Squire Patton Boggs lined up opposite Ropes & Gray as both won key roles on TPG’s £150m investment into value retailer Poundworld last month.
The US private equity (PE) house acquired a majority stake in the UK’s second-largest single-price retailer as part of a bid for accelerated expansion nationwide, with 150 stores planned over the next three years.
Squire Patton Boggs’ Leeds office led for Poundworld, with corporate partner Richard Hunt in charge, supported by tax partner Peter Morley and financial services partner Andrew Fordham. Corporate partner Andrew Wilkinson provided support in London. PwC’s corporate finance team in Yorkshire, led by director Dan Sheahan, also advised Poundworld on the deal.
Hunt said Poundworld was a new client for the firm and a fillip to see a business instructing a regional office for such a large corporate mandate. He commented: ‘There are not many businesses like Poundworld out there generally and to have one in Yorkshire that’s prepared to use Yorkshire advisers was a real privilege and something that you don’t often get the opportunity to do.
‘The management team had been told “you must use City law firms for a deal this size”, but they took the view they could get as good a quality of advice out of Leeds. It is refreshing to see big local businesses actually pushing back against the flow to Magic Circle and bigger City firms.’
Meanwhile, TPG turned to longstanding adviser Ropes to advise on all aspects of the investment. Ropes’ team was led by London-based corporate Peter Baldwin, co-head of the special situations practice who has previously acted for TPG on acquisitions from Lloyds Banking Group, as well as PE partner John Newton.
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk