Jonathan Marks

Partner
Joined firm 1987. Partner since 1997.

Jonathan is head of one of our corporate groups and our insurance practice. He has a corporate and corporate finance practice and has been involved in demutualisations, fund-raisings, joint ventures and private and public acquisitions.

Jonathan is listed as a leading individual in the Legal 500 rankings, and also ranked in Chambers, for his work in the insurance sector.

His recent work includes advising:

  • Intact and RSA Group on the £6.5bn derisking of Sal Pension Scheme and the Royal Insurance Group Pension Scheme, the largest UK transaction of its kind

  • DLUHC on the self-remediation terms to be entered into by major residential property developers and DLUHC
  • FNZ on the sale of financial technology provider GBST to Anchorage Capital Partners
  • OMERS on the UK aspects of its acquisition of a 14% stake in BRIT from Fairfax Financial Holdings
  • Aviva in relation to its approach to dealing with the implications of COVID-19 for its business interruption policies
  • a major insurer on its offer for a Bermudian reinsurance vehicle
  • a number of companies on their Brexit planning including Aviva on its proposed insurance business transfers
  • Standard Life Aberdeen on the £3.24 billion sale of its insurance business to Phoenix Group
  • Standard Life on:
    • its merger with Aberdeen Asset Management to create Standard Life Aberdeen plc and the latter on a contractual dispute with Lloyds Banking Group / Scottish Widows  in relation to the attempt to terminate a series of investment management agreements
    • its disposal of its Canadian business for CAN$4 billion
    • the acquisition of Ignis Asset Management for £390 million
    • its sale of Standard Life Healthcare to Discovery
    • its demutualisation and flotation on the London Stock Exchange
  • The Innovation Group on its £499 million take private by an entity controlled by funds managed by the Carlyle Group
  • a number of other parties on pensions de-risking transactions including:
    • Tata Steel UK on partial buy-in transactions with Legal & General derisking c.£2.8bn of liabilities in aggregate relating to the British Steel Pension Scheme
    • Legal & General on a number of pensions derisking and reinsurance transactions including on a c.£310m buy-in with Reuters Supplementary Pension Scheme, its buy-out of the Commonwealth Bank of America pension scheme and several buy-ins for the The Pearson Pension Plan
    • Philips on its £2.4 billion bulk annuity transaction with Pension Insurance Corporation
    • Akzo-Nobel and ICI on the de-risking of around £3.6 billion of liabilities of the ICI Pension Fund involving transactions with Legal & General and Prudential
    • Aviva on its c. £5 billion de-risking of the Aviva Staff Pension Scheme and c. £900 million RAC (2003) Pension Scheme by way of longevity swap transactions