Ian Brent > Fladgate LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile
Fladgate LLP Offices

16 GREAT QUEEN STREET
LONDON
WC2B 5DG
England
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Ian Brent

Work Department
Group corporate.
Position
I have been a lawyer for 30 years and a corporate partner for over 20 years. I love doing deals and that gets me out of bed in the morning (although my wife would say it’s the Peloton bike). I not only advise on deals but have managed to match many buyers and investors with target companies.
I focus on the battles worth winning rather than point scoring and am happy to use my experience of over 300 deals to help clients get the best commercial outcome.
I know the recruitment sector particularly well and am on one side or the other of many of the M&A deals in that space.
I am very familiar with the PE landscape as I act both on the buy side for firms such as Nickleby Capital and the sell side for shareholders selling to PE houses.
Recommended M&A lawyer in Legal 500 2017, which says “The strong, bright, very experienced Ian Brent fights his clients’ corner well and is very knowledgeable, particularly in the recruitment sector”.
He qualified in 1994 and joined Fladgate in 2013.
Career
Trained at Freshfields, qualified 1994; joined Fladgate as a partner in 2013.
Languages
French, Spanish, German.
Education
Haberdashers’ Aske’s School; Cambridge University (BA 1988, MA 1991).
Lawyer Rankings
London > Corporate and commercial > M&A: Smaller Deals, £10m-£100m
With extensive experience handling cross-border M&A transactions in a wide variety of industry sectors including but not limited to technology, corporate real estate, hotels and leisure, and publishing, the corporate practice at Fladgate LLP is a popular choice. The team boasts an impressive and growing client base, consisting of notable names such as Penguin Random House. Equity capital markets and public and private M&A specialist David Robinson heads the group and regularly acts for publishing companies on mergers and acquisitions, and leads on IPOs, secondary fundraisings, and takeovers. Anthony Shatz and Amy Collins are noted for their aptitude in M&A, joint ventures, investments, reorganisations, and corporate governance, while Jamie Hamilton and Graham Spitz concentrate on venture capital, private equity, and M&A. The department also benefits from the expertise of recruitment and technology authority Ian Brent who is recognised for assisting private companies on M&A, and India desk leader Mythily Katsaris who is adept in assisting Indian companies, business owners, and family offices on cross-border mergers and acquisitions. David Harrison has strengths in acquisitions, disposals, and fundraising, and Tessa Trevelyan Thomas, who joined the team from Broadfield Law UK LLP in April 2023, is a specialist in public and private M&A and takeovers in the ecommerce sector. Other notable names in the practice include Sophie Burke, India-Rose May, Cem Usten, and Jennifer Hawkes.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Private client > Contentious trusts and probate
- Private client > Art and cultural property
- Corporate and commercial > M&A: Smaller Deals, £10m-£100m
- Private client > Contentious trusts and probate
Firm Rankings
- Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation: mid-market
- Private client > Family
- Employment > Immigration: human rights
- Insurance > Insurance litigation: for policyholders
- Real estate > Residential property
- Real estate > Commercial property: corporate occupiers
- Real estate > Commercial property: development
- Industry focus > Hospitality and leisure
- Corporate and commercial > Commercial contracts
- Real estate > Commercial property: investment
- Real estate > Construction: contentious
- Real estate > Construction: non-contentious
- Corporate and commercial > Equity capital markets – small-mid cap
- Crime, fraud and licensing > Fraud: civil
- Dispute resolution > Group litigation: Claimant
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Infrastructure: Project finance and development
- Private client > Personal tax, trusts and probate
- Real estate > Property finance
- Real estate > Property litigation
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Sport
- Corporate and commercial > Venture capital
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > IT and telecoms
- Real estate > Planning
- Employment > Employers
- Finance > Corporate restructuring & insolvency
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Renewables
- Private client > Art and cultural property
- Private client > Contentious trusts and probate