Lee & Thompson LLP

Corporate.

Malcolm is a partner and heads up Lee & Thompson’s Corporate & Commercial Group.

He has many years’ experience advising on company, corporate, corporate finance and general commercial deals for a range of clients operating across the whole creative sector, including music, TV, sport, fashion and design, live events and exhibitions, advertising and marketing services, brands, digital, publishing, film and theatre.

He advises on all types of corporate deals in the creative sector including structuring start ups, mergers and acquisitions, joint venture arrangements, private equity investments, shareholder agreements, management buy ins and outs and complex earn-out structures and is very familiar with the issues which tend to arise on creative industry deals including those relating to the ownership of IP and the retention of key creative individuals.

Notable deals that Malcolm has advised on include:

• Sony Music on its acquisition of Essential Music
• Lionsgate UK on its investments in Primal Media and Potboiler TV
• BMG Rights Management on its acquisitions of RAM Records and the Pete Waterman catalogues
• David Beckham and DB Ventures in relation to the joint venture, Seven Global (the vehicle which manages David’s commercial rights) with Global Brands Group
• TV distribution company, TCB Media Rights on its sale to Kew Media Group
• World Productions on its sale to ITV
• Various on and off screen creative TV talent on their umbrella arrangements with “Super Indies” including, Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones (Endemol), Benedict Cumberbatch (Studiocanal) Andy Davenport (Shine), Matt Lucas (All3Media),Tony Wood (Cineflix), Derek Wax (Endemol), Route 24 (ITV Studios) Eleven Film (C4 Growth Fund), Simon Crawford-Collins (BBCW) and Corona (Fremantle)
• Premiership Rugby, administrator of the Gallagher Premiership, on its company structure and constitution and on its sponsorship portfolio including its 2018 title rights agreement with new title sponsor, Gallagher
• Nicola Shindler on the sale of Red Production Company to Studiocanal
• Various acquisitions and disposals of live events and exhibitions for many of the leading UK industry figures including the likes of CloserStill Media, SME, Upper Street, Angus Montgomery, Phil Soar, Peter Jones, Richard Hease, John Bednall and Richard-Copley Smith
• Blue Raincoat on its acquisition of Chrysalis Records from Warner Music
• 1966 Entertainment on its management of the commercial interests of the England national football squad including the landmark agreement with the FA regulating the use of the commercial rights in Team England
• Merlin and Atlantis producer Urban Myth on the sale of a stake in that company to Studiocanal
• Steve Winwood on the sale of his music publishing company to Kobalt
• Ignite experiential agency on its sale to Wasserman Media Group
• Ad agency 180 Holdings BV on its sale to Omnicom, the London partners of Fallon on its sale to Publicis and the London partners of Anomaly on their deal with Anomaly in New York
• Argonon on its acquisition of Windfall Films and of Transparent Television
• Digital marketing agency Squeeze on its sale to DonerCardwell Hawkins, ChannelFlip Media on its sale to Shine and youth trend agency Rough Hill on its sale to Chime Communications

Malcolm has a post graduate certificate in Sports Law from Kings College, London.

Qualified 1997.