The firm’s Corporate and M&A team has guided domestic and international clients through around 80 M&A transactions this year

Independent UK law firm Burges Salmon has completed around 80 corporate and M&A transactions since January 2024, totalling in excess of £3 billion in deal value.

Some of the Corporate and M&A team’s most notable transactions this year included AOTI’s £140m London float, the largest AIM IPO by raise since December 2021, and acting for a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority on the sale of its portfolio of 33 UK Marriott International hotels.

Burges Salmon also reinforced its position as one of the leading corporate and M&A advisers in Scotland, having advised on the cross-border acquisition of Scottish business Ascensos and acted for international client Pandox, one of the largest hotel property owners in Europe, on its £49 million acquisition of the DoubleTree by Hilton Edinburgh City Centre.

The team has experienced a marked increase in M&A activity this year, particularly in the second half of the year in the run up to the Autumn Budget.

Deals were implemented across a wide range of sectors, including financial services, technology, healthcare and human capital, and the team advised on an increasing number of private equity transactions.

In addition, the team continues to support clients in the Transport and Energy & Utilities sectors, having advised FirstGroup on a number of transactions including its £500m train deal with Hitachi and the unique partnership between Bluefield Solar and GLIL Infrastructure to boost investment in the UK solar market.

Much of the team’s work this year continued to have an international focus with the firm working collaboratively with its global preferred firm network of independent firms to implement a variety of complex cross-border mergers and acquisitions for a range of clients, including Fasadgruppen and Schenk Tanktransport. The firm has been particularly active in the US and European markets and has also delivered deals working alongside Indian law firm Khaitan & Co and Dutch law firm Houthoff.

Nick Graves, partner and head of Corporate at Burges Salmon, says: “After a relatively uncertain start to the year, activity levels picked up significantly in the second quarter and peaked in the run up to the Autumn Budget. The key difference to 2023 was the sheer volume of M&A deals.

“The team has seen a huge variety of transactions across a range of sectors and it has been great for us to work with so many different corporate finance and other advisers in successfully implementing transactions for our clients and helping them to achieve their goals. We have also really enjoyed working so closely with many firms within our preferred firm network in assisting our clients with their international growth ambitions.

“As we look ahead to the New Year and what 2025 will bring, we are seeing a number of really interesting opportunities and are confident that the high levels of activity which the team has seen in the last 12 months will continue into next year.”