William Brewis

Head of our Funds & Financial Services team, responsible advice relating to Financial Services Authority (FSA) authorisation and compliance; corporate transactions; the establishment, regulation and operation of retail and institutional funds consumer credit and other consumer finance products.

Tel: +44 (0)870 733 0579

Email: william_brewis@wragge.com

Best brains in ...

Think of a complex jigsaw with various pieces jammed in the wrong places and a few left over that definitely won't fit (even if you push very hard). I'm great at taking it all to pieces, moving it around, changing the shapes and putting it back together again so they all fit! That's just what you have to do to ensure a new product fits within complex and ever changing regulations. Transactions involving financial intermediaries - independent financial adviser groups or networks, insurance brokers etc. Regulation of financial promotions and of collective investment schemes (I'm on the CIS working group of the Financial Markets Law Committee).

Highlight of your career so far?

Developing a new unit trust product with Australian listed client, Praemium. In UK market terms we created what many thought was impossible - a retail unit trust where an investor's units in effect vary in value with the investments and withdrawals made by the unit holder rather than varying in number. This was product development work where we lost count of the times we had to break down the assumptions of those coming to the project for the first time.

Most challenging job you've ever done?

Achieving an auction sale of a share of a business in central Africa where the client had no direct access to detailed information on the business and an unco-operative business partner. Tactical negotiations with potential buyers including the business partner, set-piece board meetings, navigating a single path through several different sets of pre-emption provisions and a potential group reorganisation involving a number of different jurisdictions - all over an 18 month period. At times very pressurised but always a challenge and very rewarding when the client achieved what, on occasion, seemed impossible!

What about outside the UK?

I am advising an international health insurer in relation to an IPO for a new insurance company in Saudi Arabia and on the transfer of an existing insurance business, regulated in Bahrain, to that new company. The deal involves working with local advisers and regulators in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia as well as the local business unit to ensure the client's interests are protected and the project is managed as a whole rather than from a purely local business perspective.

What's your definition of going the extra mile?

Not giving up when its important - no I mean really not giving up and not being satisfied with half a solution. Keeping the creativity going even when everyone is tired and ready to call it a day.

Best example of a creative legal solution?

Devising a structure enabling a client to effectively run two fund raisings in parallel without tripping over relevant regulations. Changing a fund's corporate status prior to launch to enable a 'seed corn' portfolio to be acquired. The commercially required security arrangements would have been impossible to put in place starting with a normal plc vehicle suitable for a UK investment trust.

When have you ever given a client a real competitive edge?

Cutting-edge legal work to develop a first-in-market product for Praemium.

What's your single greatest contribution to corporate responsibility?

School Governor to Thomas Telford School (probably the most successful city technology college) and now the new Walsall City Academy.

What's been written or said about you that you're most proud of?

'[his] clever advice has, at times, made a major difference to our deal outcome and, even during moments of intense activity that characterise M&A work, [he] maintained a healthy sense of fun.'