Mergers & Acquisitions
Whether it’s an acquisition, merger or disposal of a company or business, our specialist M&A team will work closely with you to understand and deliver your transaction. We’ll employ our expertise to help devise a deal strategy that’s appropriate for your particular situation; ensuring that your legal and commercial interests are fully protected at all times.
Our M&A lawyers have extensive experience in acting for buyers of privately owned businesses – particularly in the sub £50m market where we advise on approximately 50+ M&A deals per year, including cross border acquisitions and disposals. We work closely with the buyer’s deal team and professional advisors to identify and manage transaction risk, and to protect the buyer from potential liabilities.
We also advise sellers of privately owned companies and businesses on how best to structure their exit to maximise value and reduce risk. We are particularly renowned in the London market for acting for entrepreneurs selling their businesses – especially in the real estate, technology, gaming and hospitality sectors.
We appreciate that buying or selling a business can be a big drain on your time, especially when your focus often needs to remain on running your business. That’s why all our transactions teams are led by experienced corporate lawyers who will manage the entire process from start to finish, ensuring that potential problems are anticipated and dealt with before they arise. Our M&A teams work closely with our tax, banking & finance, employment and real estate teams to provide a full service to our clients.
Representative Mergers & Acquisitions Work
Examples of our team’s mergers & acquisitions work include:
- Advised on the £166m sale of a group of companies with an industrial portfolio.
- Advised Metroline Limited on its acquisition of bus routes operated from five separate bus depots in West London from First Group plc for £57.5 million.
- Advised on the £270m sale of a property holding company comprising two shopping centres situated at London Underground stations.
- Advised on a £430m acquisition of a mixture of offshore and onshore companies owning 180 petrol stations and advised on the sale thereof three years later to a global petroleum company.
- Advised the shareholders of Galliard Healthcare Communications on the sale of the company to FTSE listed UDG Group plc for a purchase price of £13m.
- Advised Guggenheim & Partners (New York) in connection with the acquisition of a household financial services company based in London.
- Advised the majority shareholders of Voxygen Limited on its disposal to the Dutch based communications group, Lebara.
Key contacts:
Biography
As head of the firm’s corporate and commercial practice, David’s broad transactional experience includes acquisitions, disposals, take-overs and mergers, asset sales/purchases, joint ventures and company restructuring. He also advises clients on a range of corporate and commercial matters, including company/partnership formation, partnership/shareholders agreements and employment issues.
David has particular experience in the field of sport, acting amongst others for prospective purchasers of Premiership and Football League clubs in takeovers. He is also at the forefront of the development in England of the investment in and transfer of the economic rights of sportsmen and women.
For property investor clients, he has particular expertise in the disposal and acquisition of corporate and similar structures which assist in mitigating stamp duty land tax.
David was listed as a ‘leading individual’ in the Legal 500 2020 rankings. He was also listed as a recommended lawyer in the 2024 rankings.
Representative Experience
David has experience:
- Acting for investors in the economic rights of football players playing in the Premier League and the top divisions in other European Countries as well as in South America. Over the years, David has been involved in providing advice connected with the transfers, economic rights participation and/or playing rights of various Premier League and foreign based players including Carlos Tevez, Javier Mascherano, Jo, Gonzalo Higuain, Luis Fabiano and Heurelho Gomes to name but a few. More recently David has provided advice in relation to the following players: Paulhino (Tottenham) Willian (Chelsea), Oscar (Chelsea) and Carlos Tevez (Juventus).
- Advising on a £430 million acquisition of a mixture of offshore and onshore companies owning 180 petrol stations and advising on the sale thereof three years later.
- Acting on a series joint ventures for a leading UK celebrity magazine and newspaper publisher with a combined value in excess of £280m.
- Acting for the prospective purchasers in their takeover of a Premier League Football Club.
- Advising on the £166 million sale of a group of companies with an industrial portfolio.
- Acting on the acquisition and financing of 545 public houses, worth £163 million.
- Advising on the £25 million sale to a UK plc of a leading UK independent internet service provider.
- Advising the founders and owners of a high end chain of London coffee shops on the sale, earn out and rollover of the owners’ differing interests in the business to a well known industry leading private equity firm.
- Advising the owners of a mining public relations agency on the sale of the worldwide operations to a UK quoted company.
Testimonials
‘David Salisbury is extremely personable, has an acute commercial sense and instils every confidence that he will provide sound reasoned advice with his clients best interests and not there to score points with the other side.’
Legal 500
Year qualified
Solicitor, 1992
Career History
Partner, Teacher Stern
