporate solicitor Hannah Fletcher and real estate senior associate Simon Maddox, who led on the property aspects, assisted by senior associate Rachel Baker and legal executive Karen Butler.
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COMMERCIAL law firm Brabners has been named the most active M&A legal adviser in the North West for 2015, having advised on 61 transactions throughout the region.
The rankings, published in an independent report by Experian, also place the firm’s corporate team seventh in the UK for deal volume, with 97 M&A transactions completed, a 23% year-on-year increase in deal activity since 2014. The firm was also ranked joint second for deal volume in Wales.
The final quarter of the year saw the firm’s corporate team support clients across a multitude of sectors, including business services, real estate and construction. This included advising AIM-listed Restore, the office services provider, on its acquisition of Wincanton Records Management – a deal valued at £55.7m.
Other notable deals throughout the year include advising Impellam Group, one of the UK’s largest recruitment businesses, on its acquisition of global healthcare business, Global Group (UK, for an enterprise value of circa £37m.
