Expertise

Chris is a partner in Addleshaw Goddard's Corporate Group where he leads the UK M&A team, one of the most active transactional teams in the country. He has over 22 years' experience advising clients on their mergers, acquisitions and investment strategies, specialising in complex domestic and cross border transactions.

Chris is also the Head of AG's market leading Africa Business Group where he oversees a team of 10 partners and more than 20 associates on all aspects of African legal advice from securing IP rights, to transactional activity, compliance work and disputes. He has advised FTSE 100, private equity (PE) and sovereign wealth investors on their acquisitions, investments and joint ventures in Africa. Chris is a regular visitor to the region where he lectures on issues ranging from PE investments to international bribery and corruption compliance.

Chris is also one of the lead partners in AG's Tier 1 rated Retail & Consumer Group. Having worked with FTSE 100 consumer businesses throughout his career, he focuses on transactional work in this important sector and the accompanying route-to-market, logistics and manufacturing arrangements which underpin such businesses.

Chris's clients include, amongst others, AREVA, ABF, BAT, Bestway, Catalyst Principal Partners, CDC Group, Frequentis, Hikma Pharmaceutical, Kajima Partnerships, Leapfrog Investments, Leidos, Lucozade Ribena Suntory, RBS, Reebok, Recipharm, Robit and Semperian. His recent transactions include:

• ABF on numerous transactions including its acquisition of Dorset Cereals, Vivergo Fuels, High5, Reflex, Holgran, Fleming Howden, the Al'Fez brand and its investment in COOK
• BAT on numerous transactions including its €550 million acquisition of the TDG Group, its acquisition of Blue Nile Cigarette Company in Sudan and its acquisition of Twisp in South Africa 
• CDC Group on its African education joint ventures with GEMS and UNICAF, its African healthcare joint ventures with HCG and Manipal and the creation of Zanzibar Pharma with DPI and EBRD, its investment in commercial solar panel business, Mettle Solar, and the refinancing of Miro Forestry
• Frequentis on its acquisition of the ATM voice communications and arrival management product business from the US company L3Harris Technologies which involved four inter-connected share and business acquisitions in Canada, the UK, Germany and Australia
• RBS on the creation of NatWest Tyl with its related investment in Pollinate Networks.