Fionnghuala Griggs

Fionnghuala (Finn) advises on cross-border public and private M&A transactions, and also counsels clients on general corporate governance matters. Finn has extensive experience of working on a broad range of transactions within the financial institutions sector, including bank M&A transactions, loan portfolio sales/acquisitions, and regulatory-driven reorganisations. She has particular expertise in the UK ring-fencing regime and on advising on court processes, whether schemes of arrangements and court-approved reductions of capital under the UK Companies Act 2006 or transfers of businesses under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

As a Global Co-head of Fintech within Linklaters, Finn also has specialist knowledge of the fintech sector, with extensive experience of later stage fundraisings, M&A (ranging from minority investments and strategic partnerships to full acquisitions) and consortium transactions within the sector.

Finn was named in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 in 2020, and was also listed as a Next Generation Partner in the Legal 500 as part of Linklaters’ Tier 1 M&A practice and UK Fintech practice.

Work highlights:

Finn has led, or been a key adviser, on many major corporate and M&A transactions. These include advising:

• Investec on the demerger and listing of its asset management business, Ninety One, and on its disposal of the Kensington Group
• on the establishment and governance of Fnality International, as part of an ongoing project undertaken by a consortium of international banks and financial institutions to establish a peer-to-peer digital cash asset to settle tokenised transactions with finality
• Mondi Group on the simplification of its existing structure from a dual listed company structure to a single holding company structure under Mondi plc
• Lloyds Banking Group on its compliance with the UK ring-fencing regime, including the implementation of its ring-fenced structure and its court-approved ring-fencing transfer scheme under Part VII FSMA
• Deutsche Börse on its merger with London Stock Exchange Group (ultimately not completed due to the European Commission decision not to approve the merger), which entailed complex structuring and alignment of UK and German takeover regimes
• Alent on the £1.4bn recommended offer by Platform Speciality Products effected through a scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006
• Egg Banking on the disposal of its business through a series of separate transactions, including the transfer of its deposits and mortgage loans business through a Part VII FSMA banking business transfer scheme