James is a Partner in the Firm’s London Corporate team. He advises private equity firms and corporate clients on all types of significant transactions including public and private acquisitions, carve-outs, take privates, consortium deals and strategic minority and hybrid investments. His clients have included market-leading private equity firms such as Apax, Blackstone, CVC, KKR and Silver Lake.
Prior to joining Simpson Thacher in 2019, James practiced at a top-tier Australian law firm in Sydney.
 
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                            Work Highlights
                            
    - Blackstone on multiple engagements, including: the pending £470 million takeover of Warehouse REIT plc; the strategic investment in SuperBet in connection with its €1.3 billion refinancing; the £500 million takeover of Industrials REIT Limited; the takeover of Atlantia SpA (in partnership with the Benetton family), valuing the company at approximately $59 billion; the £500 million takeover of Hansteen Holdings plc; and the £140 million strategic investment in Currencies Direct (now Redpin)
- Apax Partners on multiple engagements, including: the pending acquisition of Finastra’s global Treasury and Capital Markets business; the €1.3 billion sale of idealista to EQT and subsequent €2.9 billion consortium sale of idealista to Cinven; the €5.1 billion consortium acquisition of T-Mobile Netherlands; and the €1.6 billion sale of Engineering Group to Bain and NB Renaissance
- KKR on multiple engagements, including: the disposal of a majority stake in A-Gas to TPG Rise Climate; the £1.75 billion takeover of ContourGlobal plc; the £1.3 billion takeover of SMS plc; the acquisition of Hyperoptic; and the acquisition of a majority stake in Wella, with an enterprise value of $4.3 billon
- Silver Lake-backed Software AG in the €2.13 billion sale of StreamSets and webMethods to IBM
- CVC in its acquisition of M Group Services
- BC Partners and GardaWorld in the unsolicited £3.7 billion takeover offer for G4S plc
   
 
                        
                        
                        
                            Education
                            
                                - 
                                    University of Technology, Sydney, 2015 LL.B. (Hons.)
                                    
 First Class Honors
- 
                                    University of Technology, Sydney, 2015 Bachelor of Business
                                    
 with Distinction
 
                        
                        
                        
                        
                     
                    
                    
                    
                         James is a Partner in the Firm’s London Corporate team. He advises private equity firms and corporate clients on all types of significant transactions including public and private acquisitions, carve-outs, take privates, consortium deals and strategic minority and hybrid investments. His clients have included market-leading private equity firms such as Apax, Blackstone, CVC, KKR and Silver Lake.
Prior to joining Simpson Thacher in 2019, James practiced at a top-tier Australian law firm in Sydney.
James’ experience includes the representation of:
    - Blackstone on multiple engagements, including:
    
        - the pending £470 million takeover of Warehouse REIT plc;
- the strategic investment in SuperBet in connection with its €1.3 billion refinancing;
- the £500 million takeover of Industrials REIT Limited; 
- the £500 million takeover of Hansteen Holdings plc; 
- the takeover of Atlantia SpA, valuing the company at approximately $59 billion (in partnership with the Benetton family); and
- the strategic investment in Currencies Direct
 
- Apax Partners on multiple engagements, including:
    
        - the pending acquisition of Finastra’s global Treasury and Capital Markets business;
- the €1.3 billion sale of idealista to EQT and subsequent €2.9 billion consortium sale of idealista to Cinven;
- the €5.1 billion consortium acquisition of T-Mobile Netherlands; and
- the €1.6 billion sale of Engineering Group to Bain and NB Renaissance
 
- KKR on multiple engagements, including:
    
        - the disposal of a majority stake in A-Gas to TPG Rise Climate;
- the £1.75 billion takeover of ContourGlobal plc;
- the £1.3 billion take private acquisition of SMS plc;
- the acquisition of Hyperoptic; 
- the acquisition of a majority stake in Wella, with an enterprise value of $4.3 billon; 
- the acquisition of Viridor;
- the combination of NielsenIQ and GfK SE; and
- the sale of its stake in The Hut Group in connection with its IPO
 
- Silver Lake-backed Software AG in the €2.13 billion sale of StreamSets and webMethods to IBM
- CVC in its acquisition of M Group Services
- BC Partners and GardaWorld in the unsolicited £3.7 billion takeover offer for G4S plc
- Grant Thornton Advisors in its acquisition of Grant Thornton UAE
- Bridgepoint Group plc in its £907 million IPO on the London main market.
- EQT Infrastructure in its $4.6 billion acquisition of First Student and First Transit from FirstGroup plc
- Melrose Industries PLC in its demerger of the GKN Automotive, GKN Powder Metallurgy and GKN Hydrogen businesses from the Melrose group into a new independent holding company, Dowlais Group plc
- Bruin Capital on its investment in TGI Media