Robert Innes

Rob has broad corporate and corporate finance experience, with a focus on public takeovers, international private M&A and equity capital markets. 

Highlights include advising:

• Centrica plc on:
  
  • the sale of its North American business, Direct Energy, to NRG Energy, Inc. for $3.625 billion
  • its unrecommended takeover of Venture Production plc
  • the combination of its European oil and gas exploration and production business with Bayerngas Norge AS, controlled by Stadtwerke München, and related shareholder arrangements
  • the sale of Spirit Energy’s Norwegian portfolio of oil and gas assets to Sval Energi, a company backed by HitecVision, and its interests in the Statfjord field to Equinor  
• Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A. on:
  
  • its offer to acquire Italian-listed Yoox Net-a-Porter Group
  • its global strategic partnerships with Alibaba, Farfetch and Alabbar
  • its acquisition of Watchfinder.co.uk
  • the share-for-share sale of Yoox Net-a-Porter to US-listed Mytheresa
  • its distribution of shares in British American Tobacco, and the demerger and listing of Reinet Investments on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange
• Royal Dutch Shell plc on:
  
  • its £50bn recommended cash and share offer for BG Group plc
  • the simplification of its share structure and alignment of its listing and tax residence in the UK
• GKN plc on its defence against a share and cash unsolicited offer by Melrose Industries plc, including its proposed combination of its automotive business with Dana Inc
• Dowlais Group plc on its recommended cash and share combination with US-listed American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc.
• RSA Insurance Group plc on:
  
  • its £7.2bn recommended cash offer by a consortium of Intact Financial Corporation and Tryg A/S,
  • the sale of its operations in the Baltics and Poland
• Direct Line Group plc on:
  
  • its response to an unsolicited takeover offer by Ageas S.A.
  • its £4bn recommended cash and share offer by Aviva plc
• Mediclinic International plc on, and its major shareholder Remgro Limited, on its combination with Al Noor and London listing and Mediclinic on its recommended cash offer by Remgro and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC)
• Coca-Cola Europacific Partners plc on:
  
  • its listing on the London Stock Exchange
  • its acquisition of Australian listed Coca-Cola Amatil Limited
  • its joint venture with Aboitiz Equity Ventures to acquire Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines
• Booking Holdings on various M&A matters, including its proposed acquisition of global flight booking and technology provider Etraveli from CVC Capital Partners and other minority sellers
• Homeserve plc on:
  
  • its £4bn recommended cash offer by funds advised by Brookfield Infrastructure
  • its equity placing to fund its acquisition of certain trade and assets of the home assistance cover business of Dominion Products and Services, Inc
• Sophos Group plc on its $4bn recommended cash offer by Thoma Bravo LLC
• Merlin Entertainments plc on its £5bn recommended cash offer by a consortium of KIRKBI Invest A/S, Blackstone and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board
• Virgin Group on the £1.7bn offer for Virgin Money by CYBG plc
• Novae Group plc on its £500m recommended cash offer by US-listed AXIS Capital Holdings Limited 
• esure Group plc on:
  
  • its IPO on the London Stock Exchange
  • the demerger of GoCompare
  • its £1.2bn recommended cash offer by Bain Capital
• Goco Group plc on its £600m recommended cash and share offer by Future plc
• Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc on:
  
  • the subscription by bioMérieux SA for shares in ONT
  • its equity placing and subscription for shares by Novo Holdings
• Reinet Investments SCA on:
  
  • its Luxembourg and South African listing and rights issue
  • its £1.22bn placing of British American Tobacco shares
• Credit Karma, Inc. on the acquisition of TransUnion’s U.K.-based Noddle business
• PrimaryBid on its Series B and Series C equity fundraisings
• SWVL on its combination with US SPAC Queen’s Gambit
• Actelion on the $30 billion tender offer by Johnson & Johnson and the related demerger of a new R&D biotech company, Idorsia
• Dentsu Aegis on:
  
  • its acquisition of a majority stake in Merkle Group Inc from Technology Cross Venture and various management and employee shareholders, and related shareholder arrangements
  • its sale of its  scan data services business, Aztec, to Information Resources, Inc
• Ericsson on its acquisition of Red Bee Media from Macquarie Advanced Investment Partners, L.P.
• Chi X Europe and its consortium shareholders on its combination with BATS Global Markets Inc
• Aviva plc on the sale of RAC Limited to The Carlyle Group for £1.0 billion
• Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in relation to EDF’s acquisition of British Energy Group plc

Rob is ranked as a leading individual for upper mid-market and premium M&A deals in The Legal 500. He was commended at the 2016 FT Innovative Lawyers Awards for his work advising Mediclinic on its combination with Al Noor and London listing, which won the award for innovation in M&A.