James Connor

• Advised Palladian Investment Partners on its acquisition of PayPlan
• Advised UK AI chip designer Graphcore on its sale to SoftBank Group Corp
• Advised CurrencyCloud on its US$1 billion sale to Visa Inc.
• Advised Busuu on its $436 million sale to Chegg, Inc.
• Advised RockRose Energy plc in connection with its recommended £250 million cash acquisition by Viaro Energy
• Advised brumbrum on its sale to Cazoo Group Ltd
• Advised Dream Games in connection with its private placement of $460 million preference shares
• Advised Finimize on its sale to abrdn plc
• Advised Aptean, Inc., a Vista Equity Partners, TA Associates and Charlesbank portfolio company, on its £95 million recommended cash acquisition of Sanderson Group plc
• Advised Atempo Growth on the establishment of its tech focused venture debt fund and its €250 million joint venture arrangements with Banco Santander SA
• Advised Michelin on its acquisition of the Masternaut Group
• Advised Aptean, Inc. on its acquisitions of Paragon Software Systems Limited, Systems Integration (Trading) Limited and Prima Solutions Limited
• Advised Invisio A.B. on its acquisition of Racal Acoustics Limited
• Advised Kognitiv Corporation on the sale of its Intelligent Shopper Solutions business to IRI, a Vestar Capital Partners and New Mountain portfolio company
• Advised Melrose Industries PLC in connection with its hostile £8.1 billion cash and share acquisition of GKN plc
• Advised KKR in connection with various sales of shares in Pets at Home Group Plc for an aggregate of £407 million by way of accelerated bookbuilt offerings
• Advised Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan in connection with Michael Kors’ £896 million acquisition of Jimmy Choo PLC
• Advised Gates Corporation, a Blackstone portfolio company, in connection with its acquisition of the assets of Techflow Flexibles
• Advised Twenty-First Century Fox on aspects of its £27 billion offer for Sky plc
• Advised Groupe Fnac on its contested £914 million cash and share acquisition of Darty plc
• Advised Blackstone on its acquisition of Cirsa Gaming Corporation
• Advised Melrose Industries PLC in connection with the sale of its Elster business to Honeywell International for £3.3 billion
• Advised Aston Martin in connection with its private placement of £200 million preference shares
• Advised Blackstone and CVC in connection with various sales of shares in Merlin Entertainments plc for an aggregate of £1.3 billion by way of accelerated bookbuilt offerings
• Advised Nanjing Cenbest in connection with its acquisition of a majority stake in House of Fraser
• Advised Pets at Home Group Plc and KKR on Pets at Home’s £1.25 billion London main market IPO
• Advised Melrose Industries PLC in connection with the sale of its Crosby and Acco business divisions to KKR for US $1 billion
• Advised KKR in connection with its acquisition of South Staffordshire Plc
• Advised Apax Partners, Blackstone, KKR, Permira and Providence Equity in connection with various sales of shares in TDC A/S (listed on NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen) by way of accelerated bookbuilt offerings
• Advised KKR and Pets at Home in connection with the restructuring of the Pets at Home management equity programme, a refinancing and reorganisation
• Advised First Reserve Corporation in connection with the disposal of its majority stake in Acteon Group Limited to KKR for £400 million
• Advised Teleflex Incorporated in connection with its acquisition of Intavent Direct Limited and various assets connected with the laryngeal mask supraglottic airway business of LMA International N.V. in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Channel Islands
• Advised Arle Capital Partners Limited in connection with the disposal of the Capital Safety Group to KKR for an enterprise value of US $1.12 billion
• Advised Eaton Corporation in connection with the acquisition of Cooper Industries plc in a cash and shares transaction valued at approximately US $11 billion
• Advised Blackstone in connection with its acquisition of Jack Wolfskin Group GmbH & Co. from Quadriga Capital and Barclays Private Equity for €600 million
• Advised Walter Energy Inc. in connection with its CAD $3.3 billion merger with Western Coal Corp
• Advised KKR in connection with its minority investment in Grupo Inaer
• Advised KKR in connection with its joint investment with Triton Partners in Ambea AB
• Advised Standard Life plc on its £225 million disposal of Standard Life Bank plc to Barclays Bank PLC
• Advised M-real Corporation on the disposal of its European graphic paper business to Sappi Limited for €750 million
• Advised H.M. Treasury in relation to the merger of HBOS plc and Lloyds TSB plc and its subsequent capital investments, including detailed contingency planning in respect of HBOS plc
• Advised Cadbury Schweppes plc on the demerger of its Americas Beverages business and the listing of Cadbury plc on the London Stock Exchange and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. on the New York Stock Exchange
• Advised Cairn India Limited in connection with the reorganisation of Cairn Energy plc’s Indian business and its IPO on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India
• Advised The Standard Life Assurance Company in relation to its demutualisation and Standard Life plc on its London main market IPO

James’ practice focuses on corporate transactions, including public company takeovers, private M&A, private equity, equity capital markets (including IPOs) and a variety of English company law and listed company and corporate governance matters.

James frequently represents private equity firms, investment banks and corporate clients across a range of industries. In recent years he has acted on multiple significant tech-focused exits in the UK as well as on several high-stakes public M&A takeovers. James has particular experience in English law and UK regulation applicable to UK listed companies.