Corporate

It takes commitment and experience to achieve the best outcomes for clients

Business negotiations can bring uncertain times with much at stake, but maintaining a focus on objectives helps everyone find mutually beneficial solutions more efficiently. 

HP takes a proactive and flexible approach, acquiring an in-depth understanding of your concerns and always working constructively with you to address them. This is just one of the reasons why leading corporate finance advisers and banks regularly recommend us.

Building relationships with all transaction parties

It’s hard to overstate the value of maintaining good relationships between all negotiating parties on a transaction. Building a team with other professionals in corporate finance and tax, for example, or with in-house advisors is essential to achieve the best outcome for clients.

We can assemble the right team to support you, bringing in experience and expertise from other practice areas such as banking and finance, employment, intellectual property, IT, data protection and real estate. It enables us to support more complex transactions and to provide a comprehensive service that is also an integrated one.

Transactions are rarely simple, but processes needn’t be complicated

The HP team is very experienced in corporate transactions (including business acquisitions and sales), advising listed company groups, private companies (including many owner-managed businesses) and partnerships, entrepreneurs and investors. We advise on both domestic and cross-border transactions (including acting for overseas acquirers of UK businesses), working with overseas counsel as required. 

The dedication and enthusiasm we bring to each project remains the same, whether we are dealing with a £1 sale of a distressed business, a £100 million share sale, a group reorganisation, an investment round, a management share incentive scheme or a shareholder dispute. We aim to complete the task within the desired timescale and to negotiate efficiently and commercially to achieve a successful outcome for our clients.

The corporate team, complemented by other expertise within the firm supports the full range of business transactions:

• Sales and purchases of business and assets
• Sales and purchases of shares
• De-mergers 
• Corporate group and company restructuring
• Management buy-outs and buy-ins
• Joint ventures
• Shareholders’ Agreements
• Share options
• Partnership matters including formations and retirements
• Business start ups
• Fundraising
• Supporting management teams in private equity transactions
• Share buy-backs and capital reductions
• Corporate governance issues, board room and shareholder disputes
• Private equity funds acquiring businesses or minority states