Global infrastructure giant Balfour Beatty has renewed its sole adviser mandate with Pinsent Masons until the end of 2018, Legal Business has learned.
The deal which kicked off in April 2013, came to an end this year and was renewed for a further three years by David Mercer, who was appointed group general counsel (GC) and head of legal in July 2015. Mercer (pictured), who was previously UK GC for the construction and services business replaced Chris Vaughan, now GC at Whitbread.
The deal means all of Balfour Beatty’s ‘business as usual’ retained work will continue to be carried out exclusively by Pinsents for a fixed price, while another panel of law firms, which also includes Pinsents, act on complex and business critical legal work.
Commenting on the renewal, Alastair Morrison, head of client strategy at Pinsents and relationship partner for Balfour said the core objective during the second cycle was to drive further value for the infrastructure group.
In June, Legal Business revealed that energy giant E.ON had confirmed its five year single-supplier mandate with Pinsents would run the full course, with the energy supplier electing not to exercise a three-year break clause after appointing the firm as sole legal adviser for general matters in October 2013.
There are a number of other single-supplier deals still active, most notably for Eversheds, which has several deals in place – including one with security systems company Tyco, which was renewed in 2014 for a further three years, and another with FTSE 100 water company Severn Trent, renewed in 2015 for a five-year period.
Also in 2015, the UK arm of global beer and cider producer Heineken announced the appointment of DLA Piper as its principal legal adviser for a major proportion of work, in a move which the company made in a bid to cut down on external legal spend.
Balfour Beatty declined to comment.
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk
Read more in the feature: ‘Three steps forward… will Tyco-style deals ever sweep the market?‘