Biography
James is a Private Equity partner in London. He acts for a number of sponsors, sovereign wealth funds and family offices, as well as corporates, start-ups and growth companies.
He has extensive experience covering growth equity/minority investments, significant acquisitions (including buyouts, complex carve outs, and deSPAC transactions), and exits. He has also acted for sponsors on their buy and build strategies and on portfolio company matters.
James has wide-ranging industry sector experience, with TMT, education, and consumer goods particular strengths.
He is a member of The City of London Law Society’s Training Committee.
Experience includes:
- Wejo Limited, a connected vehicle data business, on its $1.1 billion business combination with Virtuoso Acquisition Corp., a SPAC sponsored by Virtuoso Sponsor LLC
- Providence Equity on a number of matters including: the sale of Tes Global; the sale of Galileo Global Education to a consortium comprising Téthys Invest, CPPIB, Bpifrance Participations and Montagu Private Equity; the acquisition of the NACE Group; and the acquisition of The Ambassador Entertainment Group
- CVC Capital Partners on the acquisition of all of Fairfax Financial Holdings’ interests in run-off insurance services provider RiverStone Europe, to CVC Strategic Opportunities Fund II
- TowerBrook Capital and Infopro Digital on a number of acquisitions in the B2B media space, including the Insight Division from Incisive Media, and Docu Group
- Goldman Sachs on their equity investment in Soho House
- Lee Equity Partners in its investment in the McLarens insurance business
- SEAF (Small Enterprise Assistance Funds, a global impact PE manager focused on emerging markets) on the sale of the ABCom cable business in Albania, as well as various other transactions
- Montagu Private Equity on its acquisition of the healthcare businesses, Nemera and Centor of Rexam plc
- Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board on the sale of its interests in the Lowell Group, and its subsequent reinvestment in the combined Lowell and GFKL Group, alongside Permira Funds
- Campbell Soup Company in its sale of the Kettle Foods business to Valeo
- Lion Capital on the sale of its interests in UK breakfast cereal manufacturer The Weetabix Food Company to Bright Food Group
- Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, together with management, in the sale of the Mander Portman Woodward schools group to Kaplan
- Froneri on its acquisition of the U.S. Ice Cream Business from Nestlé
- Yodel on the formation of the Collect+ logistics business and the subsequent sale of its interests
- YOPA, the online estate agency, on various funding rounds
- Avolon on the sale of a 30% stake to ORIX Aviation
- Sanofi on its sale of the Zentiva Generic Drug business to Advent International
- Alstom on the €12.35 billion sale of its energy business to General Electric
- GE on the global disposal programme of GE Capital’s assets