About

Company secretary David Johnston leads the legal team in Ireland at C&C Group, which consists of four lawyers, one assistant company secretary, one paralegal and one administrator. C&C Group operate an international beer, cider, wine, soft drinks and bottled water manufacture and distribution company with global brands including Bulmers, Magners, and Tennents in its portfolio. The legal team has been through a lot of change recently as the company has acquired a new business in April with three additional lawyers and support staff. The wider team has also had a restructuring when the office in London was closed and two members of the team left. On this change, Johnston identifies that ‘as a team, we’re looking to move to a business partnering model whereby we provid tailored commercially focused support to the teams we support’. The company, and thus its legal team, has been involved in a number of large transactions in the last two years, such as the acquisition of Matthew Clark and Bibendum in April 2018, the £37m acquisition of 47% of Admiral Taverns in September 2017 and the expanded distribution partnership with AB InBev in December 2016. Johnston has identified the contribution of Richard Evans, whose work covers Ireland as well as the UK and international matters. Johnston says, ‘[Evans] has been the lead in some of the largest transactions the company has been involved in including the acquisition of Matthew Clark and Bibendum, which was done over the Easter weekend as that business was going into administration. It involved a very intensive period of work and an exceptional effort on his behalf’. Johnston also said that the business is becoming increasingly focused on the impact of Brexit on its operations, as are many in this sector and others across Europe and globally.