The UK ceased to be a Member State of the European Union on 31 January 2020. A transition period then applied until 31 December 2020. During the transition period, EU law continued to apply in and to the UK, and the UK continued to trade as part of the Single Market. The Brexit transition period ended … Read more

In our latest public M&A podcast, we discuss the consultation paper published by the Takeover Panel (PCP 2020/1), in which it is proposing to amend various provisions in the Takeover Code relating to the conditions to an offer and to the offer timetable. The key changes include: removing the special treatment afforded to conditions relating … Read more

On 11 November 2020 the UK Government introduced the National Security and Investment Bill (NSI Bill) to Parliament, setting out significant legislative reforms which will overhaul the review of transactions and investments on national security grounds in the UK, against a backdrop of tightening of foreign direct investment (FDI) regimes globally. Read more

The government has introduced a new National Security and Investment Bill to Parliament, which will overhaul the regime for reviewing transactions on national security grounds in the UK. The new regime will be “pro-active” immediately: whilst it will not be possible to notify deals for clearance under the new regime prior to formal commencement of the final … Read more

The UK Takeover Panel has published a consultation PCP 2020/1 in which it is proposing to amend various provisions in the Takeover Code relating to invoking the conditions to an offer, particularly those relating to regulatory / merger control clearance, and to the offer timetable. The consultation closes on 15 January 2021. The Panel says that it … Read more

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit a huge number of businesses and they will be exploring various options to repair their balance sheet or protect their business. Those options might include: seeking a full takeover or finding a cornerstone investor for the company In each case, if the company is governed by the UK Takeover Code, … Read more

We have published out latest M&A update briefing in which we look at the latest developments and trends, including: current M&A activity levels; what has changed on M&A transactions because of the Covid-19 pandemic; what we are seeing on public M&A transactions; some of the particular features of a distressed M&A transaction; and the potential … Read more

In the latest episode in our public M&A podcast series, we look at the role of target shareholders on a bid. We have seen shareholders influence the outcome of a bid in a number of ways recently, including: agitating for a bid; blocking a bid; challenging a scheme at the sanction hearing; and bumpitrage. We … Read more