Laura Priestley

Associate

I have experience advising on corporate transactions involving both private companies and public companies listed on AIM and the LSE Main Market.

About

I advise on a range of corporate transactions including private acquisitions, joint ventures and group reorganisations. I also have experience in capital markets, acting for companies on both AIM and LSE Main Market flotations and secondary fundraisings.

My experience spans the real estate, hotels, natural resources, technology, communications and retail sectors.

For our clients the legal process is a means to an end, so I am here to think through the details and make sure that end is reached as seamlessly as possible. That means a different approach for a family-owned business or a multi-national corporation. What remains constant is flexibility and purposeful guidance, communicated clearly.

I am an amateur mixologist and chef. For related reasons, I also run.

Expertise

We act across a broad swathe of corporate matters in the UK and internationally on both public and private deals.

A full-service capital markets offering from lawyers who are experts in assisting domestic and international clients in raising new equity, either through admission to the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) Main Market, the AIM Market (AIM) or through a dual quotation if the company is already listed overseas.

We advise on all the key issues affecting the property industry, including regeneration and development schemes, investment, funding, construction matters, property disputes, portfolio management, planning, taxation and the creation of corporate structures.

We have a detailed appreciation of the hotel industry’s dynamics and an understanding of the corporate, commercial, tax, real estate, planning and construction issues that affect businesses in the sector. This enables us to support clients in undertaking a wide range of sophisticated and complex transactions both in the UK and internationally.

Through our extensive relationships with law firms around the world, our clients gain access to teams of lawyers worldwide with a deep understanding of the legal issues faced by businesses in the energy and resources sectors. We have particular experience of energy-related transactions in Africa and Eastern Europe.

Our lawyers don’t just advise on the law, but help our clients with the commercial implications of legal decisions. Our team focusses on the practicalities of retailing, whether through a busy store or shopping centre, or using e-tail channels.

Our insolvency & restructuring team, comprising experienced contentious and non-contentious lawyers, has a reputation for providing practical solutions to business-critical challenges. We are known in the market for our 'pragmatic and responsive advice' to a range of stakeholders, including insolvency practitioners, debtors and directors.

Assisting on the accelerated sale of Red Tiger Gaming Limited, a leading online casino game software supplier, to NetEnt AB for £220 million.
Acting for Ocado on the sale of a premium beauty retail business to the Next group.
Acting on a number of high-value corporate real estate transactions, often involving offshore structures.
Advising the Main Market-listed Dev Clever Holdings plc, an online career guidance platform developer, on a subscription agreement raising up to £10 million.
Advising BATM Advanced Communications Ltd, a provider of real-time technologies for networking solutions and bio-medical systems, on a placing and subscription to raise US$18m.