What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

EG Group’s UK based legal team has been involved in some high-profile opportunities in the past year, namely helping the landlords of Caffé Nero to publicly challenge a CVA, helping to save the McColls chain from collapse, acquiring Leon and Cooplands businesses, and bringing the Asda brand to the roadside retail environment.

How has the increasing consciousness of climate change and sustainability affected your company and the team’s priorities?

The team is at the forefront of the transition to lower carbon fuels and is working hard to take a thought leadership position.

We have supported the drive to establish resiliency in the business, going from a position five years ago when 80% of the company’s gross profit was delivered from fuel to now relying on fuel for less than 20% of its gross profits, with the remainder coming from foodservice, grocery and merchandise. The business is now the largest operator in the UK of several well-known brands including Starbucks, Subway, Greggs, Sbarro and Cinnabon. Developing a profound understanding of the foodservice environment, as well as future fuels and the challenges these bring are essential for our development.

On future fuels, the business aims to be host to one of Europe’s largest electric vehicle charging networks, to drive a secondary transition to Hydrogen, and to explore a wide deployment of other vehicular fuels such as hydrotreated vegetable oils as a substitute for traditional diesel. This means that the team must develop a granular understanding of the supply chain and operational impacts associated with delivering these strategic choices to empower the business to deliver.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house legal world? 

We believe that the skill set required of a corporate legal team will not change, but the demands placed on it will. The team needs to remain agile and innovate, communicate well and continue to maintain a deep understanding of the business and matters that may affect the business in future.

The business itself will be more efficient as technological advancements flow through. This means that corporate legal teams will invariably be left with better quality work to deal with. As cost inflation drives external adviser fee expectations, being able to better anticipate corporate needs and to more effectively resource will be crucial.

Imraan Patel