Osborne Clarke has a long and illustrious heritage in acting for management teams. Indeed we are one of less than a handful of City law firms that have a specialist team of lawyers who specialise in, and are focused on, supporting management teams with the complexities of a private equity investment.

Our specialist Management Advisory team has many years’ of in-depth direct experience of providing pragmatic and commercially focused advice to senior managers wanting to buy the companies they manage, particularly in relation to employee equity participation whether through rollover/re-investment of sale proceeds, direct investment or via a structured management incentive plan.

Osborne Clarke has been an invaluable partner throughout our journey. The team was impressive and provided us with pragmatic commercial advice and amazing service ethic. We thoroughly enjoyed working with them. – Dennis O'Brien, CEO, Lucid Group Communications

The support provided by the Osborne Clarke team on our transaction with Palatine was excellent and we enjoyed working with them.  We have worked with the same team on a number of transactions and value their judgement.  They have always provided us with clear, sensible and commercial advice throughout. – Graham Hodgson, CEO, Verdant Leisure

Thank you for all your help. Osborne Clarke's no-nonsense support throughout the project has been exactly what we needed. The swift distillation of the issues cut through the complexities of the deal, and your focus and attention on what was important, were highly valuable – a real testament to the team's breadth of expertise and experience. – Peter Rowse – CFO, ByBox Holdings Ltd

The Osborne Clarke Team were with us throughout the process – from start to finish. Their in-depth knowledge of the private equity industry and extensive experience of supporting management teams allowed us to differentiate the important issues from the minutiae leading to a, relatively speaking, painless process. We would not hesitate to work with them again or to recommend them to others considering a management buyout – Steve Morris, MD, Morgan Motor Company

It's been a pleasure working with Osborne Clarke throughout this transaction. Mark [Spinner] has worked hand in hand with us every step of the way providing practical and insightful advice. His knowledge and experience of these types of deals was invaluable and added real value. – Paul Thandi, CEO, NEC Group

As a full service law firm we are able to draw upon the support and skills of our colleagues in other specialist areas bringing pragmatic, knowledgeable and up-to-date market experience to our advice on all key areas of the deal including:-

  • Warranties and Warranty & Indemnity insurance
  • Investment terms
  • Tax structuring and planning
  • Employment agreements and incentives
  • Personal wealth planning

Our dedicated team of specialist management advisory lawyers work side by side with our clients through every aspect of the transaction, from initial discussions, the preparation and agreement of equity terms sheets, selecting your preferred financial sponsor through to deal execution. We will also be there to support you and your team when it comes to exiting your investment.

We regularly work with management teams who are backed by financial sponsors operating in every segment of the private equity sector meaning our knowledge and experience is extensive, relevant and up-to-date.

In 2019 we provided management advisory services to both incumbent and incoming management teams on transactions with an aggregate deal value in excess of £2 billion.

Experience

NEC Group

Advising the management team of NEC Group on the £815 million secondary buyout funded by Blackstone Group LP.

Auction Technology Group

Advising the senior managers on the secondary management buyout of Auction Technology Group funded by TA Associates.

Davies Group

Advised the management team of Davies Group on an investment by BC Partners.

Odeon/UCI Cinemas

Advised the senior management team on the €1.21 billion sale of Terra Firma controlled Odeon/UCI Cinemas to AMC Entertainment.

Morgan Motor Company

Advising the management team of Morgan Motor Company on the investment by InvestIndustrial.

ByBox

Acting for the management team of ByBox on the $221m secondary buy-out led by Francisco Partners.

BMI Healthcare

Advised the management team of BMI Healthcare, the UK's largest private healthcare provided, on the sale of their property and operational businesses.

Insights