Philip Whitehead

Philip is a corporate finance lawyer who advises a variety of clients, from founder-backed businesses to major public companies and investment banks, on their strategic capital raising and M&A transactions across a range of industries. He has considerable experience advising issuers listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market and AIM on capital raising, public and private M&A, and ongoing governance and corporate advisory matters.

Before joining Cooley, Philip was a senior associate in the corporate and equity capital markets practice at a global law firm in London.

Philip’s representative transactions include:

• Great Portland Estates on its 350 million-pound rights issue*
• Marlowe on its demerger of Optima Health and the subsequent listing of Optima Health on AIM*
• Severn Trent on its 1 billion-pound equity placing (underwriter’s counsel)*
• Entain on its 600 million-pound equity placing to fund the acquisition of Polish gaming group STS (underwriters’ counsel)*
• Delek Group as selling shareholder on the 2.5 billion-pound initial public offering (IPO) of Ithaca Energy, and Ithaca Energy’s 754 million-pound acquisition of Eni’s UK North Sea oil and gas exploration and production assets*
• Babylon Health on its business combination with Alkuri Global Acquisition and New York Stock Exchange listing*
• Noventiq on its demerger from Softline, proposed business combination with Corner Growth Acquisition and Nasdaq listing*
• TP ICAP on its redomiciliation, acquisition of Liquidnet and related $420 million rights issue*
• Rolls-Royce on its 2 billion-pound rights issue (underwriters’ counsel)*
• Marks & Spencer on its 601.3 million-pound rights issue to partially fund its joint venture with Ocado*
• Network International on its 205 million-pound equity raise in connection with its acquisition of DPO Group and its 2.2 billion-pound recommended takeover by Brookfield*
• EasyJet on its 419 million-pound equity placing and 1.2 billion-pound rights issue during the COVID-19 recovery period (underwriters’ counsel)*
• A European vet care business on its proposed IPO on the LSE (sponsor and underwriters’ counsel)*
• River and Mercantile on its public takeover by AssetCo and 190 million-pound return of capital by way of a B share scheme*
• ICAMAP Investments on its 138 million-pound public takeover offer for easyHotel and consortium arrangements with co-investor Ivanhoé Cambridge*
• Monese on its Series C fundraising round*
• Quantexa on its Series E fundraising round*
• A major sovereign wealth fund on its 60 million-euro growth equity investment into the Extreme E off-road racing championships*
• A major sovereign wealth fund on its 600 million-pound investment into Rocco Forte Hotels*
• CSC ServiceWorks on its 150 million-pound disposal of AIR-serv Europe to Caledonia Investments*

* Includes matters handled before joining Cooley