United Kingdom
Freshfields in the UK
Since 1743, Freshfields has been at the forefront of the most important UK corporate matters, reinventing itself as the industrial revolution gave way to international trade and today’s global economy.
Deploying our unmatched strength in M&A, IPOs, financial regulation and dispute resolution from our City headquarters, we help the world’s biggest businesses with their most complex and challenging issues.
And Freshfields continues to innovate. Founded on the principles of continuous improvement, the Global Centre in Manchester delivers process-oriented legal services efficiently and ensures we build on our history of thinking ahead.
Client successes
Advising AB InBev on its £78.4bn acquisition of SABMiller.
Defending Mastercard against one of the first major opt-out collective actions under the new regime introduced by the UK’s Consumer Rights Act 2015.
The action was brought on behalf of a class of around 46 million UK consumers for a total of £14bn in damages, the largest claim ever brought before the UK courts. Read more about the litigation in our case study.
Advising the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) on an amendment to the 35-year Project Allenby/Connaught contract.
This was the largest accommodation private finance initiative the MoD had undertaken.
The amendment, worth over £1.1bn, will provide new-build single-living accommodation for soldiers, as well as new and improved technical, office, catering, retail and leisure facilities under the MoD’s army-basing programme.
Enabling works are already underway and service personnel and their families are due to arrive in 2019.
Advising ConvaTec on its proposal to raise $1.8bn through an IPO and listing on the London stock exchange.
ConvaTec is a global medical products and technologies group that focusses on therapies for the management of chronic conditions.
The proposed IPO will allow ConvaTec’s largest shareholders, Nordic Capital and Avista Capital Partners, as well as members of the management team, to realise part of their investment.
ConvaTec has said it will use the net proceeds of the IPO mainly to repay existing borrowings.
Helping Sotheby’s fend off £11m ‘Caravaggio’ negligence suit.
Advising First Reserve, a global private equity and infrastructure investment firm exclusively focused on energy, on the acquisition of Morrison Utility Services, a provider of utility infrastructure services in the UK.
Offices
London managing partner
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Mark Sansom London and Dublin Managing Partner
London, Dublin