Event Report

On the 20th March, Legal Business and The Legal 500 hosted the 2023 edition of the Corporate and M&A Summit at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster, bringing together delegates from across the legal profession to discuss the key issues affecting this area of law in uncertain times.

The event was centered around dynamic panels providing hard-hitting insight into the legal issues affecting corporate and M&A legal teams and their clients in 2023. It was sponsored by Aon, Charles Russell Speechlys, Eversheds Sutherland, Jones Day, Luminance Technologies and Virtual Vaults.

Kicking off the first panel, Eric Knai, M&A partner at Eversheds moderated a discussion on the next drivers of strategic M&A. Knai was joined by Anthony Kenny, assistant GC corporate at GSK, Lee Holland, M&A chief counsel at Howden and Ceri-Ann Mcgraa, partner at Eversheds. During the panel Knai emphasized the importance of situating what is happening in the market within the wider geopolitical context; taking into account the war in Ukraine, global inflation, interest rate increases, exchange rate volatility and political and financial policy changes. However, the panel were cautiously optimistic, with Knai commenting that ‘even though 2022 dropped by about 25% in deal volume, it was still the second best year on record. We’ve had a general flattening of the market, a tail off of upper market deals definitely but the mid-market has held up’. Mcgraa explained that whilst ‘trends are very sector specific’, it is certainly not all doom and gloom, adding that from a ‘private capital perspective, we still have record amounts of dry powder out there’.

This was followed by a talk from Luminance’s head of staff, Jaeger Glucina, on supercharging legal teams with AI. Glucina gave an overview of the opportunities for law firms who harness AI, commenting that ‘across the board, AI is driving down costs across every business and it’s taking less time to perform those very routine manual repetitive tasks’. Given the hype surrounding AI following the release of ChatGPT, Glucina distilled AI’s function by explaining that it mimics the problem solving and decision-making capabilities of human beings. She also discussed the advantages of real machine learning versus rules-based systems which have previously been on the market. Real machine learning can be taught and updated on the go. Whereas, rules based systems need users to input different rules for different scenarios to get to a certain solution. Rules based systems need to be constantly updated, maintained, and audited.

After a networking coffee break, the next session was a panel discussion about value creation in a volatile deal environment moderated by Aon. Derek Shakespeare, EMEA chair of M&A at Deutsche Bank, Andrew Ballheimer, former global managing partner at Allen & Overy, Anka Taylor, EMEA head of M&A insurance at Aon, Dwayne Lysaght co-head of EMEA M&A at J.P. Morgan and Piers Johansen managing director at Aon considered strategies for addressing a variety of deal related uncertainties. As Johansen noted M&A took a hit during 2022 ‘sparked by geopolitical uncertainty and stubbornly high inflation’ which ‘impacted dealmaker confidence and capital markets’. The panelists discussed the importance of investors regaining confidence but pointed to the markets showing notable resilience in the face of challenges such as the Ukraine war and energy crises. The panel concluded with the panelists broadly agreeing that looking forward, 2023 would be a tricky year but it would present opportunities for the brave.

Following this, in the final session before the lunch break, Legal Business’s Nathalie Tidman held a fireside chat with Virtual Vaults’ CEO Jeroen Kruithof. Tidman and Kruithof discussed managing complex due diligence processes in M&A transactions. Topics covered included utilizing legal technology, the digitization of legal data and how to avoid common mistakes to keep in control of your M&A due diligence process.

Post lunch, Tidman hosted another fireside chat with Charles Russell Speechly’s David Coates in which they discussed the relationship between private practice lawyers and general counsel. Coates, commenting on the growing pressures placed on general counsel, who are increasingly expected to do more with less, noted that ‘if the role of head of legal has changed, then the way in which a private practice lawyer interacts and works with them naturally must have changed too’. In order to develop a positive relationship with general counsel, Coates suggested avoiding underinvestment in them as a client, maintaining reliable, upfront and transparent communication, particularly in relation to costs, and ensuring that you provide an executive summary and definitive conclusions where appropriate. He also suggested considering whether your firm’s culture compliments the in-house team’s culture and having difficult conversations as soon as possible.

This was followed by a further fireside chat on walking the ESG walk with Upfield’s corporate development VP Caroline Cormier and Nick Lupica, EMEA head of transaction advisory services at Aon. Cormier and Lupica discussed the interplay between ESG initiatives and value creation through sustainability, with an illuminating discussion on how ESG can align with an organisation’s corporate growth strategy. They also discussed the difference between orange flags and red flags during the due diligence process and what should be a deal breaker when working with suppliers. As Cormier observed, Upfield demonstrate that ESG is integral to their business by having ‘a series of commitments, which we’re showing are the priorities and the commitments for the company’.

The final session of the day saw Tidman moderate a discussion on navigating evolving risks in cross-border M&A. Tidman was joined by Jones Day partners Vica Irani and Julian Runnicles, alongside Mary Bartle, senior M&A counsel at Informa, and Allesandro Galtieri, deputy GC at Colt. Potential risks discussed by the panel included a more interventionist approach from antitrust regulators, sanction compliance following the Ukraine war and increased ESG due diligence.

Legal Business and The Legal 500 would like to thank all attendees, sponsors and panelists who contributed to a great day of networking and insight.

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