A dedicated focus on the mid-market

With more than 70 lawyers handling a complete range of corporate finance work, Wragge & Co is 'a real deal firm' according to Chambers UK. Operating as one team from offices in London and Birmingham, the Corporate group specialises in mid-market work for companies ranging from global brands to private companies.

Its 17 partners include 'such luminaries as Stuart Young and managing partner Ian Metcalfe' (Legal 500), as well as a specialists in mergers and acquisitions, private equity, IPOs, joint ventures, public takeovers, share schemes, complex corporate structuring and tax.

A dedicated focus on the mid-market is borne out by the numbers. In the past 12 months the team has completed 100 or so deals with an average deal value of £50 million. This year, it came second in the mid-market M&A category at the Lawyer Awards for its work on a trio of deals worth €1.03 billion for European property developer Parkridge.

Every year the team works on a number of cross-border deals and on many of them it provides both English law advice and manages the work of lawyers in each of the affected jurisdictions. These lawyers are drawn from a trusted network of leading independent law firms in each of the world's major jurisdictions. On the Parkridge deals the team co-ordinated advisers from 18 jurisdictions to deal with 125 separate legal entities across Europe.

Other international work includes a $594 million acquisition for Estonia's AS Tallink Grupp, a £200 million cross-border acquisition for Fortune 500 company, Automatic Data Processing, Inc., plus deals for Finnish, Japanese, Swedish, French, German and Swiss companies.

Wragge & Co is 12th in the list of corporate advisers to FTSE 250 companies in the Chambers 2008 FTSE Survey.

Working as one team across two locations gives the team the flexibility to deliver advice and support where and when the client wants it. This might mean combining London-based deal teams drawing upon additional resource or specialist expertise based in Birmingham, or vice versa. What is paramount is that the right team works together to provide a seamless experience for the client. A dedicated Transaction Services team based in Birmingham provides a high-quality, cost-effective due diligence service – an essential foundation for any deal.

Clients include E.ON UK, AT&T, Earls Court & Olympia, HJ Heinz, Enterprise Inns, BP, Sanctuary Housing Association, Automatic Data Processing and Close Brothers Private Equity.

For more about corporate, contact david_vaughan@wragge.com.