Private Equity and Venture Capital
We work closely with management teams, portfolio companies and with leading private equity funds on investments into UK businesses and assets.

We understand the commercial drivers of private equity transactions and work with management teams, portfolio companies and PE funds to help deliver deals with the minimum of fuss – to allow management to focus on the business for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Our expertise includes:

Management buy-outs and buy-ins
Portfolio acquisitions
Public to private transactions
Equity incentives
Acquisition and leveraged finance
Secondary and tertiary buy-outs
Trade sales and IPOs
Fund finance
Shareholder and founder arrangements
Development and expansion capital
Refinancing

Meet our key contacts

Stephen Trombala

Partner

Meet our full team

Melanie Belford

Director

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Andrew Blain

Partner

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Joanne Griffin

Partner, Shepherd and Wedderburn Europe LLP

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Cameron Kane

Associate

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Philip Knowles

Partner

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Kirstin Mackay

Senior Solicitor

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Cath Macrae

Partner

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John Morrison

Partner

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Euan Small

Senior Solicitor

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Donald Smith

Partner

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Stephen Trombala

Partner

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Keir Willox

Partner

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Related articles and insights: Private Equity and Venture Capital

23 July 2026

Section 431 elections – What are they and what are the tax benefits?

Contributor: Gavin Charlton

A guide to an effective way to potentially reduce the tax impact of employee share schemes.

12 September 2025

Private equity investment into the Scottish legal sector: Where are we now, and what next?

Contributors:
Stephen Trombala, Christina Sinclair

The Law Society of Scotland has set out its approach to the implementation of the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025 and confirmed that work on regulating licenced legal service providers will be deferred until 2027.

19 August 2025

Understanding growth shares

Contributor: Gavin Charlton

Using equity is a tried and tested method to help recruit, retain and incentivise key employees and align their interests with shareholders. One commonly used structure involves 'growth shares'.

19 March 2025

BVCA publishes new versions of its model investment documents

Contributor: Kirstin Mackay

The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) has recently published amendments to its 2023 model documents for early-stage capital investments. This article sets out the key changes made to the model documents, the rationale behind some of these changes and the effect they may have on investors and founders.

28 June 2024

BVCA introduces new registration rights agreement

Contributor: Stephen Trombala

In this briefing note, Stephen Trombala and Alejandro Coghill examine the BVCA’s model Registration Rights Agreement and its key clauses.

31 October 2023

Moveable transactions – Scotland v England: Round 1 – Assigning receivables

Contributors:
Andrew Kinnes, Hamish Patrick

The Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Act 2023 will bring Scots law up to date and will arguably move it ahead of the law south of the border, but is this the case when assigning receivables?

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