Blake Morgan is celebrating another record-breaking year in corporate deal-making, having advised on transactions with a cumulative value of more than £5.7bn in the 2025/26 financial year.
The law firm’s Corporate team advises clients across the UK from offices in London, Cardiff, Southampton, Reading, Oxford and Manchester. It supports private and public sector organisations across sectors including healthcare, retail, financial services, leisure, technology and recruitment on mergers and acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures and restructuring, management buyouts, corporate advisory, public company IPOs (full list, AIM and Aquis), secondary issues and Code takeovers, including by scheme of arrangement.
The team’s standout transaction of the last financial year was advising Limecay International Ltd and Grove Ltd on the £4.6bn disposal of Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s leading independent care providers, to Welltower Inc. The team also advised on a further £1.1bn of deals during the year including advising Tungsten West Plc on transactions supporting the restart of production at the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon, and Rodina Holdings on the sale of their majority stake in travel group One Traveller.
Acquisition activity remained strong, with the firm advising on significant transactions for both corporate clients and investors. This included advising global project management consultancy TSA Riley on its acquisition of D2 Global, a specialist project management consultancy operating in the UK and Canada, and Bestport Private Equity on its acquisition of a majority stake in Sano Physiotherapy. Further publicly announced deals included supporting Greyhawk Intelligence Group on its acquisition by risk advisory and dispute consultancy firm Mintz Group, and Euroflorist AB on its acquisition of Don’t Buy Her Flowers.
The firm also supported both corporate clients and investors on fundraising transactions. Deals included advising Trevally Capital on the funding of a landmark workspace development in central London and advising the Development Bank of Wales on the provision of funding to support a management buyout of DRAC Consulting Limited and on its strategic exit from Avantis Group as part of a new investment round. The firm also supported investment firms Foresight Group, Allenby Capital Limited, and Singer Capital Markets Securities Limited, during the year amongst other investors.
Retailer The Southern Co-operative was supported with the disposal of a portfolio of convenience stores, and the team advised Cambridge Garage Holdings on the sale of a dealership and body shop to Waylands. Other clients advised on significant transactions during the year included technology companies, Blackbird Plc., Dillistone Group Plc, K3 Business Technology Group Plc. and Retail Manager Solutions Ltd., and renewable energy companies, Active Energy Group Plc and Photon Project Management Ltd. Clients in other sectors included manufacturing firm Consort Equipment Products Ltd., precision engineering business PRV Engineering Limited, and infrastructure contractor SAS Rope & Rail Ltd., as well as a number of clients across the healthcare industry.
The team has grown over the past year, welcoming partner, Joan Yu, and other lateral hires, as well as promoting internal talent including new partners, James Vaughan and more recently Michelle Davenport.
Its strong reputation is reflected in its rankings in the Chambers and Legal 500 guides. Highlights include tier 1 Legal 500 rankings for the Corporate and Commercial teams in Hampshire and Wales and tier 2 recognition for the Thames Valley, Berkshire and Oxfordshire teams, with the London team ranking tier 3 for M&A: Smaller Deals £10m-£100m in London.
James Williams, Head of Corporate at Blake Morgan, said:
This has been an exceptional year for our corporate team and one that reflects both the ambition of our clients and the growing confidence and capability of our team. Advising on more than £5.7bn of transactions- including the landmark disposal of Barchester Healthcare - is a fantastic achievement, and demonstrates the breadth and depth of expertise we can bring to complex, high-value transactions.
What is particularly encouraging is the momentum we are building. We have continued to strengthen our relationships with clients and referrers, win work in new areas and support businesses through some of the most significant moments in their growth and development. Our success this year is not simply about the value of the deals; it is about the trust our clients place in us and the quality of the team we have built to support them.
We are proud of what we have achieved, but perhaps even more excited about what comes next. There is real energy across the team and a clear opportunity to build on this success, deepen our market position and continue to be the trusted corporate adviser for businesses at every stage of their journey.
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