Overview
James is a senior corporate partner in the Linklaters London office and focuses on public and private M&A, capital raisings and corporate governance advisory work. He leads a number of the firm's important relationships with major clients and is a member of the firm's Japan Desk.
He is ranked by Chambers for his significant M&A work and was named as a member of The Lawyer magazine’s “Hot 100” for 2015.
James is a member of Linklaters’ Practice and Innovation steering group, and he leads the practice innovation team within the firm’s Corporate Group.
Experience
James has led on many of the market’s most significant corporate transactions. These include advising:
M&A
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company in relation to its £46bn recommended offer for Shire plc, the largest ever outbound M&A deal by a Japanese company
- Novartis on its innovative asset swap with GSK, including the sale of its vaccines business to GSK, the purchase of GSK’s oncology business and the contribution of its OTC business to a joint venture with GSK
- Amec Foster Wheeler plc on its £2.3bn recommended all-share acquisition by John Wood Group plc
- Rio Tinto on its defence of the £97bn hostile takeover offer by BHP Billiton, its $40bn acquisition of Alcan and the divestment of its Alcan Engineered Products division
- Takeda on the sale of its respiratory portfolio to AstraZeneca
- Accord in relation to its acquisition of the Actavis UK business from Teva
- Kier Group on its acquisitions of Mouchel and May Gurney
Capital markets
- Rio Tinto on its $15.2bn rights issue, the first rights issue by a company with dual listed company structure
- the sponsor and dealer manager in relation to the redomicile from Greece of a major soft drink bottling group, including obtaining a premium listing in the UK and inclusion in the FTSE indices
- Jardine Matheson Group on its standard listing in the UK
- Kier on its £340m rights issue to fund the acquisition of Mouchel
- the underwriters on Thomas Cook’s £425m rights issue
Admissions