Named as a 2023 “Private Equity Rising Star” by Law.com International and a 2023 “Rising Star: Top UK PE Lawyers” by MergerLinks, Christopher Vallance focuses on complex cross-border mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, investments, dispositions and other corporate transactions. He has advised a wide array of clients, including several prominent private equity sponsors, on matters in sectors ranging from financial services to fintech and technology more broadly, industrials, media and entertainment and consumer and retail, among others.
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Work Highlights
- Silver Lake in multiple transactions, including its acquisition of Facile.it from EQT and Oakley Capital, the €6.8 billion merger of Cegid and Grupo Primavera, its investment in Exact, its sale of a stake in Cegid to KKR at an enterprise value of €5.5 billion, in the $225 million strategic investment by Certares and Knighthead in Global Blue, in the $100 million investment by Tencent in Global Blue, its investment in TeamSystem, its acquisition of Software AG, in the sale of Software AG’s StreamSets and webMethods businesses to IBM for €2.13 billion and in the sale of Software AG’s Trendminer business to Proemion, in the sale of Software AG’s Cumulocity business to Avedon Capital Partners, and in the sale of Global Blue to Shift4
- Bruin Capital in multiple transactions, including its acquisitions of Oddschecker, ISG, Sportseen, TRM Partners, PlayGreen, Promoesport, Nomi Sports, Positionumber and Football Division Worldwide, its sale of Deltatre to Bain Capital and Nextalia, and its investment in Box to Box
- Oakley Capital in its acquisitions of Phenna Group, Construction Testing Solutions, Steer Automotive Group, Assured Data Protection, IU Group in a GP-led secondary transaction, and in I-Tracing’s strategic partnership with Bridewell
- Apax in its investments in ClearBank, Xeneta and Funding Options and GreytHR, in its cross-border restructuring of Takko Fashion, and in its acquisition of Public Group International
- Lone Star in its acquisition of ERIKS and the subsequent sale of ERIKS’ UK & Ireland business
- Astorg in its €1.3 billion acquisition of IQ-EQ in a GP-led secondary transaction
- KKR in its £4.2 billion acquisition of Viridor from Pennon and its acquisition and carve-out of Unilever’s baking, cooking and spreads business for €6.8 billion
- Melrose Industries in its successful £8.1 billion hostile offer for GKN plc, its sale of Nortek Air Management to Madison Industries for £2.62 billion and its sale of Walterscheid Powertrain Group to One Equity Partners
Education
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College of Law, 2013 LPC
Distinction
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King’s College, University of London, 2011 LL.B.
First Class Honours
Named as a 2023 “Private Equity Rising Star” by Law.com International and a 2023 “Rising Star: Top UK PE Lawyers” by MergerLinks, Christopher Vallance’s diverse practice focuses on complex cross-border mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, investments, dispositions and other corporate transactions. Based in Simpson Thacher’s London office, he has advised a wide array of clients, including several prominent private equity sponsors, on matters in sectors ranging from financial services to fintech and technology more broadly, industrials, media and entertainment, and consumer and retail, among others.
His experience includes the representation of:
- Apax in its investment in ClearBank
- Apax in its investment in Xeneta
- Apax in its investment in Funding Options
- Apax in the cross-border restructuring of Takko Fashion
- Apax in its investment in GreytHR
- Apax in its acquisition of Public Group International
- Astorg in its €1.3bn acquisition of IQ-EQ in a GP-led secondary transaction
- Blackstone in its investment in Industrie De Nora
- Bruin Capital in its acquisition of Oddschecker
- Bruin Capital in its acquisition of ISG
- Bruin Capital in its acquisition of Sportseen
- Bruin Capital in its disposal of Deltatre
- Bruin Capital in its acquisition of TRM Partners
- Bruin Capital in its investment in Box to Box
- Bruin Capital in its acquisition of PlayGreen
- Bruin Capital in its acquisition of Promoesport
- Bruin Capital in its acquisition of Nomi Sports
- Bruin Capital in its acquisition of Positionumber
- Bruin Capital in its acquisition of Football Division Worldwide
- EQT Infrastructure in its sale of GB Railfreight to Infracapital
- EQT Growth in its investment in Bought by Many
- Groupe Fnac in its contested £914 million cash and share acquisition of Darty Plc
- Lone Star in its acquisition of ERIKS
- Lone Star in its sale of ERIKS’ UK & Ireland business
- Melrose Industries in its successful £8.1 billion hostile offer for GKN plc
- Melrose Industries in its sale of Nortek Air Management to Madison Industries for £2.62 billion
- Melrose Industries in its sale of Walterscheid Powertrain Group to One Equity Partners
- New Mountain Capital in its acquisition of Keysource Group
- Oakley Capital in its acquisition of Phenna Group
- Oakley Capital in its acquisition of Construction Testing Solutions
- Oakley Capital in its acquisition of IU Group in a GP-led secondary transaction
- Oakley Capital in its acquisition of Steer Automotive Group
- Oakley Capital in its acquisition of Assured Data Protection
- Oakley Capital and Eurazeo in I-Tracing’s strategic partnership with Bridewell
- KKR in its £4.2 billion acquisition of Viridor from Pennon
- KKR in its acquisition and carve-out of Unilever’s baking, cooking and spreads business for €6.8 billion
- Silver Lake in its acquisition of Facile.it from EQT and Oakley Capital
- Silver Lake in the €6.8 billion merger of Cegid and Grupo Primavera
- Silver Lake in its investment in Exact
- Silver Lake in its sale of a stake in Cegid to KKR at an enterprise value of €5.5 billion
- Silver Lake in the $225 million strategic investment by Certares and Knighthead in Global Blue
- Silver Lake in its acquisition of Software AG
- Silver Lake in its investment in TeamSystem
- Silver Lake in the $100 million investment by Tencent in Global Blue
- Silver Lake in its sale of StreamSets and webMethods to IBM for €2.13 billion
- Silver Lake in its sale of TrendMiner to Proemion
- Silver Lake in its sale of Cumulocity to Avedon Capital Partners
- Silver Lake in its disposal of Global Blue to Shift4 for $2.5 billion
- Vista Equity Partners in its acquisition of Accelya from Warburg Pincus
- Vista Equity Partners in its bid for Blue Prism
Christopher received his LL.B. from Kings College London and his LPC from the College of Law, London.