James Thompson
Biography
James is a Partner in the Corporate Finance Department. James joined Baker McKenzie as a Partner in January 2016 from another multinational law firm, having been predominantly based in the London office, but also having spent time in the New York and Singapore offices. He began his career in the Sydney office of a renowned law firm and has spent time as a consultant to Barclays' M&A Legal team. James is a member of TheCityUK's Capital Markets Group.
James is a public M&A practitioner, with deep blue-book experience, having acted for international bidders seeking control of Code-governed companies, for UK targets and also as cash confirmation counsel to financial advisers across the City. He has acted as international counsel for both bidders and targets involving companies listed in other European jurisdictions.
On the capital raisings side, James has been prolific over the years, acting for both issuers and underwriters on IPOs, rights issues, placings and open offers both in the UK and across EMEA. Issuers value his proactivity and commerciality and banks his depth of knowledge and practical experience of a multitude of forms of underwriting and transaction structures, as well as the UK sponsor regime. Beyond London, he has advised on equities transactions involving issuers listed in Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Paris, Saudi Arabia, Stockholm, Tallinn and Warsaw.
Practice Focus
James’ practice comprises a mix of international M&A (both public and private, usually involving companies listed on a range of London and international markets), equities capital raising transactions, and the provision of general corporate governance and regulatory compliance advice to London listed clients.
Representative Legal Matters
M&A
- Britvic plc – acted for Carlsberg Group in connection with its £3.3bn cash offer for Britvic plc
- Georgia Capital PLC – acted for main market listed GCAP on the sale of an 80% stake in its beer and distribution business to a subsidiary of Royal Swinkels N.V. and the creation of an 80/20 joint venture
- Lion Finance Group PLC (formerly Bank of Georgia Group plc) – acted for main market listed LFG on the class 1 acquisition by LFG and its subsidiary JSC Bank of Georgia of the entire issued share capital of Ameriabank CJSC for approximately USD 300 million
- Network International plc – acted for The Olayan Group as a co-investor of Brookfield on its £2.2 billion cash acquisition of payments solutions provider, Network International Holdings plc
- Kape Technologies plc – acted for Unikmind Holdings Limited, owned by Teddy Sagi, on its unrecommended offer for the remaining shares in Kape, valuing the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Kape at approximately US$1.51 billion
- Serica Energy plc – acted for Tailwind Energy Holdings LLP on its sale of Tailwind Energy Investments Ltd to AIM-quoted Serica for a combination of consideration shares and cash (equivalent to c£367 million), with the Tailwind concert party becoming the largest shareholder in Serica, with 28.9% of the enlarged entity
- Photo-Me International Group plc (now ME Group International plc) – acted for Photo-Me in connection with the mandatory cash offer by Tibergest PTE Ltd, a company wholly-owned by Mr. Serge Crasnianski, the Chief Executive Officer of Photo-Me, valuing the equity at £285m
- AVEVA Group PLC - acted for Citi as financial adviser on the offer by Schneider Electric SE for all of the remaining shares in AVEVA Group PLC, valuing the equity at £9.86 billion on a fully diluted basis
- Sanne Group plc – acted for Bank of America (Merrill Lynch International) and Rothschild as financial advisers on the recommended £1.5 billion recommended cash offer for Sanne by Apex Group Ltd., which is majority owned by Genstar Capital LLC
- Equiniti Group plc – acted for Goldman Sachs and Greenhill as financial advisers on the £673m recommended offer for Equiniti Group plc by funds managed or advised by Siris Capital Group, LLC
- Codemasters Group Holdings plc – acted for UBS as financial advisor on the £945m recommended offer for Codemasters by Electronic Arts Inc
- G4S plc – acted for Morgan Stanley on the £3.8 billion offer for G4S by Allied Universal (in turn majority owned by owned by funds controlled by Warburg Pincus and a fund managed by CDPQ, and certain other investors, including an affiliate of the J. Safra Group)
- Yum! Brands – acted for Yum! and/or its Pizza Hut and KFC brands on a number of material transactions over the years, including the exits from Russia in 2022 and in relation to multiple master franchising arrangements
- Wingstop Restaurants, Inc. – acted for Wingstop in its capacity as franchisor and rolling shareholder in the context of the acquisition by Sixth Street of the UK master franchisee, Lemon Pepper Holdings, for approximately £400 million
- Anytime Fitness Franchisor, LLC – acted for Anytime Fitness and its subsidiary RM UK, LLC in connection with a change of control of the UK franchisee and the acquisition of a stake therein by RM UK
Equities
- Savola Group - acted for Savola Group, which is listed on the Saudi Tadawul Stock Exchange, on its three stage transaction involving a ~USD 1.6 billion (SR 6 billion) rights issue, followed by a capital reduction, and then the distribution of Savola Group's entire 34.52% stake in Almarai Company (the Middle East’s leading dairy company, also listed on the Tadawul Stock Exchange) to eligible Savola shareholders
- ofi Group plc – currently acting for ofi and its selling shareholder Olam Group in connection with the proposed premium listing on the London Stock Exchange (already publicly announced)
- China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd: acted for CPIC on the Offering of Global Depositary Receipts and Listing on the London Stock Exchange to raise $1.8 billion, with UBS and Huatai as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners, and HSBC, CICC, Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan as joint bookrunners
- Global Ports Holding PLC - acted for GPH on its initial public offering and listing on the London Stock Exchange, with Barclays, Citi and Goldman Sachs as joint global coordinators
Admissions
- England & Wales~United Kingdom (2008)
- New South Wales~Australia (2004)
Education
- College of Law of England and Wales (Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test) (2007)
- College of Law at Sydney (Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice) (2004)
Languages
- English