Biography
Jonathan Wood is Co-Managing Partner of Weil’s London office and a partner in the Private Equity group. He specialises in advising private equity investors on the full range of transaction types including growth and minority investments, buyouts, takeovers, exits and IPOs. He also has considerable experience advising on corporate transactions including domestic and cross-border M&A, particularly in the technology sector.
Jonathan is ranked as a Leading Lawyer for Private Equity by Chambers UK 2022, as a Leading Individual in Legal 500 UK 2022 and is Highly Regarded in IFLR1000 UK 2021. Chambers states that Jonathan is “held in high regard due to his experience handling high-end private equity transactions. He displays strength in complex buyouts, carve-outs and takeovers” with clients saying that he "is outstanding - he's calm, smart, detailed and great to have in your team."
He has been included in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 where it was noted that he is able to take “clients through…high-pressure situations with strong preparation as well as a very clear and pragmatic view of risk”.
Experience includes advising:
- Advent International and portfolio companies:
- with Agnafit Bidco on the consortium’s $8 billion take private bid for Sobi; the £4 billion takeover of Cobham plc; the investment in Aareon; the sale of KMD; the take private of Brammer plc and the roll up acquisition of IPH to form Rubix; the acquisition of Ammeraal Beltech; and on the IPOs of Advent-backed Equiniti and DFS
- portfolio company Laird on its carve-out sale of its Connected Vehicle Solutions, Connectivity, Performance Materials and Thermal Systems divisions
- portfolio company Cobham on its $2.8 billion sale of Cobham Mission Systems
- General Atlantic and portfolio companies:
- on the investment in Dixa; the investment in Property Finder; the acquisition of a majority interest in Kiwi.com; its investments in Depop and Typeform; the acquisition and sale of MeteoGroup; its investment in FNZ and Ant Financial; and on its exit from Axel Springer Digital Classified
- portfolio company Hyperion Insurance Group on its acquisition of RK Harrison and subsequently Hyperion on the $400m investment by CDPQ
- Depop and its selling shareholders on the sale of the company to Etsy for $1.625 billion
- Howden Group (formerly Hyperion Insurance Group) on: its acquisitions of A Plan and RK Harrison; the investments by CDPQ and Hg Saturn in Howden Group; and most recently on its acquisition of Aston Lark
- CVC Capital Partners on the acquisition of RiverStone Europe from Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited
- Generation Investment Management on its: investment partnership with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and that partnership's acquisition of FNZ; equity investment of up to $600 million in Octopus Energy Group
- Berkshire Partners on the sale of VetStrategy to IVC, with Berkshire’s reinvestment in IVC
- Ardian on its: acquisition of Evaluate; sale of Envision Pharma
- Bd-Capital on its: preliminary fundraise to acquire Symprove Holdings; investment in SportPursuit; and investment in Ascenti
- TPG Growth on its investment in Onfido and TPG Tech Adjacencies on its acquisition of a minority stake in ABC Technologies
- Froneri, with PAI, on the $4bn acquisition of Nestlé’s Ice Cream business in the US