Shepherd and Wedderburn close deals of £5.4bn
The 2015 Corporate Review recently published by leading law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn, testifies to a record year for corporate deals and M&A activity. The firm closed over 97 deals last year with an aggregate deal value of £5.4 billion.
Andrew Blain, Head of Corporate at Shepherd and Wedderburn said: “Our top ranked corporate practice has a strong track record in advising some of the country’s fastest growing and most agile companies and our ability to quickly understand their goals has enabled us to close a significant number of high value and complex deals in Scotland, the City and overseas during the course of 2015. Early indications of market activity so far this year suggest that the levels of activity experienced in 2015 look like being exceeded in 2016.”
Notable among the deals completed by the firm were FanDuel, one of Scotland’s two tech companies recently valued at more than US$1bn, in its US$275m Series E equity financing; and the sale of healthcare device maker, Aircraft Medical, to Medtronic for US$110m.
In addition to technology businesses, energy and renewables formed a nucleus of activity for the corporate team, and in that sector, it continues to act as lead adviser to REIF in relation to its significant equity and project finance investment into the world famous MeyGen tidal array project. The deal is recognised as ground-breaking for the marine and tidal sector, and critical for Scotland’s profile as an innovator in the development of marine energy. It was the world’s first commercially financed tidal project.