Gerard is a corporate lawyer. He qualified at the New York Bar in 2004 while working in the London office of a US law firm and he qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales in 2015. From 2005 to 2007 Gerard held in-house corporate and commercial roles before joining the corporate department of City law firm Rosenblatt where he became a partner in 2016. In 2018 Gerard joined Sensyne Health plc, a healthcare technology company, as General Counsel advising on various corporate, commercial and technology matters.
Gerard’s background is ideal for a wide range of clients because it combines quality with diversity. He has extensive experience in supporting FTSE, AIM-listed and major foreign corporations as well as SMEs and high-growth start-ups not only as an external lawyer but also as in-house counsel. Gerard therefore combines impressive technical ability with real commercial acumen. His practice has included advising on the full spectrum of corporate work – M&A, Private Equity / Venture Capital and Capital Markets work – as well as commercial contracts and technology law.
Examples of Gerard’s work since 2002:
M&A
- Advising a US company on its £18.5 million acquisition of a UK online business providing a community for medical professionals.
- Advising the shareholders of a Spanish company in connection with the global group reorganisation and sale of parts of its businesses to an AIM listed company for a consideration of up to US$117 million.
- Advising a FTSE 250 global asset manager on a number of strategic corporate transactions.
- Advising on a group reorganisation and subsequent sale of a business to a US online dancewear retailer for a £21 million consideration comprising cash and equity.
- Advising an AIM listed supplier of software products and services to the transportation industry, in connection with several strategic software business acquisitions over a ten-year period, including:
- the reverse takeover of a traffic data collection, aggregation and analysis company for a cash consideration of £3.28 million;
- the acquisition of a software development and IT company for a cash and share consideration with a total value of up to £19.5 million;
- the acquisition of a software provider of enterprise delay repay solutions to the UK rail industry for a cash and share consideration with a total value of up to £7 million; and
- the acquisition of a provider of rail management software systems, business applications and hosting services for UK train operating companies for a cash and share consideration with a total value of £4.5 million.
- Advising on the £15 million sale of an SPV operating a solar farm in Wales.
- Advising the CEO and shareholder of one of the UK’s largest independent drama production companies, in connection with its £30 million sale to a major U.S. media company.
- Advising a commodity broker in relation to its disposal of a Dubai subsidiary.
- Advising a loyalty app/fintech start-up in connection with its acquisition of the shares in another loyalty app business.
- Advising a business management software company in relation to a number of software related transactions including:
- the sale of its Microsoft dynamics GP reselling business; and
- the sale of its Microsoft Dynamics AX unit business to a Dutch-based Microsoft Dynamics AX specialist.
- Advising the shareholders of a supplier of application software and implementation services to the medical insurance, protection insurance and assistance markets, in relation to the sale of their shares to a French listed technology and services company.
- Advising a provider of voice, data and contact centre services in connection with its contemporaneous acquisitions of three contact centre businesses for a consideration of £8 million and an associated convertible debt acquisition financing arrangement with a private debt firm.
- Advising a marketing services company in connection with the disposal of a subsidiary for £12 million.
Private Equity and Venture Capital
- Advising the shareholders of a print and document technology and services business in connection with a £185 million MBO backed by a leading mid-market private equity firm.
- Advising a leading UK private equity firm in connection with an investment in a UK and Ireland student accommodation letting and management company.
- Advising the management team of a high-capacity broadband network provider, in connection with a £6 million MBO funded by an investment company.
- Advising a tech start-up in relation to a number of ‘B’ equity funding rounds.
- Advising an AIM listed software company in connection with equity and debt investments in:
- a company providing and developing products and services from mobile phone data analytics.
- a company providing mobility tracking services, enabling detailed understanding of transport systems through video analytics.
- a company specialising in application software for the rapid creation of apps across multiple platforms for large enterprise organisations within the transport, utilities, healthcare and energy sectors.
- Advising a property business on the restructuring of its interest in ‘The Shard of Glass’ skyscraper at London Bridge Station and the £2 billion investment by a consortium of four Qatari investors.
- Advising an investment and corporate finance advisory business in connection with its £850,000 investment in a provider of global media intelligence and competitive advertising monitoring.
- Advising a London based shoe design and production company, in connection with the £4 million equity and debt investment by a syndicate of investors led by a VC house.
Capital Markets
- Advising a healthcare technology company in relation to its £60m IPO on AIM.
- Advising a leading investment bank on a number of capital market transactions including in its role as financial adviser and broker to an Isle of Man registered Indian infrastructure investment company, in respect of its £36.7 million IPO on the Official List and associated seed investment in a hydroelectric power project in India.
- Advising a leading investment bank as Nominated Adviser and/or Broker in connection with several IPO’s and secondary fundraisings on AIM.
- Advising a financial services firm as Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker to an Isle of Man company in connection with its reverse takeover by way of a farm-in to an oil and gas concession in Indonesia and related placing and open offer and admission to AIM.
- Advising several businesses in connection with their placing of shares on AIM.
Commercial
- Advising on various technology agreements including:
- clinical AI data research agreements with several NHS Trusts;
- medical device SAAS software licence agreements with several NHS Trusts;
- AI research and collaboration agreements;
- technology licence agreements.
- Advising an early stage software development and artificial intelligence company in relation to their agreement with an NHS Trust to use artificial intelligence to build an intelligent procurement platform for hospitals.
- Advising on the €500 million global outsourcing and off-shoring of a plc’s temporary workforce requirements.
- Advising on the £25 million outsourcing of a UK company’s IT workforce requirements.
- Advising a design and production agency on various software supply agreements.
