The corporate structuring team at EY LLP is made up of dedicated specialists and draws on strength from the firm’s highly regarded tax, accounting and consultancy practitioners for an all-round approach to transformative projects. It acts for FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 businesses on international reorganisations, legal entity rationalisations, deal structuring issues and governance matters. Practice head Craig Stevenson is a name for global transactions and has recently handled a number of carve-outs and spin-outs for large multinational clients. James Menzies is recommended for compliance and governance, while Terence Devane advises on foreign and domestic reorganisations and buy and sell-side M&A, and director Chiara Ortolani brings corporate and commercial acumen to the team. The practice underwent a number of changes in 2022; in April, Negin Kalkan joined as senior manager from Memery Crystal; in May Lucy Brockwell was promoted to manager; and in October, Hester Norman was promoted to manager. In March 2023, Sarah Holmes left for Keystone Law.
International business reorganisations in London
EY LLP
Practice head(s):
Craig Stevenson
Other key lawyers:
James Menzies; Terence Devane; Negin Kalkan; Lucy Brockwell; Hester Norman; Chiara Ortolani
Testimonials
‘The team is highly skilled and also speaks the language of the finance/tax departments, and is therefore able to translate each intercompany request into a possible legal solution.’
‘They really understand the requests and can accommodate the request in a practical manner.’
‘Chaira Ortolani stands out.’
Key clients
Computershare Ltd
EG Group Limited
Honeywell
Infobip Ltd
Navan, Inc. (f.k.a. TripActions, Inc.)
Prada S.p.A.
Work highlights
- Advising Computershare on a major reorganisation of its group to create and separate its regulated sub-group and non-regulated sub-group across 14 jurisdictions.
- Advising EG Group on a complex debt capitalisation and acted as part of a multidisciplinary team, working alongside the firm’s tax, transfer pricing and accounting specialists.
- Advising Prada on a trade and asset transfer and additional legal steps to facilitate the elimination of the UK transferor entity.
Baker McKenzie
Baker McKenzie’s corporate reorganisations team is led by Emily Carlisle and Jo Hewitt and advises large multinational blue-chip companies on huge international reorganisations, including post-acquisition integrations, pre-transaction separations and internal supply chain reorganisations. Carlisle has recently handled a number of Brexit-related restructurings and Hewitt offers expertise in post-acquisition integrations and subsidiary governance. Kirsty Wilson heads up the firm’s global reorganisations group and is a member of its executive committee; she has 20 years’ experience in the market and has longstanding relationships with top multinationals. Rakesh Rathod is another key practitioner with experience of multi-jurisdictional and multi-faceted spin-offs and integrations, while at the more junior end of the team, of counsel Emma Smith is a name for English private company law and governance issues, and senior associate Charlotte Nolan is also recommended; Nolan recently led the set-up of 25×25, an organisation seeking to address the lack of female representation on the boards of FTSE 100 projects.
Practice head(s):
Emily Carlisle; Jo Hewitt
Other key lawyers:
Kirsty Wilson; Rakesh Rathod; Emma Smith; Charlotte Nolan; Richard Needham
Testimonials
‘Very joint up approach with regard to strategic corporate projects through their international reorganisations team. Very good central coordination by the central team in London with other BM teams around the world.’
‘Jo Hewitt – corporate partner and leading our project with regard to the international reorganisations practice. Excellent communicator and very knowledgeable.’
Key clients
Accenture plc
GSK
Equinix Inc.
S&P Global
Takeda
25*25
Johnson & Johnson
Spectrum Brands
Nielsen
New Mountain Capital
Whirlpool
Atos
Sika
Thales
Baker Hughes
Emerson
Bristol Myers Squibb
Deloitte Legal
The dedicated international business transformations team at Deloitte Legal handles a high volume of complex multi-jurisdictional reorganisations under the leadership of Rachel Hossack. It provides end-to-end support on deals and is experienced in post-merger integration work, as well as pre-initial public offering (IPO) support. Hossack focuses on the corporate law aspects of intra-group reorganisations and transformations, including share and asset transfers, and mergers and demergers. Director Nirosha Perera handles domestic and international reorganisations, while New Zealand-qualified Peter Grigor is experienced in transformations in the TMT, retail and financial services sectors. Gulnaz Yaminova joined as associate director from PwC LLP in July 2022 and has recently advised on a number of cases relating to legal entity rationalisations, debt simplifications, debt listings and post-acquisition integrations. Jesika Patel is also recommended at associate director level.
Practice head(s):
Rachel Hossack
Other key lawyers:
Nirosha Perera; Peter Grigor; Gulnaz Yaminova; Jesika Patel
Testimonials
‘Deloitte Legal has a unique business model wherein the firm can provide corporate legal/secretary type services and leverage the relationships with the tax/accounting departments of the firm, to bring a holistic approach to advising on corporate reorganisations.’
‘Outstanding corporate legal advisory services; very knowledgeable and accessible.’
‘They provide excellent project management and deliver detailed trackers as we progress through the step plans.’
‘Competent and service-oriented.’
‘Rachel Hossack is highly competent, commercially oriented and gives strategic advice.’
‘Nirosha Perera has a good ability to see wider picture. Rachel Hossack – able to mange large projects efficiently. Peter Grigor – attention to detail.’
Key clients
Tysers/Integro Insurance Brokers
Solifi (formerly International Decision Systems, White Clarke Group Ltd and William Stucky & Associates)
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Zimmer Biomet Inc.
Tripadvisor Inc.
DSS Sustainable Solutions Switzerland SA
Asahi Europe International Limited
Connells Group
NSK Europe Limited
Lippert Components
Lineage Logistics
Honda Motor Europe Limited
PETIQ Inc.
Work highlights
- Advised Integro Insurance Brokers Group on a post acquisition global reorganisation involving eight jurisdictions.
- Advised DSS Sustainable Solutions Switzerland on two post-merger integrations.
- Advised Lineage Logistics on a global reorganisation and simplification of the entity holding and operating structure.
KPMG Law
KPMG Law acts for top domestic and international companies on global restructurings and reorganisations, utilising integrated legal, consulting, accounting and tax advisory teams. The firm offers technological support on matters using its international business reorganisations delivery platform, which assists clients with the planning and implementation of reorganisations and has recently been used by a number of high-profile blue-chip clients. Richard Needham heads up the practice and is recommended for legal entity rationalisation programmes, separation transactions and global reorganisations, while Manchester’s Paul Kelly is a name for post-acquisition and integration matters. Tanvir Dhanoa is experienced in the financial services sector and director Ben Brafman advises on pre-sale spin-outs, integration projects and governance issues. Laura Fisher joined from Baker McKenzie in April 2023, while former practice head Richard Needham left the firm in December 2023.
Other key lawyers:
Ben Brafman; Tom Swain; Paul Kelly; Tanvir Dhanoa; Laura Fisher
Testimonials
‘KPMG Law provides a unique combination of support both in terms of legal advice and technology.’
‘They provide excellent UK legal advice and have access to specialist country teams for overseas legal advice and to the wider KPMG services/non-legal experts.’
‘Ben Brafman is an experienced director with particular expertise in large corporate restructurings. He stands out for his technical knowledge and ability to work with KPMG non-legal experts to produce integrated solutions that meet the clients’ commercial and strategic needs.’
‘The team is made up primarily of corporate lawyers. They are well staffed and have a range of experience. Their main strength is their legal technology innovation. The platform tool that they have made available to us is a game changer. It is hugely impressive and is able to give an overview of the various steps involved in the reorganisation,’
‘Ben Brafman has a pleasant communication style with a good sense of humour, is knowledgeable and has a very good understanding of what needs to be done.’
Key clients
3M Company
Aegion Corporation
Axis Bank
Eni SpA
Ford Credit Europe Bank plc
HP Inc
INEOS Group
JERA Global Markets
National Bank of Greece
Santander Bank
Scania Group
Sedex Information Exchange Limited
Shell Plc
Work highlights
- Advising Sedex Information Exchange Limited on a major internal reorganisation to set it up for near-term and future strategic goals.
- Advising HP Inc on the integration of its $3.3bn acquisition of Polycom, involving the reorganisation of entities in over 40 jurisdictions.
PwC LLP
PwC LLP fields a large international business reorganisations team, with Georgie Blyth and Cynthia Chan at the helm. It is well versed in carve-outs, separations, spin-offs and post-deal integrations for high-profile domestic and international clients. Blyth is recommended for cross-border restructurings and compliance, and Chan has 25 years’ experience of advising FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies on global reorganisations. Kevin King is a name for restructuring and transactional matters in the financial services sector, and Latika Sharma is a key name for IP matters relating to international reorganisations. Laura Freestone is qualified in Scotland and is experienced in debt and share restructurings, and cross-border M&A, while Harry Wilkins deals with pre-deal carve-outs and post-deal integrations. Rebecca Boyers often acts for US and Asian clients on cross-border reorganisations and rationalisations. In April 2022, Jessica Bell joined as senior manager from Baker McKenzie and in May, Keith Bottomley left for an in-house role.
Practice head(s):
Georgie Blyth; Cynthia Chan
Other key lawyers:
Kevin King; Latika Sharma; Laura Freestone; Harry Wilkins; Rebecca Boyers; Jessica Bell
Testimonials
‘International reach combined with local expertise and integration with other PwC advisory services.’
‘The team are able to grasp difficult concepts from multiple jurisdictions and work through how they interact, presenting a single coherent position to the client, providing clarity and guidance in often very short time frames.’
‘Georgie Blythe heads up the team that I work with and is outstanding. He is responsive, very down to earth and just a pleasure to work with.’
‘It’s an impressively diverse team, led by strong partners, highly responsive and with excellent technical knowledge.’
‘The ability to draw on skills from the wider firm’s tax, regulatory and finance expertise is a real plus.’
‘Laura Freestone – practical, sharp and with comprehensive technical knowledge. Efficient and easy to deal with.’
‘Have the ability to pull together complex multinational transactions with strong coordination between lawyers and tax specialists.’
‘Georgie Blyth and Rebecca Boyers have a very good understanding of the structure of our complex business and work in a practical way to resolve issues.’
Key clients
Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance CO., LTD
Brookfield Asset Management
ESAB Corporation
Honeywell International Inc.
Hyve Group plc
Light & Wonder, Inc
Livent Corporation
Mott MacDonald Group Limited
Punch Tavern Limited
Resideo Technologies, Inc.
TD SYNNEX Corporation
Tesco Plc
The Blackstone Group
Work highlights
- Appointed as lead EMEA corporate restructuring legal advisers for Honeywell International, advising on numerous international business reorganisation projects and related matters.
- Acting for US-listed company Light & Wonder on a range of cross-border and international corporate legal transactions.
- Designed and implemented an innovative market-leading legal entity rationalisation solution for Punch Tavern.
DLA Piper
DLA Piper acts for top domestic and international clients on a range of business reorganisation matters, including international transactions, M&A, joint ventures and general corporate advisory issues. Ben Forgiel-Jenkins heads up the practice and is well versed in international reorganisations in the TMT, industrial and real estate sectors. Jon Hayes has over 30 years’ experience in cross-border deals, and counsel Stan Stewart is US-qualified and is a name for post-acquisition integrations, legal entity rationalisations, IP migrations and supply chain reorganisations. In Leeds, legal director Paul Routledge is recommended for national and global acquisitions and disposals in the transport, hospitality and leisure sectors, while Edinburgh’s Andrew Wardrop is another recommended legal director, who focuses on cross-border corporate and commercial transactions. In September 2022, Liz Emerson joined as senior associate from Gowling WLG and in November of the same year, Keunyoung Oh joined from Baker McKenzie.
Practice head(s):
Ben Forgiel-Jenkins
Other key lawyers:
Jon Hayes; Matthew Davies; Stan Stewart; Paul Routledge; Clare McLaren; Andrew Wardrop; Liz Emerson; Keunyoung Oh
Testimonials
‘The team is very close to their clients.’
‘Very responsive and business oriented.’
‘Quality of persons and responsiveness is good.’
‘DLA has an international and multidisciplinary team. They can easily deal with cross-boarders transactions. They are dynamic, take ownership of the files and provide clear and practical advice to their client.’
‘Clare McLaren can deal with legally complex issues, keeps the focus on what matters for the client, is patient, available and very responsive. Her explanations are clear and she is comfortable with files where a mix of corporate law and accounting aspects are present.’
Key clients
Activision Blizzard, Inc.
Adobe Inc.
Coty, Inc.
Corteva Inc.
Dentsu Inc.
Eastman Kodak Company
Ecolab Inc.
Experian
Fortive
General Electric Company (GE)
H.B. Fuller Company
Quaker Houghton
Howmet Aerospace Inc.
Klockner Penterplast
Lockheed Martin
London Stock Exchange
Medtronic
Moody’s
NCR Corporation
NTT (Nippon Telegraph & Telephone) Data Inc.
Ombudsmen Group
Pentair PLC
Pfizer, Inc.
Royal Bank of Scotland
Synopsys
TomTom NV
Verizon
Warner Bros Discovery
Wayfair
Youngs Seacrest
Work highlights
- Acted as global coordinating counsel for General Electric Company in the separation of its health care business and subsequent launch of GE HealthCare Technologies.
- Acting as global coordinating counsel for the General Electric Company in the separation of is portfolio of energy businesses and the subsequent spin-off of the portfolio as an independently listed company (trading under the GE Vernova brand).
- Advised Eagle Football, the holding vehicle of US digital entrepreneur John Textor, in respect of its acquisition of a controlling stake in Olympique Lyonnais Groupe.
Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP
The international corporate reorganisations team at Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP handles all aspects of reorganisations, including corporate, tax and employment issues. As part of a large international network, the London team is well placed to handle cross-border reorganisation projects and often works with practitioners in other jurisdictions. UK lead Nicola Evans is recommended for a range of corporate matters, including M&A, joint ventures, general advisory matters, and reorganisations, while Ben Jones focuses on tax issues pertaining to corporate transactions and restructurings. Since publication, Eda Demirel left the practice.
Practice head(s):
Nicola Evans
Other key lawyers:
Ben Jones
Testimonials
‘Eversheds Sutherland have large teams covering a wide variety of legal matters with office locations across the globe providing great international reach. As a global business we have operations in many different countries and Eversheds Sutherland’s breadth and depth of expertise means they are able to support us on a range of issues and cover all of our requirements for external legal support.’
‘Their lawyers are technically first class and their advice and guidance is always on point, they really stand out as leaders in their field. They provide great support on smaller local issues and can also quickly assemble large teams with full project management support, which really helps to coordinate larger/cross-border projects.’
‘Eversheds Sutherland are really taking the time to get to know our internal team and understand our business, which enables them to better support us and act as a true extension of our in-house team. It also enables them to focus on the big picture and deliver pragmatic business solutions to complicated legal issues. Their lawyers are prepared to adopt a commercial approach when required and give us clear recommendations rather than simply laying out the options.’
‘They have excellent attention to detail and are able to tailor their advice to our specific needs and provide it in a way that can be efficiently relayed to our internal clients. They are always very responsive and able to manage tight deadlines.’
Key clients
DuPont
VSI London
Dubai Islamic Bank
GoDaddy
Eaton Corporation
Rockwell Automation
Experian
JAS Worldwide
FTX US / International exchange
Work highlights
- Advised Experian Group on a complex global reorganisation and Experian Europe on the acquisition of the entire share capital of Experian Holding Italia.
- Advised the Culligan Group on a reorganisation involving a number of mergers, share acquisitions, sales of receivables (shareholder loans) and transfer of equity interests between several entities of the Culligan Group to make the group structure more efficient in terms of operations and legal structure.
- Advised JAS Worldwide on a global post-acquisition integration project spanning 11 jurisdictions, following its acquisition of Tigers Global Logistics.
RSM UK Legal LLP
RSM UK Legal LLP advises large multinational corporations on the implementation of global reorganisations, encompassing expertise in tax efficiencies, business expansion, streamlining and liquidation. More specifically, it is able to provide support on share and company valuations, ongoing company secretarial support, employee incentives schemes, VAT and transfer pricing issues, and insolvency work. Tristan Mutimer and Carolyn Brown lead the team; Mutimer acts for FTSE 100 companies on corporate reorganisations, simplifications and demergers, as well as debt restructuring and corporate governance matters. Bahareh Rahmani is another key practitioner.
Practice head(s):
Tristan Mutimer; Carolyn Brown
Other key lawyers:
Bahareh Rahmani
Testimonials
‘The team is well placed to offer legal advice alongside tax advice.’
‘Tristan Mutimer, head of Corporate Legal, is extremely knowledgeable and professional in his approach. He limits the use of legal jargon, ensuring that clients are able to follow the often complicated legal process.’
‘There are a number of factors which make this team unique, these can be summarised as: 1) The team performs high-value work directed to the right client priorities – the team is focused on adding value and ensuring the client remains central to their advice. 2) The team’s lawyers solve problems rather than erect roadblocks – a real commercial outlook and looking beyond just the legal framework and issues. You never receive a list of problems, but rather well considered options.’
‘Tristan Mutimer (Partner) – Tristan cares about exceptional client service and works hard to deliver commercially focused legal solutions which achieve his clients objectives. He comes across as confident and knowledgeable about his area of expertise and will always refer queries onto a subject matter specialist where he feels it is outside of his remit. Tristan will also work hard to deliver to timescales he is set! His work ethic is therefore well known among his regular clients.’
Key clients
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Civica Group
M247 UK
I.M. Group
CRA International
Apcer Pharmaceuticals
Waterlogic Group
Neal’s Yard Dairy
IBA Group
Language Line Solutions
Britain’s Energy Coast (BEC)
Trace Group
Work highlights
- Advised KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the national flag carrying airline of the Netherlands, on the reorganisation of its UK corporate group.
- Advised Civica, a global leader in public sector software, on its group simplification and the rationalisation of in excess of £1bn of debt movements.
- Advised M247 UK on the simplification of its UK group.