The Legal 500

Work Department

Corporate (specialising in private equity).

Position

Steven Davis is the head of the corporate department at SJ Berwin LLP. He qualified in 1989, was admitted to the New York Bar in 1993 and became a partner in 1994. Steven acts for both public and private companies with a particular focus on advising private equity houses and management teams on buy-outs, buy-ins, public-to-private and M&A transactions, and advising high-growth companies on their M&A activity within the UK and internationally. He has widely-recognised expertise in the leisure, retail, entertainment and hotel sectors. He is recognised by the legal journals (‘Chambers’ and ‘The Legal 500’) as a leading adviser on management buy-outs and in particular for advising the equity providers. Steven’s established private equity clients include Lion Capital, Cognetas, CVC and Bridgepoint. He also advises hedge fund Och Ziff, in relation to its private investments and GSPS. He is widely regarded as having sector expertise in leisure, retail, hotels and healthcare. As SJ Berwin’s private equity practice increases its international reach, an increasing amount of his time is spent on transactions which are non-UK. 2007 demonstrates this, where he has advised on the acquisitions of Samsonite Corporation by CVC Capital Partners (a US acquisition of a worldwide business, for which his team were nominated for ‘Private Equity Team of the Year’ at ‘The Legal Business’ 2008 Awards) and Hema BV by Lion Capital (a Dutch acquisition of a predominantly Dutch and Belgium business). UK activity included the successful disposal of Hakkasan and Yautcha to Tasameen, the real estate arm of Adia and the acquisition by Investcorp of Moneybookers, the online payment provider.

Career

Qualified 1989; partner 1994.

Member

New York State Bar Association.

Education

Manchester University (LLB Hons).

Practice Areas

Corporate and commercial; Corporate finance; M&A