Edward Westhead > Fieldfisher > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Fieldfisher
RIVERBANK HOUSE
2 SWAN LANE
LONDON
EC4R 3TT
England
Edward Westhead photo

Work Department

Corporate

Position

Partner, Equity Capital Markets specialist, focussing on the technology, gaming, life sciences and energy & natural resources sectors.

Career

Recent notable transactions include:

Technology

  • Devolver Digital, Inc as its lead IPO counsel, on its IPO and c. £200m fundraising, the second largest IPO on AIM by market cap (c. USD 1 billion) in the history of the market
  • AIM-listed Blue Prism, the leader in AI and robotic process automation, on its acquisition of Thoughtonomy;
  • AIM-listed Checkit plc (formerly Elektron Technologies) on its disposal of the Bulgin business and return to shareholders by way of tender offer of the majority of the sale proceeds;
  • AIM-listed Seeing Machines Limited, a leader in AI and driver monitoring technology, on its placings and open offers;
  • AIM-listed EVR Holdings, the virtual reality content provider, on its reverse takeover of Melody VR and its readmission to AIM;

Life sciences

  • Synairgen plc on its £87 million fundraising to support its Phase III trial and manufacturing scale up of its potential COVID-19 therapeutic, with Numis Securities and finnCap as joint bookrunners.
  • Cenkos Securities plc on the IPO, placing and vendor placing of AIM-listed Diaceutics plc, the life sciences diagnostic and consultancy business;
  • Stifel on the IPO of AIM-listed Ergomed plc, the clinical trials services and drug development business and acting for Numis and N+1 Singer on Ergomed’s subsequent acquisitions and secondary fundraisings;
  • Panmure Gordon on the IPO and secondary fundraisings of AIM-listed Horizon Discovery, the gene editing, diagnostics and CRO services business;
  • Panmure Gordon and Bank DeGroof Petercam on the reverse takeover of Ecuphar (the Belgian veterinary medicines business ) by AIM listed Animalcare Group plc, its associated fundraising of c. £33 million and readmission to AIM;

Resources

  • SigmaRoc plc, as lead IPO counsel, on its acquisition of Nordkalk, reverse takeover, £260 million placing  and readmission to AIM, with Peel Hunt, Liberum Capital and Numis acting as joint bookrunners.
  • Liberum Capital, Tamesis and Cormark on the £32 million fundraising of Shanta Gold Limited
  • finnCap Limited on the admission to AIM of Gemfields Group, a world-leading supplier of responsibly-sourced emeralds and rubies and which also owns the world-renowned luxury jewellery brand, Fabergé;
  • finnCap on the reverse acquisition by AIM quoted-Nautilus Marine Services plc of a number of offshore services assets and its readmission to AIM;

City Code takeovers

  • Standard & Poor Global Indices UK on its recommended cash offer for Trucost plc.
  • Investment fund Barker Partnership LP on its recommended cash offer for AIM-listed Synnovia plc;
  • Poly Glorious Investment Company Limited on its £50 million takeover of AIM-listed MayAir Group plc

Lawyer Rankings

London > Corporate and commercial > Equity capital markets – small-mid cap

(Next Generation Partners)

Edward WestheadFieldfisher

Fieldfisher is very active in handling ECM matters for AIM clients, with a particular penchant for guiding issuers in the energy, industrials, financial services, and tech sectors through fundraises and public M&A both domestically and internationally. The team is also capable of advising on high-profile IPOs and reverse takeovers, and it is noted for its ability to handle cross-border takeovers and public company mergers in the energy space owing to the sector expertise of practice head Brad Isaac. George Cotter is a key contact for take-private transactions, Dominic Gurney-Champion handles IPOs in the energy and natural resources space, and Edward Westhead advises on domestic and international fundraises.