England - London • Corporate and commercial

Wiggin LLP

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Boasting a ‘true partner-led service’ and ’pragmatic and commercial approach’, Wiggin LLP is regularly sought out by a range of top clients from the media, entertainment and technology sectors. The team is well placed to advise public and private companies on domestic and cross-border matters, including joint ventures, M&A and private equity deals. The team is led by the ‘commercially-minded’ Ben Whitelock, who has particular experience advising on corporate deals in the betting and gaming, technology, and publishing sectors. Ciaran Hickey advises clients across the technology and media sectors on a broad range of cross-border and domestic corporate transactions, acting for leading businesses, investors and entrepreneurs. Jason Fisher, lauded for his ’first-class client service’, is instrumental in managing the firm’s relationships with key clients.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘The team were very impressive and helped us massively navigate a deal which was quite complex. They suggested various mechanisms and fixes throughout, and always gave us a great view from multiple team members which I personally enjoyed as things were debated and discussed as a team helping us to reach the right position. I would highly recommend Wiggin.’

  • ‘All team members brought different attributes to the deal. The leadership and client management skills felt very personalised and I felt like I was being supported by a really diligent and skilled team. The team's knowledge of similar deals in our sector was also a massive win for us.’

  • ‘Good all-round knowledge with a very pragmatic and commercial approach to getting things done. Excellent guides and sounding board for me and my management team.’

  • ‘I have worked with Ben Whitelock on a number of transactions. He's an experienced and commercially-minded lawyer with an excellent team of associates, juniors and individual subject matter experts. Always available and just as willing to advise when to push a point as when not.’

  • ‘Wiggin provides a true partner-led service at extremely competitive rates. They are flexible in their approach to billing and fees, which has been extremely helpful in recent times whilst still maintaining first rate client care.’

  • ‘Jason Fisher stands out. Always available, easily able to go toe to toe with much larger global firms whist providing first class client service and technical legal advice.’

Key clients

  • Bad Wolf
  • Banijay
  • DAZN
  • Element Pictures
  • Entain
  • ERA Interactive
  • Evolution Gaming
  • FIS
  • Flutter Entertainment / The Stars Group
  • Fulwell 73
  • House Productions
  • Playtech
  • Racecourse Media Group
  • Stats Perform
  • UKTV
  • William Hill
  • Xplor

Work highlights

  • Advised the shareholders of Wildstar Films on the sale of the Company to Fremantle.
  • Advised the majority shareholders of Digital Sports Mgmt (a leading sports marketing, gaming and entertainment agency) on the sale of a majority share to YMU.
  • Advised Broadway Gaming (the leading independent online bingo operator) on its acquisition of UK online bingo division of 888 Holdings plc (the leading international gambling operator which is in the process of acquiring William Hill) for a consideration of up to US$50m.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame

The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.

Ben Whitelock

Ben Whitelock

Hall of fameWiggin LLP

Ben is a partner in the Corporate group. He has a broad range of experience in advising media and technology companies across all aspects of their corporate legal requirements, including private and public M&A transactions, joint ventures, fundraisings and re-organisations. Ben has particular experience in advising on corporate deals in the betting and gaming sector where he works closely with Wiggin’s market leading regulatory gaming lawyers and regularly advises major operators and technology providers on M&A transactions and strategic investments as part of the waive of consolidation currently happening in the sector. In addition, Ben regularly advises on deals in the technology, publishing, TV and film sectors.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Ben Whitelock

Other key lawyers

Ciaran Hickey, Jason Fisher