Claire has a broad corporate and corporate finance practice, advising on all forms of domestic and international M&A transactions, including public takeovers, private acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures, and equity financings. She has particular expertise in the life sciences and healthcare and insurance sectors.
Claire also has experience in shareholder activism and has advised a number of corporate clients on recent activist campaigns. She is an author of the United Kingdom chapter in The Shareholder Rights and Activism Review. She also spent time on secondment to Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York in 2015-2016.
Claire was named in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 2023 and in the 2021 Law.com Rising Stars list of the 25 best up and coming female lawyers in the UK.
Highlights include advising:
- GlaxoSmithKline on various major transactions, including:
- the demerger of its consumer healthcare business to form Haleon.
- the creation of its global consumer healthcare joint venture with Pfizer.
- the divestment of Horlicks and other consumer healthcare nutrition brands to Unilever.
- the three-part inter-conditional Vaccines, Oncology and Consumer Healthcare asset swap with Novartis.
- Aviva on:
- the divestment of Aviva Poland for €2.5 billion.
- the sale of a majority stake in Aviva Singapore to a consortium including Singlife and TPG for cash consideration of SGD 2 billion and a retained 25% shareholding in the new combined group.
- ASOS on:
- its cashbox placing to raise gross proceeds of approximately £247 million.
- the joint venture with Nordstrom in relation to the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands.
- Shire on the recommended £46 billion takeover by Takeda.
- Immunocore on various matters including its collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and series B funding round.
- Hong Kong Exchanges on its £29.6 billion proposed offer for the London Stock Exchange Group.
- Legal and General on the sale of its Mature Savings business to Swiss Re for £650 million.
- Standard Life on the recommended all-share merger with Aberdeen Asset Management.