Ashurst named Corporate Team of the Year at The Legal Business Awards 2022

Ashurst advised Morrisons on the competing bids for the company by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLP (CD&R) and Fortress Investment Group, which culminated in an Takeover Panel-administered auction process won by CD&R. This was one of only three Panel auctions in 2021, with one of the others relating to the takeover of Augean plc which was also advised by the same Ashurst team.

The corporate team advising Morrisons was led by partners Tom Mercer and James Fletcher, with senior associates Hayley Gow, Sara Hamzawi and Rebecca Servian, associates Colin Bugler and Clara Yeo and head of pensions John Gordon, who worked closely alongside colleagues in the firm's specialist competition, employment, finance and litigation practices.

Commenting on the award Tom Mercer, lead partner, said: "Being a trusted adviser to public companies is and always has been at the heart of what we do. We were very proud to have advised Morrisons on its takeover, which required us to guide the client through a variety of complex issues throughout a demanding process. As always, this was a real team performance at Ashurst and I am delighted the team has received this market recognition."

UK Head of Corporate, Nick Williamson added: "We are delighted to have received this award, which is a testament to the strength of our corporate practice. This has been an outstanding year for the team, during which we have advised on some of the most high profile transactions in the market."

Recent transactions which Ashurst's UK corporate team have been involved in have included advising:

• Amalfi Bidco Limited in relation to its recommended cash and share acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued share capital of CareTech Holdings PLC
• Barclays on £1.3 billion recommended cash offer for Biffa plc
• PL Corporation on the £7.8 billion sale of UK electricity distribution group Western Power Distribution
• National Express on its attempted £1.9 billion all-share combination with Stagecoach
• Clinigen on its £1.3 billion takeover by Triton Investment Management
• Equitix and Goldman Sachs on the £2bn takeover of John Laing Group by KKR/Equitix
• AVEVA Group on its US$5 billion acquisition of OSIsoft including its c.US$3.5 billion rights issue and acquisition financing
• Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs International and Merrill Lynch International on the demerger by GSK of its consumer healthcare business to form Haleon