Richard Tett

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Freshfields) is advising Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company B.S.C. (C) (Mumtalakat), the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain, on the successful reorganisation of McLaren Group Limited (McLaren). McLaren is a global leader in luxury automotive and elite motorsports with a focus on its automotive supercar and racing businesses. The McLaren group is formed of McLaren Automotive, which hand-builds lightweight supercars; and a majority stake in McLaren Racing which competes in the Formula 1 World Championship, NTT IndyCar Series in the US, ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Extreme E and E-Sports. With a reputation for innovation and technological excellence, McLaren is one of the UK’s largest independent companies and is globally headquartered at the iconic McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The reorganisation marks a significant milestone in Mumtalakat’s investment in McLaren and represents a major step in the ongoing business transformation of the McLaren group. As a result of the reorganisation, McLaren will benefit from a simplified ownership and governance structure, allowing it to focus on its long-term business plan whilst continuing to explore potential technical collaboration with industry partners. The Freshfields team was led by partners Pervez Akhtar, Richard Tett and Rhys Evans, as well as senior associate Caroline Platt and associates Toby Halford, Jack Robb and Frederick Money.

Mar 28

1 min

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has advised the ED&F Man Group, one of the world’s largest traders of agricultural products, on its successful corporate restructuring and complex cross-border refinancing. The restructuring plan and refinancing comprised the ringfencing and recapitalisation of ED&F Man’s commodities businesses (sugar, coffee and molasses products) from legacy assets. It included a USD300m injection of new money to finance commodities trading, thereby addressing the business constraints arising from the steep commodity price increases over the last year. The transaction was implemented by way of an innovative English law restructuring plan. It is the first large scale international financial restructuring where the new English plan was also used to amend the company’s articles of association. The plan was approved by significant majorities of ED&F Man’s creditors and shareholders and, including the cross-class cramdown, was sanctioned by the English High Court on Wednesday 23 March 2022. The transaction, which closed on Thursday 31 March 2022, provides the Group with a strong balance sheet, the injection of new funding, and the separation of the commodities businesses. As a result, the Group and its commodities businesses are well placed, both regarding liquidity and balance sheet, for trading going forward. The cross-practice Freshfields team was led by partner Richard Tett and senior associate Rachel Seeley, along with partners Paul Davison, Simon Johnson, Craig Montgomery, Sundeep Kapila and senior associate Verity Stevens. ENDS

Mar 31

1 min

Global law firm Freshfields advised the Netceed Telecoms global group on its successful recapitalisation which closed on 29 January 2026. The transaction was agreed by all the lenders and included ownership of the group transferring to a consortium of experienced institutional investors including Pemberton, Blue Owl and Hayfin. The recapitalisation significantly strengthens and deleverages Netceed’s balance sheet. This provides the group with a robust capital structure and significantly enhanced liquidity, such that Netceed is well positioned for long-term sustainable growth. Freshfields partner, Emma Gateaud commented: “We’re delighted to have advised Netceed on this successful transaction. With its robust and greatly strengthened capital structure, we look forward to seeing Netceed thrive as it delivers on its strategic growth plan.” Freshfields led a cross-border, multi-jurisdictional and multi-practice group team to deliver a successful outcome for the company. The Freshfields team was led by restructuring partners Emma Gateaud (London), Richard Tett (London) and Guilhem Bremond (Paris). The Freshfields team also included partner Julien Rebibo (Paris), partner Kyle Lakin (New York), partner Marie Roche (Paris), counsels Antoine Rueda (Paris), Myriam Khetib-Khatiri (Paris) and Thomas Jeannin (Paris), senior associates Will Snowden (London) and Philippe Huntziger (Paris), associates Tony Conn (London), Sacha Hopkins-Powell (London), Frederick Money (London), Soraya Ameline (Paris), Matthis Pangrazzi (Paris), Rada Shakirova (Paris), Nicholas Mack (New York), Alex Kennedy (New York), Reinout Vrielinck (Brussels) and Emma Tielemans (Brussels).

Feb 6

1 min

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) today announced that Lisa Stevens, an experienced private credit/special situations lending and restructuring practitioner, will join the firm’s Global Restructuring Group as a partner in London. Lisa is a trusted practitioner who joins Freshfields from Kirkland & Ellis. Her experience includes advising global clients on bespoke and complex special situations debt transactions. Her hire to the London Restructuring Team and the Global Restructuring Group demonstrates Freshfields strategic growth to enhance its offering to investors in the special situations space. Richard Tett, Freshfields’ London Restructuring head, comments: "We are delighted that Lisa is joining us. With her wealth of experience and connections in the private credit/special situations space, she will add further strength to our special situations business – for both lenders and borrowers.  This builds on Freshfields stellar restructuring business that has been top ranked by main directories for over a decade. She is a perfect fit for our team and her joining opens up many exciting new opportunities for her, us and our clients." Ken Baird, Global Restructuring head, added: "Lisa’s arrival will add real weight to our offering to credit funds not just in London but globally.  We already act in many special situations across the main global financial centres and Lisa will help connect that work and develop a broader offering for our credit fund clients with global reach. Lisa will add another great partner to our joined up global team in this area.” ENDS

Aug 8

1 min

Ten law firm partners have been identified as the top U.K. M&A lawyers based in London for 2025, according to a dataset produced by MergerLinks. Samuel Newhouse of Latham & Watkins topped the rankings, and was found to have led on M&A transactions last year with a combined deal value of £54.05 billion. Newhouse was part of the Latham team which advised on the merger of mining giants Anglo American and Teck—creating a $53 billion combined group. Notably, every lawyer on the MergerLinks list of the top ten practitioners is male. The online platform’s final list is based on the total value of M&A transactions announced last year, and considers only those in which the respective lawyers led teams in which their firm was the primary legal adviser. The list also features top names from Freshfields, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Cravath Swaine & Moore, A&O Shearman and Slaughter and May. Freshfields partner Stephen Hewes was in second place on the list, having led on deals with a combined value of £21.9 billion, while Skadden partner Denis Klimentchenko was in third place with an equivalent figure of £15.8 billion. Freshfields' Hewes advised on CVC's acquisition of Smiths Detection from Smiths Group for £2 billion in December 2025, with Latham & Watkins also leading on the deal.

Mar 3

1 min