The corporate and mergers & acquisitions team at Bristol-headquartered national law firm Burges Salmon helped complete around 80 M&A transactions with a combined value of more than £3bn during 2024.
The team guided domestic and international clients through deals across a wide range of sectors, ranging from financial services, technology and healthcare to human capital, while also advising on an increasing number of private equity transactions. 
Among its most notable transactions were US medical tech group AOTI’s £140m London Stock Exchange (LSE) float – the largest IPO (initial public offering) on the LSE’s AIM market for three years – and the sale of a portfolio of 33 UK Marriott International hotels by a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
The team continued to support clients in its prime transport and energy & utilities sectors, advising FirstGroup on a number of transactions including its £500m deal with train manufacturer Hitachi and the unique partnership between Bluefield Solar and GLIL Infrastructure, pictured, to boost investment in the UK solar market.
Bluefield Solar, which has its operations and management office in Bristol, is an LSE-listed income fund focused primarily on acquiring and managing UK solar energy assets, while GLIL is a partnership of UK pension funds which invests in core infrastructure with a £3bn portfolio that spans solar and offshore wind, telecoms, railway rolling stock and the M6 toll road. 
Much of the team’s caseload continued to have an international focus, with it working collaboratively with its global preferred firm network of independent firms to implement a variety of complex cross-border mergers and acquisitions for a range of clients.
These included Swedish specialist building group Fasadgruppen’s £120m takeover of UK firm Clear Line and Dutch tank transport group Schenk’s acquisition of UK road tanker logistics provider Suttons.
Burges Salmon partner and head of corporate Nick Graves, pictured, said after a relatively uncertain start to the year, activity levels picked up significantly in the second quarter and peaked in the run-up to the Autumn Budget.
He added that the key difference to 2023 was the sheer volume of M&A deals.
“The team has seen a huge variety of transactions across a range of sectors and it has been great for us to work with so many different corporate finance and other advisers in successfully implementing transactions for our clients and helping them to achieve their goals,” he said.
“We have also really enjoyed working so closely with many firms within our preferred firm network in assisting our clients with their international growth ambitions.
“As we look ahead to the New Year and what 2025 will bring, we are seeing a number of really interesting opportunities and are confident that the high levels of activity which the team has seen in the last 12 months will continue into next year.”
Burges Salmon employs around 1,100 people across its offices in Bristol, Edinburgh and London.
