Alice Greenwell

Freshfields is advising Sonoco Products Company (Sonoco), a global leader in high-value sustainable packaging, on its agreement to acquire Eviosys, Europe’s leading food cans, ends and closures manufacturer, from KPS Capital Partners, LP for approximately $3.9 billion. Learn more about this transaction here. The Freshfields team advising Sonoco is led out of New York by M&A partners Damien Zoubek, Zheng (Jonathan) Zhou, Joshua Ayal and counsel Vinita Sithapathy, and includes corporate associates Ziqian Tao, Tosin Owoka and Brayden Koslowsky. Advice relating to Eviosys’s business in Europe is being provided by partners Piers Prichard Jones and Rhys Evans, counsel Meredith Bayley, senior associate Katie Stenstrom and associate Charlotte Lewczynski. Antitrust advice is being provided by partners Justin Stewart-Teitelbaum, Alastair Chapman, Paul, van den Berg, counsel Angela Landry, senior associates Daniel Wylde and Felix Roscam Abbing, and associate Emily Abott. Partners Pamela Marcogliese and Jacqueline Marino and counsel Jeffrey Gould are advising on capital markets matters and partners Kyle Lakin and Martin Hutchings and associates Allison Caramico and Hadar Tanne are advising on the debt financing. Advice on employment and benefits-related matters is being provided by partners Lori Goodman,Dawn Heath and Alice Greenwell, senior associate Andrew Herman and associate Sonia Bennett. Advice on tax matters is being provided by partners Joe Soltis and Eelco Van Der Stok, senior associate Courtney Canning and associate Hannah Golden. Advice on European works council matters is being provided by partners Olivier Rogivue and Christel Cacioppo. Partners Jonathan Kelly and Stephanie Brown-Cripps and associate Young Park are advising on sanctions and compliance matters. Additional corporate advice is being provided by partner Igor Gerber. Advice on IP and data privacy and security issues is being provided by Partners Mena Kaplan, Chris Lyon and Brock Dahl and associate Danny Spencer. In addition, a large cross-border team of Freshfields attorneys provided support on various aspects of the transaction.

Jun 26

1 min

Freshfields advises RELX Group (RELX), the global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers, on the sale of Gamer Network Limited (GNL) by Reed Exhibitions Limited (REL), a specialist events business and subsidiary of RELX. The sale of GNL will allow REL to remain focused on growing its events business. The deal will also pave the way for GNL to grow its network of award-winning websites, video and social channels that reaches tens of millions of gamers by tapping into the American market as a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc and a part of the Ziff Davis group. The Freshfields team was led by partner Ziyad Nassif with support from associates Jennifer Okoye and Marton Mohacsi. Intellectual property and data protection advice was provided by partner Giles Pratt, senior associates Zofia Aszendorf and Emily Rich, and associates Francesca Teng and TK Egenti. Employment and benefits advice was provided by partner Alice Greenwell and associate Blaise Nsenguwera. Tax advice was provided by partner Paul Davison and associates Farhana Chowdhury and Nilsu Acikada.

May 29

1 min

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has advised Tesco on the proposed sale of its banking operations across credit cards, loans and savings, and the entry into a long-term strategic partnership with Barclays. Tesco expects to receive £600m in proceeds from the sale. The sale allows Tesco to remove significant capital-intensive assets and liabilities from its balance sheet and focus on its profitable, capital-light businesses, such as insurance, ATMs, travel money and card cards, which are complementary to its core retail offering. Under the partnership, Barclays will offer Tesco branded products and services and will provide Tesco with annual income for the use of its brand, growing the customer base through Tesco channels and as a result of Barclays’ participation in the Tesco Clubcard programme. The exclusive partnership will combine Tesco’s market-leading brand, physical & digital reach and relentless customer focus with Barclays’ deep financial services capabilities and expertise in commercial partnerships. The Tesco legal team was led by Group General Counsel Adrian Morris, Group Corporate Legal Director Andrew Magro, Head of Legal Lauren Cox, Senior Legal Counsel Charlotte Hart, Tesco Bank Legal Director and Company Secretary Fiona Burden and Tesco Bank Head of Legal John Murray. The Freshfields team was led by partners Claire Wills and Andy Robinson and senior associates Michael Black and Lucy Cliff. Partner Richard Lister and senior associate Tom Hingley led on advice on the long-term strategic partnership. Partners James Smethurst, Rikki Haria, Alice Greenwell, Andrew Murphy and Pete Allen advised on financial regulatory, anti-trust, employment, pensions and finance matters respectively.

Feb 9

1 min

Global law firm Freshfields advises Allfunds Group plc (‘Allfunds’) on its recommended cash and share acquisition by Deutsche Börse AG (‘Deutsche Börse’). Allfunds is a leading global dealing and distribution platform in the wealth management industry, listed on Euronext Amsterdam. Deutsche Börse is a global market infrastructure provider for trading markets in financial instruments, headquartered in Frankfurt. The transaction, valued at approximately €5.3bn, is expected to complete in the first half of 2027 subject to the approval of Allfunds’ shareholders and regulatory conditions being satisfied. The Freshfields team is being led by partners Nick Jones, Stephen Hewes and Michael Black on M&A, Uta Itzen, Andreas von Bonin and Jenny Leahy on antitrust, David Franco and Cyrus Pocha on financial regulation, Alice Greenwell on employment, Martin Hutchings on finance, Christoph Seibt on German law matters and Hanneke Rothbarth on Dutch law matters.

Jan 22

1 min

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) is advising Hargreaves Lansdown plc (‘Hargreaves Lansdown’) on the recommended final cash acquisition by a consortium comprised of CVC Private Equity Funds, Nordic Capital XI Delta, SCSp (acting through its general partner, Nordic Capital XI Delta GP SARL) and Platinum Ivy B 2018 RSC Limited of the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of Hargreaves Lansdown. Hargreaves Lansdown is the UK’s largest savings and investment platform for retail investors, with almost 1.9 million clients and £155.3 billion savings and investments, having been founded over 40 years ago. The acquisition values Hargreaves Lansdown at approximately £5.4 billion on a fully diluted basis and is expected to become effective in the first quarter of 2025, subject to conditions including the receipt of shareholder approval and certain regulatory approvals. The Freshfields team advising on the deal is being led by partners Claire Wills and Stephen Hewes, alongside counsel Meredith Bayley and associate Nikki Willson, and also includes partners Alice Greenwell, Martin McElwee, James Smethurst, May Smith, counsel Sam Withnall and associates Christopher Chan, Martin Dickson, Lily Hilton, Elizabeth Lien, Charles Smye, Brandon Thompson and Rhianna Thornton-Reid.

Aug 9

1 min