North East Insider Dealmakers 2015

We would like to thank everyone who nominated us for Corporate Law Firm of the Year at last year’s event. We were delighted with the result and after another successful year, which also saw us awarded Law Firm of the Year and Corporate/Commercial Team of the Year at the recent Northern Law Awards, we’d like to ask for your help in this years’ Insider submission.

We are now in our fourth year since our start-up in 2011 and are continuing to attract top quality clients and people to the firm. Our latest partner addition is Neil Warwick who joined us from Bond Dickinson at Easter and has particular expertise in competition law, State aid and public/private funding structures.

We now have six corporate partners, 3 senior associates and 2 associates and believe we are now one of the biggest corporate teams in the region. The whole team has contributed fully to a fantastic year in which we have continued to see growth across the board.

There are three awards which we would like to be considered for and would be grateful if you would nominate us in the following categories:

Corporate Law Firm of the Year

Over the year we have advised on over £125 million of significant and complicated deals within the region, notably:

• Norchem Limited and its shareholders on its sale to Lexon
• Utilitywise plc (FTSE:AIM) on the acquisition of t-mac Technologies (up to £22m) and associated banking facilities (up to £25M)
• Meealofa Developments Holdings Limited on the sale of its entire issued share capital (£56M)
• Cussins Limited on a private equity fundraising with the Business Growth Fund Plc and associated £7M revolving credit facility with Lloyds Bank Plc
• Cleveland Biotech on the NVM backed merger with Biological Preparations Limited
• DPE Automotive on its acquisition and two funding rounds
• Angel Corporate Finance, on the IPO of Strat Aero plc

In addition, we have continued to advise our expanding client base of entrepreneurs and exciting high growth SMEs on their growth through acquisition and fundraising, acting on over 45 transactions involving smaller businesses in the past 12 months.

Corporate Lawyer of the Year, Mark Lazenby

This year Mark has led the Square One Law corporate team advising:

• Shareholders on the £56m disposal of entire issued share capital in Meaalofa Developments Holdings Limited
• The management of Cleveland Biotech on the NVM backed merger with Biological Preparations Limited

Other publicised highlights included advising:

• Utilitywise plc on its revolving credit facilities with RBS in connection with the acquisition of t-mac Technologies
• Cussins North East Limited on revolving credit facilities with Lloyds Bank plc in connection with the recent investment by British Growth Fund plc.

Deal of the Year, Utilitywise plc acquisition of t-mac Technologies

James Bryce led the Square One Law team who advised Utilitywise plc, a leading utility cost management consultancy offering energy procurement and energy management products and services to its business customers throughout the UK, on the acquisition of t-mac Technologies.

The purchase price for the transaction comprises an initial consideration of £10 million payable in cash and shares in Utilitywise and deferred consideration of up to £12 million payable in the first two years following completion subject to t-mac satisfying certain financial performance criteria.

The cash consideration element of the transaction was satisfied by Utilitywise taking out of a £25 million revolving credit facility with RBS which Square One Law also advised Utilitywise on alongside the acquisition.

Geoff Thompson, CEO of Utilitywise, comments: “We are once again extremely pleased with the support we received from James and the rest of the team at Square One Law, particularly given the time constraints in ensuring that the acquisition and the new banking facilities completed at the same time.

“What I like about Square One Law is not just the professionalism and range of services they offer but also the high energy they bring to each project.”

To vote, simply click here and follow the instructions, it should only take a few minutes of your time.