Caroline Rae, Herbert Smith Freehills
Herbert Smith Freehills’ Caroline Rae is something of a torchbearer for female success in M&A. Last year, she led the £7.8bn acquisition of Western Power Distribution for National Grid. ‘Take your most exciting M&A deal and times it by ten,’ she says of the transaction.
Rae is alive to damaging perceptions: ‘There are still some in the City who think that women can’t or shouldn’t operate in M&A at the top level,’ she says.
The haters should take a look at Rae’s deal sheet, which includes advising Cineplex on its proposed $2.1bn takeover by Cineworld, Hammerson on its £3.4bn recommended bid for Intu Properties, and ARRIS Group on its $7.4bn takeover by CommScope.
Sally Wokes, Slaughter and May
‘A lot of women leave the profession because of the fear factor of what it might be like,’ asserts one of Slaughters’ standout M&A partners, Sally Wokes. ‘You have to be a bit of a trailblazer as a woman, but when better parity is reached that obviously won’t be the case anymore.’
Wokes cites acting for Walmart on its £6.8bn disposal of ASDA during the pandemic and its unapproved proposed merger with Sainsbury’s as her career highlight: ‘A really fantastic set of transactions with every single group in the firm involved, which is rare,’ she explains.
One City M&A peer commends Wokes for being ‘technically excellent, able to address all aspects and understand all elements of a transaction, and good at pulling complex elements together’.
Wokes reflects on the challenges: ‘It is challenging to fit this job around family life and other demands on time, such as mentoring and other D&I initiatives – there is a big weight on women’s shoulders. I feel like I owe it to the world and want to be involved in all these things, and I am not sure that feeling is shared by all men. The impact of getting more men involved would be a game-changer.’
Victoria MacDuff, Slaughter and May
Having recently led the team advising Vodafone on its proposed £15bn merger with Three to form the UK’s largest telephone operator in history, MacDuff counts a number of household names as clients, including Legal & General, Ladbrokes, ASDA and Walmart.
MacDuff notes that Walmart’s £6.8bn sale of ASDA, which she led alongside Wokes and Jackson, marked the first time in the firm’s history that a major transaction had been driven by only women. ‘It was a huge milestone,’ she says.
Nilufer von Bismarck, formerly Slaughters’ M&A luminary and now a non-executive director at Legal & General, is among the band of heavyweights to sing MacDuff’s praises: ‘Very good with clients, flexible, fun to be with.’
Melissa Fogarty, Clifford Chance
Fogarty more recently in March 2023 advised Citi on the sale of its consumer banking business in India to Axis Bank, a transaction valued at $1.4bn.
Vica Irani, Jones Day
Jones Day’s corporate practice head, Vica Irani notes that being a woman at a male-dominated, often tense, negotiating table can have its benefits: ‘There is typically a degree of calmness because men often respond to women differently which leads to a more productive discussion.’
Irani’s recent deals include advising Sun Communities on its $1.3bn acquisition of Park Holidays.
Irani’s personal highlight is assisting clients on exiting the Russia market after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. ‘The context was obviously incredibly challenging, but there was a definite sense of accomplishment in helping clients navigate successfully through a seemingly impossible situation,’ she reflects.
Ones to watch
Allen & Overy partner Claire Coppel is widely hailed as a future star of the M&A market and is recognised as a Next Generation partner in The Legal 500. Enthuses one former colleague: ‘She’s great with clients and great with people, with a really solid approach.’ Linklaters’ Fionnghuala (Finn) Griggs has a strong reputation in the City for her work with clients such as WorldFirst, Neuravi, Finality and Lloyds Banking Group. Nathalie Hobbs, former Asia managing partner of Linklaters, extols of Griggs: ‘She has steadily built her profile and client base to be at the top of her game.’
Sarah Flaherty joining Weil from Linklaters early this year has been viewed as a significant blow to the Magic Circle firm, and for good reason, having advised SABMiller on its £78bn acquisition by Anheuser-Busch InBe and Takeda on its £46bn recommended offer for Shire. Cleary Gottlieb’s The Legal 500 Next Generation M&A partner Nallini Puri flies under the radar. Nevertheless, the credibility of her deal list is hard to ignore, with recent lead mandates acting for Veolia on its €2.4bn disposal of Vigie to Macquarie and Edenred on its £1.2bn acquisition of Reward Gateway from Abry Partners and Castik Capital.