Mr Simon Wood > Addleshaw Goddard > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Highly regarded by a sizeable roster of FTSE-listed clients – spanning the financial services, energy, gaming and retail and consumer sectors – for its experience in complex and high-value corporate transactions, the ‘very friendly and courteous’ team at Addleshaw Goddard offer a significant ‘depth and breadth’ in knowledge and an ‘excellent and reliable service.’ The team possesses a wealth of experience in domestic and cross-border public company takeovers, drawing on the expertise of a number of dedicated specialists that previously acted as secretaries in the Takeover Panel. The group is led by divisional managing partner and private equity specailist David Kirchin and Chris Taylor, who also heads the Africa group, focuses on the retail and consumer, life sciences and renewables sectors. Nick Pearey regularly handles strategic public takeovers, ECM transactions and private M&A transactions across an array of sectors. The highly regarded M&A practitioner Simon Wood regularly assists public companies listed on the main market and AIM. Graham Cross and Hugh Lauritsen, whose expertise is most concentrated in the financial services sector, are key lawyers who handle a variety of corporate transactions. New arrival Hardeep Plahe, former partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, joined the team in May 2023, bringing 16 years of experience of cross-border M&A and financial regulatory work, particularly in the Middle Eastern market.

Fielding a team of ‘top quality lawyers for the mid-market’, Addleshaw Goddard is well known in the market for its ECM work, including IPOs and secondary fundraisings. As advisors to the takeovers regulator, the team is uniquely well-placed to advise on public M&A transactions, for which it has extensive expertise. Practice head Nick Pearey is supported by experienced ECM lawyer Giles Distin and mid-market public M&A specialist Simon Wood, the latter of whom is praised as a ‘go-to public takeovers lawyer’.