Iain Fenn

Iain is a specialist in corporate law, advising international companies and financial institutions on public and private M&A, corporate restructurings, public offerings and joint ventures. He has acted as lead counsel on many of the market’s most significant transactions, including acting for the acquirors on, and defenders of, hostile public offers as well as on large complex demergers.

Iain regularly advises the boards of a number of London listed companies on strategic and governance issues.

He has experience of implementing transactions for companies in many sectors and many international markets.

Work highlights

Throughout his career, Iain has worked and led on numerous high profile and innovative corporate transactions. Some examples of his experience include advising:

• Vistry on its recommended cash and share combination with Countryside Partnerships
• WSP Global on its acquisition of the environmental services division of Wood Group and its recommended cash offer for RPS Group
• Caesars Entertainment on its disposal of the international business of William Hill outside the United States to 888 
• Vodafone on the demerger of its European towers business in 10 countries into a new structure and the listing of the new holding company Vantage Towers
• Just Eat on the £12bn recommended all share merger with Takeaway.com and the concurrent defence of the unsolicited bid by Prosus
• Old Mutual on the complex managed separation of Quilter and its businesses in Africa and the United States and related initial public offering of Quilter
• Balfour Beatty on the simultaneous defence of a proposed bearhug from Carillion, the disposal of its Parsons Brinckerhoff division for £1.2bn and management of a number of business performance issues
• Al Noor Hospitals on its £6bn reverse takeover of Mediclinic, a transaction which involved not only a takeover but also shareholder approval of the interests of Remgro (Mediclinic’s largest shareholder), a financing, a tender offer to Al Noor shareholders and negotiations with regulators in multiple jurisdictions in order to facilitate implementation. Competing bids for Al Noor Hospitals also had to be addressed during the sale process

• GUS on the demerger of the Experian and Home Retail Group businesses, including establishing Experian as the first Jersey-incorporated, Irish tax-resident holding company using an unusual multipart scheme of arrangement structure
• Vodafone on its £112bn hostile bid for Mannesmann, the first successful hostile bid for a German company. As well as being novel in its effect, the transaction required innovation in relation to areas as diverse as German takeover practice and cross-border settlement

Iain studied history at the University of London and the Common Professional Examination and Law Society Finals at the College of Law.