George Green advise on Equiniti Acquisition

Leading Black Country law firm George Green LLP has recently advised Equiniti Group on their acquisition of the corporate and employee services (CES) division of NatWest Stockbrokers Limited for an undisclosed sum.  The CES division provides share dealing services to share plan participants of listed companies, including many FTSE 100 companies.  

Equiniti Group is the largest provider of shareholder services to FTSE100 companies in the UK. The addition of the CES business to the Equiniti group will complement Equiniti’s existing investment services offering.  All employees of the CES division are moving to the Equiniti group.  

Wayne Story, CEO of the Equiniti Group commented “The acquisition of NatWest Stockbrokers’ Corporate and Employee Services dealing division is an important element of the Equiniti Group’s continuing programme of selective investment in the financial services area. The addition of Corporate and Employee Services will build upon our existing service offering and the new team will bring a wealth of experience that will complement Equiniti’s existing operations, further enabling us to provide our clients with an extensive range of brokerage and investment services.”   

The George Green advisory team was led by Philip Round, an associate in the firm’s corporate and commercial team, and by Guy Green, the client partner and Head of Corporate at George Green.  Philip Round commented; “I enjoyed working closely with the Equiniti transaction team to agree a deal structure and transitional arrangements which will ensure that the high standards of service to clients of the CES business will be maintained and indeed enhanced under Equiniti ownership.”  Guy Green added: “This is a key acquisition for one of the most prestigious providers of shareholder services in the UK.  It was a pleasure to work with Equiniti to deliver the latest stage in its development strategy.”