Dov Katz

Dov is a partner and sports lawyer in our Corporate team based in London.

Main areas of practice

Dov is a unique lawyer who, in addition to having over 25 years of experience in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions, heads up the firm’s thriving sports law practice. He is the trusted adviser to many influential individuals and businesses.

Dov has been recognised as a Leading Individual in the Legal 500 spanning several years and a ‘Ranked Lawyer’ in Chambers’ Guide to the Legal Profession.

Dov specialises in advising founders, owner-managed businesses and acquirers on complex corporate transactions. He has led on numerous high-profile IPOs, guiding advisers and issuers on admissions to AIM, reverse takeovers, introductions and secondary placings, and M&A deals, including cross border transactions and joint ventures. He is known for his strategic insight and is a valued adviser to businesses seeking to grow, restructure, or exit through M&A. Dov regularly provides strategic legal advice to founders throughout their business lifecycle, including the sale of their shares and exits in a variety of sectors.

He also advises secured lenders, brokers and investors, including ultra-net worth individuals, on fundraisings and other forms of investment and growth capital, in the form of equity or debt financing, for public and private companies (particularly SMEs).

In advising professional sportspeople, including high-profile Premier League and international football players and managers, Dov is the trusted adviser to many well-known individuals, across a myriad of sports, on all aspects of their careers and personal lives working alongside agents, accountants and other advisers. From negotiating the best possible terms, to moving home and dealing with defamation cases, Dov works alongside our contracts, real estate, private client and family law teams to provide round-the-clock expert and commercially sound advice when it’s needed most. The firm also advises clubs on the full spectrum of legal services.

Dov was an FA registered agent, and a former top ten England men’s junior table tennis player and top 100 nationally-ranked men’s player.

Significant experience

Corporate:

• Advising corporates/issuers/investment companies and corporate advisers/nominated advisers/brokers on more than 100 capital market transactions, with principal focus on AIM admissions, reverse takeovers, acquisitions, introductions and secondary placings.
• Advising brokers and investors on several fundraising rounds and other forms of investment for public and private companies.
• Continuously providing strategic legal advice to founders throughout their business lifecycle including the sale of their shares and exits across a myriad of sectors including food and beverage, engineering, eyewear, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, media (including multiple digital agency/marketing businesses) and entertainment, recruitment, sport and technology.
• Advising on multiple M&A acquisitions for UK and international acquirers of UK businesses across the full spectrum of sectors.
• Asing ultra high net worth individuals and secured lenders on investments into SMEs, and growth capital for various corporates, both in the UK and overseas.

Examples of M&A / secured lending transactions include:

• Advising Trevally Capital on a variety of secured lending investments into SMEs with values of £5m-£50m
• Acting for the founder shareholders on the sale of shares in everywoman Limited to AllBright, backed by Cain International
• Advising NV5 Global, Inc on the acquisition of a UK and European security business
• Advising the partners of Tendril Studio in its merger with FutureDeluxe, creating the Forever partnership
• Advising JVWEB, supported by French PE house Capital Croissance, on its acquisition of a UK internet marketing business
• Advising the founder shareholders on the sale of Engage In-Health Limited to major US-based healthcare marketing agency, Fingerpaint Marketing Inc.
• Acting for the founder shareholders on the sale of their shares in a food business and the main sellers on the sale of shares in a digital agency business.
• Acting for the MBO team on its MBO of a recruitment business specialising in consulting engineers and contractors
• Acting for the founder shareholder on the sale of her shares in an agency specialising in the pharmaceutical and healthcare media sector
• Acting for the US-based global music streaming network company on the sale of shares in a well-known nightclub business
• Acting on the acquisition of an arm of an investment bank

Sport:

As head of the firm’s sports law practice working with specialist colleagues across our six UK offices (and agents, accountants and other advisers in the UK, Spain and other overseas countries), advising clubs, agents and Premier League and international football players and managers and other professional sportspeople across all sports including golf, MMA, rugby, table tennis and tennis, on the full gamut of UK legal services (offering the complete package), including but not limited to:

• Club transfers
• Commercial contracts/representation agreements/agent regulations including the FA Football Agent Regulations/FIFA Football Agent Regulations
• Employment related matters
• Immigration
• Investments
• Litigation assistance
• Planning matters
• Private Client matters – including Wealth Preservation, Wills, Probate and Family and Inheritance Planning, pre-nuptial agreements and Divorce, Childcare and Custody matters.
• Property investment and disposal (individual and significant property portfolios)
• Personal and Regulatory matters, including selection issues, serious rule breaches (such as match fixing), CCJs, road traffic offences and other
• Reputational/media advice including navigating defamation cases
• Residential conveyancing
• Tax, including stamp duty advice
• Trademarks.

Expertise & Services

• Corporate & Commercial
• Mergers, Acquisitions & Disposals
• Sports Law
• Equity Capital Markets

"Dov Katz ... has a wealth of experience and connections, and is a true professional with an eye for detail."

Career

Dov is more than 25 years qualified. He joined the firm in July 2020 from Greenwoods and was previously a partner at Teacher Stern and Howard Kennedy.

Beyond law, Dov has a long involvement with sport, primarily table tennis and also having founded an FA affiliated amateur football club. For table tennis he has represented Brighton in the British League that achieved promotion to the premier division as well as the Wembley & Harrow League in the National Club Team Championships that won gold in 2006. He currently plays for Apollo in the top division of the Wembley & Harrow League, who have been champions and cup winners on several occasions.

Dov was named Jewish UK sportsman of the year in 2004, and has represented Maccabi GB for table tennis at all levels, whether as player, manager or chair, including five Maccabiah Games (known as the Jewish Olympics, the second largest sporting event in the world) in Israel and seven European Maccabi Games, winning several medals along the way and being instrumental in the success of several international squads. He is influential in helping table tennis become one of the prominent sports for Maccabi in the UK and works with the umbrella Maccabi organisation worldwide. At the 2022 Maccabiah Games, Dov sat on the executive board of Maccabi World Union in his role as Chairman of the Court of Discipline and also represented the rest of the world team in winning three medals for table tennis.