Expertise

Chris is a partner in Addleshaw Goddard's Corporate Group where he leads the UK M&A team, one of the most active transactional teams in the country executing over 200 transactions in the last 12 months. He has over 25 years' experience advising clients on their mergers, acquisitions and investment strategies, specialising in complex domestic and cross border transactions.

Chris is also the head of AG's market leading Africa Business Group where he oversees a team of 22 partners and more than 30 associates on all aspects of African legal advice from securing IP rights, to transactional activity, compliance work and disputes. He has advised FTSE 100, PE, DFI and sovereign wealth investors on their acquisitions, investments and joint ventures in Africa. Chris is a regular visitor to the region where he lectures on issues ranging from equity investments to international bribery and corruption compliance.

Chris is also one of the lead partners in AG's Tier 1 rated Retail & Consumer Group. Having worked with FTSE 100 consumer businesses throughout his career, he focuses on transactional work in this important sector and the accompanying route-to-market, logistics and manufacturing arrangements which underpin such businesses.

Chris's clients include, amongst others, AAH, ABF, Aurelius, BAT, Bestway, BII, Catalyst Principal Partners, Frequentis, Hikma Pharmaceutical, Kajima Partnerships, Leapfrog Investments, Lucozade Ribena Suntory, James Finlay, Natwest, New Forests, Norfund, Orano, Reebok, Recipharm and Semperian.

In the last 12 months, Chris has led the M&A team which has advised on more than 200 transactions with an aggregate deal value of more than £23bn.  His recent transactions include:

• ABF on all its recent UK brand acquisitions including Dorset Cereal, Reggae Reggae sauce, High5, Reflex and Capsicana 
• James Finlay on the reorganisation and disposal of its tea manufacturing business and the development of its tea extracts supply chain
• Bestway on the acquisition of food warehouse and distribution businesses
• AAH/Aurelius on the disposal of the Lloyds Pharmacy portfolio of high street pharmacies by way of more than 80 corporate share sales
• ABF on numerous transactions including its acquisition of Dorset Cereals, Vivergo Fuels, High5, Reflex, Holgran, Fleming Howden, the Al'Fez brand and Capsicana
• Adidas (through its Rebook subsidiary) on its acquisition of Refuel (Brand Distribution)
• BAT on numerous transactions including its €550 million acquisition of the TDG Group, its acquisition of Blue Nile Cigarette Company in Sudan, its acquisition of Twisp in South Africa and its disposal of its Zimbabwean processing interests
• Bestway on its acquisition of two cash and carry depots from A.F. Blakemore and its acquisition of United National Bank Limited from the National Bank of Pakistan 
• BII Group on its African education joint ventures with GEMS and UNICAF, its African healthcare joint ventures with HCG and Manipal and the creation of Zanzibar Pharma with DPI and EBRD, its investment in commercial solar panel business, Mettle Solar, the refinancing of Miro Forestry, its investment in AgDevCo and the creation and financing of Growth Investment Partners Ghana
• Leidos Inc. on its group restructuring to take advantage of the Granite Trust decision in the US and its group reorganisation to wind up various UK subsidiaries
• Leapfrog on its emerging market co-investment with PG Impact Investments and Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association into NeoGrowth Credit Private Limited
• James Finlay on its exit from its Kenyan tea plantations business and the restructuring of its Kenyan tea extracts business
• Kajima on its healthcare investments in HLR, Stoke Care and Ealing Care and its joint venture with the Low Carbon Alliance to create Taiyo Power & Storage
• New Forest on the creation of its Singaporean VCC Africa fund and its acquisition of Green Resources AS
• RBS on the sale of NatWest Stock Brokers, its investment and ultimate buyout of SafetoSign, its proposed branch network disposal known as Project Rainbow and the creation of NatWest Tyl with its related investment in Pollinate Networks
• Robit on its acquisition of Bulroc and Halco in relation to the machine tools sector
• Semperian on various secondary market acquisitions, its acquisition of MAMG Asset Management Group and its £140m Eurobond fundraising
• TUI Travel on its disposal of Late Rooms Limited by way of auction process