OUR CORPORATE TEAM WINS 3 PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS
We are incredibly proud to share news of our success at the Insider Central & East of England Dealmakers Awards 2024 this month. Covering Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex, Dealmakers is the blue-ribbon event in the corporate finance calendar.
Shortlisted in 5 categories alongside some extremely stiff competition, we won 3 awards:
- Corporate Law Firm of the Year;
- Private Equity/Venture Capital Deal of the Year for the sale of Helix to Middleground Capital; and
- Deal of the Year (£10m+) for the sale of JCA Engineering to Mitie Group PLC.
Our Corporate Team had an exceptional 12 months, acting on over 50 M&A transactions with a combined value of more than half a billion pounds. This was followed up with a further 27 deals completed in October alone with a combined value of over £130m.
HEAD OF CORPORATE, SIMON ARKELL COMMENTED:
“Behind the numbers there is another story of an extremely busy team working with drive, determination, humour and a prevailing “in it together” mentality – the essence of the team’s culture. Our team is stronger than it has ever been. With an average age of just 38, it is brimming with incredibly talented people, dedicated to getting the best outcomes for their clients. Our success at Dealmakers is a testament to their dedication, talent and hard work as well as the continuing support of our clients and partners.”
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU
We are always on hand to advise, guide and assist in every legal aspect of buying, selling and investing in your or other businesses.
We do everything you would expect us to do, including advising on company and business acquisitions and disposals, private equity backed management buy-outs, joint ventures, equity and debt funding, group restructures and corporate governance.
We don’t have such a thing as typical transaction size, many are in the £5-50m value range, however we often work on both bigger and smaller deals.
We believe that our involvement should be determined by the value we can add, not the size of the transaction.
WHO WE WORK WITH
We act for and on behalf of companies, partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, individual and corporate buyers and sellers as well as private equity, angel and other investors. Part of our job is to make sure that you understand what these mean alongside the opportunities and challenges they bring. We often attract young and ambitious owner managed businesses, as being one ourselves, we can relate to the challenges and opportunities they face.
WE ASSIST, GUIDE AND
ADVISE WITH:
As a team we have an extremely broad collective experience, with roots in acquisitions and disposals backed by some form of debt or private equity investment. This gives us a 360 degree perspective on most forms of corporate transaction, whoever you are buying or whoever you are selling to.
To the uninitiated, buying a business can be a daunting prospect. Concepts such as warranties, indemnities and tax covenants are readily bandied around. Even the serial acquirer needs a steady hand on the tiller. That’s where our team come in, demystifying the legal process and the terminology and providing guidance on when to ‘dig in’ and when its best to ‘move on’.
Selling a business can be a life changing experience. It can also be an emotional one. In our experience, owners care deeply about the businesses, reputations and brands they have worked so hard to build up and potentially what happens to those businesses after they are no longer in charge.
We take the time to understand what you are looking to achieve, your end goals and never assume it is restricted to the sale proceeds alone.
A carefully thought through employee incentivisation plan can be much more than a defensive mechanism. Aligning the interests of the employee with the interests of the owners can stimulate growth and form a key part of succession planning, something we would recommend all owner managed businesses address.
As a team we have had great deal of success advising businesses on how to best deliver a scheme to suit their situation and the interests of all parties.
Share options are a good example. We can guide and assist you with making them even more effective through a tax efficient Employee Management Incentive Scheme (EMI).
We have extensive experience of share option schemes and other forms of employee incentivisation as well as helping clients with their own succession planning.
We also help ensure that your plans, ambitions and objectives are properly aligned and protected.
We operate our own secure online data room, which is a fantastic tool for managing the process of investigating the affairs of the business being bought more efficiently. In addition, you can utilise the data room to build up your own secure electronic data bank, whether as part of your day to day business or in anticipation of a transaction.
We have a wealth of experience of working with all types of investors, as well as management teams seeking to secure investment. Understanding the market is critical, as is the relationship between investor and those seeking the investment. With extensive experience and expertise in this field across a breadth of sectors we are able to significantly add value to your investment.
An alternative to the traditional trade sale or management buy-out route is the sale of shares to an employee ownership trust. This route has attractive tax benefits for a seller, removes the need to find a buyer and as a consequence the uncertainty that comes with a new owner taking over. The profits of the business are used to pay the seller the consideration and a trust set up for the benefit of the employees purchasing the shares. The structure allows sellers to have a ‘soft’ exit and can be a huge benefit for employees in the business.
Key members of the team
TALK TO US
Having been through a similar process with EMW 7 years ago, we were once again delighted with the professional service they provided. The team allocated to the project represented all aspects of legal knowledge, not limited to just legal expertise but often general advice, suggestions, and guidance. I would not have wanted to have enter this journey with anyone else representing us.
Please accept my sincere thanks for a job well done to you and your teams who worked hard on bringing this demanding project to a successful conclusion. EMW were very practical, professional and thorough throughout the whole process, with a wide range of relevant expertise. We appreciated your considered advice when working out a position to take with the drafting, when we should dig in, and when it was more appropriate to compromise. There were a lot of people to satisfy and MiddleGround required us and you to all be on our toes through a full due diligence and commercial process.
Working alongside Nick, Anjli, and Sarah over the past few months has been an absolute delight. Their commitment, wealth of experience, and exceptional competence have been instrumental in guiding us through the challenges during the sale of our company.
We have been working with EMW’s company secretary team for nearly two years now and we have always found them to provide clear and concise advice backed up with full legal support. Emma Bulleyment, our company secretary has worked on all sorts of projects for us including a huge and complex project to update our articles of association and is always very competent and quick to respond to any queries raised by ourselves or our levy payers. It has been a pleasure working with Emma and the team at EMW, it’s been so helpful to be able to work with a team that not only understands the law but it able to help us apply it practically too.
The transfer of CPC’s business structure to an EOT became an important part of our next stage of growth. The advice and guidance provided by EMW Law enabled us to navigate this complex organisational change and achieve a smooth transition to an employee-owned business in March 2024, marking an exciting new chapter for CPC and its employees.
Simon, Ross and the team provided us with expert advice to get this merger over the line. They were always available to provide timely commercial advice covering all aspects of the deal.
“We’re thrilled to have completed our investment in Yolk. It was a pleasure to work with EMW who offered exemplary support throughout the transaction process. With the new investment, the business is now well poised to exploit it’s strong position in the market.”
“The service I received from EMW was exceptional, everyone went above and beyond to support the process and myself. The deal was complex with a simultaneous demerger and sale, but EMW’s expertise and professionalism made the process seamless. I cannot recommend them highly enough”.
“The support and service levels received by the EMW team was impeccable; every step was explained clearly, in language that I could understand and this made the process very easy for me at a time when we were at our busiest. Tracy and her team were there every step of the way and I would highly recommend them to anyone else thinking of establishing an EOT.”
“In the transition to becoming Managing Director of Signs Express Central Lancashire through an MBO, I was fortunate to have the expert legal assistance of EMW Law. Tracy Evans and Hollie Tompkins were exceptional, explaining every step with such clarity and simplicity that it made the complex process understandable even to those of us without a legal background. Their patience and dedication to ensuring I was fully informed and comfortable with each decision were invaluable. EMW Law’s approachable and thorough service made all the difference, and I am truly appreciative of their support.”
“A big thank you for all the work you have done. I have been particularly impressed how you have dealt with all matters! Look forward to working with you again”.
“We have intrusted all our legal requirements with EMW for many years and utilised many of their diverse team to reach a thorough and efficient conclusion. Batuhan has worked with me over the last year to acquire two further buildings to add to our estate and has coped with any anomalies that have come his way. I would not hesitate in further recommending the whole team at EMW to assist with any Legal Requirements in the future.”
Recent Deals
Other notable deals
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