Our Approach

We pride ourselves on forging long-term relationships with private equity sponsors; initial contingent fee support to  foster and develop relationships. We make the effort to understand our private equity clients’ businesses and investment objectives and include lawyers in client dedicated teams with industry-specific experience so that we can tailor pragmatic and innovative solutions to complex problems. Experienced tax lawyers are a permanent part  of our transaction team and ensure that the investment structure chosen meets the specific needs of our clients.

One-stop Shop

Our international private equity team offers a one-stop shop covering all relevant aspects of private equity transactions. We have extensive experience in structuring, managing and executing transactions across the asset class, as well as assisting on any related financing. We also advise on structural, tax, warranty insurance and ancillary  legal issues, as well as fund structuring. Our private equity lawyers leverage our firm’s deep practice groups to serve our private equity clients, including our extensive experience in mergers & acquisitions, technology, cybersecurity, finance, ERISA, real estate, IP, securitization, ESG, environmental law, bankruptcy, restructuring and other  practice areas.

Our Capabilities

Our advice extends to all stages of the private equity life cycle:

Fundraising

• Fund formation & structuring
• Regulatory & tax
• Fund management
• Fiscal compliance

Investments

• Acquisition finance
• Due diligence
• M&A: buyouts, minority stakes, LBOs, MBOs, public-to-private, public takeovers
• Antitrust & compliance
• Management package

Portfolio

• Monitoring: tax, employment, corporate/commercial
• Restructuring & refinancing
• Shareholder rights
• Dispute resolution

Exits

• Auction sales, IPO, or dual track process
• Preparations for sale

• Chequers Capital on the disposal of its stake in Provalliance SAS, a hair salon operator in France, to JCRT Investissements, a holding company held by the founding family.
• Epiris on Epiris Fund III’s acquisition of Pure Cremation, the leading provider of prepaid funeral plans in the UK. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete before the end of the year.
• Francisco Partners, a leading global private equity firm, on the acquisition of ByBox, the international software and supply chain management company. We then advised ByBox on its acquisition of Pelipod Limited, the specialist in secure remote locker storage solutions for field engineers.
• H.I.G. Capital, a leading global private equity investment firm, and the management team, on the sale of Fibercore Limited, a world leader in the design and manufacture of specialty optical fiber, to Humanetics Innovative Solutions, Inc., a portfolio company of Golden Gate Capital, the private equity firm based in San Francisco.
• Inspirit Capital, a UK based PE investment fund, in connection with its acquisition of the Civil Training business of Babcock International plc.
• Marcura, the Dubai-based provider of software and other solutions to the maritime industry, on its acquisition of the world’s leading maritime procurement platform, ShipServ Ltd. Marcura is a portfolio company of Marlin Equity Partners. Its software solutions include a payments platform, port time cost management and sanctions compliance software.
• Marlin Equity Partners on
  • the acquisition of a majority stake in Cloud Technology Solutions Group - one of Europe’s largest and fastest growing Google Cloud partners; and
  • on the investment by Eurazeo in leading global provider of expense management software Rydoo. 
• Omni Partners on:
  • its acquisition of the LED phototherapy business, Aesthetic Technology; and
  • the sale of the market-leading health and wellbeing benefits provider Vivup to growth equity firm, Great Hill Partners.
• Sensus, The Jordan Company and Goldman Sachs Private Equity Group. Advised Sensus, a global leader in smart meters, network technologies and advanced data analytics solutions for the water industry, The Jordan Company and Goldman Sachs Private Equity Group in Sensus’ sale to Xylem Inc. for $1.7 billion.

• STAR Capital, including Ackermans & van Haaren (Euronext: ACKB) and others, on its acquisition of V.Group.

• Steadfast Capital Fund III, L.P, a German private equity fund, on the acquisition of the majority stakes in Reutter GmbH, the Germany-based manufacturer of caps and selective catalytic reduction filling systems for commercial vehicles and passenger cars, and ITIB S.r.l., the Italy-based manufacturer of thermoplastic corrugated flexible pipes and 3D-plastic blow moulded items for the automotive and white goods markets, from Fortas AG.
• Sullivan Street Partners on their carve-out acquisition alongside Souter Investments of Tracerco, the diagnostic services business of FTSE 100 chemicals and technology group Johnson Matthey. 
• The Halifax Group on its agreement to acquire the Worldwide Home Care division of Sodexo (France), including their home care subsidiaries in the US, UK, Ireland, France, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Brazil.
• TPG Capital on its proposed acquisition of a majority stake in Vietnam Australia International School (VAS) and post-closing shareholder arrangements. VAS is a private school group with more than 6,300 students at seven campuses in Ho Chi Minh City.
• TriSpan, a global private equity firm, on its investment in Mowgli Street Food Group, through TriSpan’s dedicated restaurant programme, Rising Stars. Mowgli Street Food Group Limited is the leading Indian casual dining restaurant group in the UK, with 15 sites nationally. 
• Vitruvian Partners on:
  • its portfolio company OAG’s acquisition of Infare, the Danish based provider of data to the airline industry on competitor airfare pricing and activity, from Ventiga Capital;
  • the acquisition through a secondary buyout of UK-based travel agents network Travel Counsellors from private equity house Equistone Partners;
  • the purchase of OAG Aviation Holdings Limited from AXIO Group, the portfolio company owned by Epiris Managers LLP, for approximately $215 million; and
  • its portfolio company JAC Travel’s sale to Australian-listed travel company Webjet Limited for £200 million. 

• "Expert private equity practice handling various types of matters such as mid-market and high-end transactions, financing and LBOs…Works in collaboration with the firm's finance and tax departments to offer a full range of services to private equity funds. Well placed to handle cross-border transactions." – Chambers Europe 2020  (France, Private Equity)
• "International firm popular with private equity funds and their portfolio companies for advice on acquisitions and disposals. One client praises the team for its 'very helpful, insightful and practical advice,' adding: 'They are very responsive, diligent and timely.'" – Chambers Europe 2020  (Germany, M&A)
• "They guided our deal team through a complex multi-jurisdictional deal. They were able to quickly understand our business case and ensure the legal position was explained to us clearly.  They were very strong in helping defend our negotiating positions when required." – IFLR1000 2020  (Hong Kong, Private Equity)
• "Whenever we need legal advice in Hong Kong, China, Europe and USA, Mayer Brown can always find the right person to deal with us professionally. We will definitely continue working with Mayer Brown in future." – IFLR1000 2020  (Hong Kong, M&A)
• Chambers Asia-Pacific 2020 notes our M&A team is "very experienced, wise, commercially sensible and international, yet still knowledgeable of the local market and laws" and "has a very strong springboard out of Hong Kong, a strong panel and full-coverage legal services."
• "The work has always been rock solid and the team is well coordinated, on time and responsive, as situations always seem to be time-pressured and fast-moving," reports a source. A client commends the team's ability to "understand extremely complex aspects of our business quickly and generate novel solutions to commercial issues." – Chambers USA 2020  (Corporate/Private Equity)