Corporate and commercial: Manchester

Partner

Rebecca is a partner in the Corporate team with many years’ legal experience. She specialises in all corporate transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, disposals and joint ventures, and has particular expertise in private equity deals.  Rebecca acts for international and UK corporates, financial institutions, management teams and entrepreneurs.

Partner

Partner

Head of Corporate Manchester

Partner

Head of Corporate

Partner and head of department, Rob specialises in all aspects of corporate and commercial transactions, including joint ventures and M&A work, focussing on inward investment work with a particular US bias. Rob has particular expertise in sports-related commercial matters, having developed a strong sports and media practice, advising personalities on their commercial and individual objectives. Rob is seen as a key strategic business advisor to commercial clients, helping them develop and deliver their strategic objectives, resulting in close, long-term relationships with a range of clients. To learn more about Kuits please click here.

Partner / Head of Manchester Corporate

Partner

Charles is Head of Gateley's Corporate Platform. He specialises in mergers & acquisitions in both the private and public company arenas. Charles has many years’ experience of a full range of corporate finance work. He has a master’s degree in law (from the College of William & Mary, Virginia, USA) and has been awarded the Corporate Finance Qualification by the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Partner, corporate division based in Manchester. Andrew specialises in M&A (both public and private), private equity and joint ventures. He has acted for companies, private equity houses, individuals and partnerships on a range of domestic and cross border acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures and other transactions. Andrew has particular expertise in private equity transactions. He advises private equity houses on new investments, managing their portfolio companies during the life of those investments and on helping them to achieve successful exits. Andrew also acts opposite private equity houses – advising sellers and management teams during new investments and in supporting them throughout the life of their business. This gives Andrew, and his clients, the benefit of experience of dealing with private equity investors from all angles and an insight into what really does, and should, matter for each interested party. Andrew won the prestigious Young Lawyer award at the North West Young Professionals Awards in 2010 and was shortlisted for Young Professional of the Year. Recent highlights include acting for: Living Bridge on its £54m acquisition of Sykes Cottages; the shareholders and management of Travel Counsellors on their investment from Equistone; NorthEdge Capital on its £66m acquisition of Accrol Papers; Inflexion Private Equity on a number of acquisitions including CTC Aviation and Natural Products; Lloyds Development Capital on a number of acquisitions and disposals including WRG and ATP; Phoenix Private Equity on its acquisition of Key Retirement Solutions; Co-operative Group on: the £620m disposal of its pharmacy business to the Bestway Group, its liability management exercise, including the disposal of assets to Co-operative Bank p.l.c., its £1.6bn acquisition of the Somerfield supermarket chain and subsequent store disposal programme of in excess of 150 grocery stores in a challenging time frame, its joint venture with Thomas Cook group; Peel Media on its £500m joint venture with Legal & General for MediaCityUK; Moneysupermarket.com on its acquisition of Financial Services Net, OnTrees and on two joint ventures; Thermo Fisher Scientific on its acquisitions of Raymond A. Lamb, Sterilin Limited and the sale of Electorthermal Limited; Capita on their acquisitions of DLA Direct, Pathway, Turner MacFarlane Green and Reliance Task Management.

Specialises in a wide range of corporate finance advice and M&A transactions, and leads our relationship with some of our biggest household name clients. Advises a mix of listed and private companies and individuals on all aspects of company law and corporate finance, including M&A, takeovers, the Takeover Code, disposals, demergers, spin-outs, IPOs, fundraisings, group reorganisations and financial restructurings, capital reductions, joint ventures, corporate constitutional matters, shareholder agreements, directors’ responsibilities and governance issues, including the UKLA’s Listing Rules, Market Abuse Regulation, Prospectus Rules, Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules and the AIM Rules. He leads our relationship with and advises Dixons Carphone, BT, MoneySupermarket.com, Speedy Hire, JD Sports, Norcros, The Hut, My Dentist, Boohoo, Arrow Global, Radius Payment Solutions, B&M Retail, Fircroft, Travel Counsellors and Victrex.

Paul heads up the Gateley Private Equity group and has over 25 years of corporate transactional experience.  He leads a variety of M&A deals, specialising in private equity transactions, such as management buy-out/buy-in and development capital investments, as well as advising on mergers and acquisitions, disposals and joint ventures. Paul also advises on fund formation and constitution for a range of private and institutional investors and limited partners both in the UK and offshore, advising fund managers and limited partners in those structures.

Partner in corporate team focusing on general corporate, M&A and private equity. Leads the private equity practice in the North West. Has a particular sector focus on consumer goods businesses. Acts for a number of corporate and private equity clients, including Ardenton, ECI, Equistone, Inflexion, LDC, LivingBridge, NorthEdge Capital, NVM, Phoenix and PZ Cussons Plc.

Andrew is a corporate partner whose clients include public and private companies, investors and management teams. Andrew has extensive experience of running local and cross border transactions and client relationships. He is experienced in helping his clients to identify, prepare for and resolve their legal issues, whether through the provision of company law advice or in leading companies, from technology start-ups to listed companies, through complex corporate transactions. Andrew’s particular expertise covers company law advice, mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets transactions, takeovers and group reorganisations. Recent transactions include: advising Datix on its acquisition of a business from Health Matrix; advising LDC on sale of ByBox to Francisco Partners; advising Ikon Science Limited on its sale to Great Hill Partners; advising a local authority on its corporate joint venture to regenerate a housing estate which will involve the construction of circa 2,500 new homes; advising AMR Centre Limited on a fund raising; advising Gaist Holdings Limited on its investment from BGF; and advising the sellers of Verpihy Limited on its sale to Davies Group.

Elia Montorio is the head of the North West Corporate team and national head of M&A at Shoosmiths, having joined as one of its senior partners in March 2022. Elia was previously a corporate partner at a global law firm, where she spent just over 28 years, ranked for many consecutive years as No.1 in deal volume in the UK, Europe and globally (Mergermarket). She practices in all aspects of corporate law, including M&A, complex reorganisations and corporate venture arrangements but with a particular focus on international cross-border transactions. She is also known for successfully managing international corporate law matters and global client relationships. Elia has been described as a very experienced, pragmatic and client-orientated lawyer, who listens to her clients and their needs. She is a recommended leading lawyer in Legal 500 and is described as 'brilliant', and an 'exceptional deal counsel'. Elia is often cited as one of the most influential and powerful businesswomen in the UK, having been included as one of the Top 50 most powerful Businesswomen (Northern Power Women), voted for four consecutive years as one of the Top 100 most influential businesswomen in the North of England (Insider, 2014-2017), won Corporate Leader of the Year award (2018, Forward Ladies) and was selected by Cambridge Judge Business School as “one of the women internationally leading the charge in the future of law”. Elia's experience includes advising on: • English law governed transaction on the sale of CEE group by listed international company. • Acquisition of Canadian-HQ international robotics group by FTSE 100 global company. • Sale of fire safety UK company to listed Swedish company, Lagercrantz Group. • Acquisition of Danish-HQ international robotics business by FTSE 100 global company. • Investment and acquisition into a UK based e-commerce and retail skincare business by the private equity arm of French leading cosmetics/skincare brand. • Swedish-based listed global company on its acquisition of a UK-based online cosmetics retailer. • Co-operative Bank plc on the corporate aspects of the sale and outsource of its mortgage book. • Sale of perfume speciality chemicals international business Fragrance Oils plc to Swiss group, Givaudan SA. • The African Coast to Europe cable consortium of around 19 West African telecom operators together with Orange France on the corporate aspects of an unprecedented, ground-breaking project for international telecoms capacity. • South African listed company, Ascendis Health, on its acquisition of global pharmaceutical group, Remedica. • Online retailer on its IPO and its international expansion. • Global corporate on its multi-jurisdictional reorganisation including US, UK, Netherlands and Ireland. • Reorganisation of a Fortune 500 business in multiple jurisdictions with merger, sale and liquidation transactions in over 16 jurisdictions in EMEA. • £1+ billion buy-back of shares of UK private company.

Simon is a Partner and Head of the Corporate Team at Slater Heelis. He has over 30 years' experience in the industry, and advises on acquisitions, disposals and corporate transactions. He has specific sector experience of life sciences and technology, with particular expertise in advising early stage companies through their funding rounds to eventual exit.In addition to his life science specialism, he acts for a wide range of companies within the digital, telecommunications and manufacturing sectors.Simon has been consistently ranked in the top three of corporate transactional lawyers according to the Experian guides from 2015 to 2018, and held top positions for Most Active Legal Adviser in Manchester in 2019 and 2020.

Partner

Partner

Partner

Sarah is a highly experienced corporate lawyer, specialising in all aspects of corporate law and company law, advising a wide range of clients (from large corporates to individuals and owner managed businesses) on corporate mergers and acquisitions, disposals, venture capital and private equity investments, joint ventures, group reorganisations and strategic projects. Sarah is a member of the Executive Board at Weightmans LLP, leading on Client Relationships. She is responsible for the profitable revenue growth of the firm through effective client engagement, leading business development across the firm’s seven client-facing segments (Built Environment, Corporates, Health, Individuals, Insurance, OMB and Public Bodies).

Associate Partner