Simon Amies

Partner
Full contact info

About Simon

Simon is a partner in Cooley’s life sciences practice advising on mergers & acquisitions (public and private), initial public offerings and other capital-raising transactions, and venture and growth capital investments. Simon has extensive experience in advising companies at all stages of their development, as well as counseling investors and investment banks. He has represented a wide range of clients in the life sciences, technology and sustainable technology industries.

Simon’s representative experience includes advising:

  • Sensyne Health on its formal sale process and strategic review, culminating in a £26.35 million convertible note financing and de-listing from the Alternative Investment Market (AIM)*
  • Allergy Therapeutics on its £17 million financing through a £7 million subscription for ordinary shares and £10 million issue of loan notes*
  • Arecor Therapeutics on its acquisition of Tetris Pharma and associated £6 million placing on AIM*
  • Zeus Capital, as sole bookrunner and nominated adviser to Devolver Digital, on its AIM IPO, raising $261 million through a UK placing and Rule 144A private placement in the US, achieving a market capitalisation of $950 million*
  • Arecor Therapeutics on its AIM IPO and £20 million placing*
  • Renesas Electronics Corporation on its 4.9 billion euros recommended cash offer for Dialog Semiconductor*
  • NCC Group on its $220 million acquisition of the intellectual property management business of Iron Mountain and associated £72.6 million placing on the London Stock Exchange Main Market*
  • Sensyne Health on a £25 million placing, subscription and open offer on the AIM market*
  • BenevolentAI on:
    • A $90 million equity investment from Temasek, a Singapore-headquartered investment company*
    • An £80 million equity investment round by new and existing investors*
    • Its acquisition of Proximagen Limited, a Cambridge, UK-based drug discovery and development company*
  • Pharming Group on:
    • Its offering of 125 million euros of senior unsecured convertible bonds*
    • Its 104 million euros complex financing combination of redeemable convertible bonds, amortizable convertible bonds and a rights issue with rump offer*
  • Allergy Therapeutics, a commercial biotechnology company specialising in allergy vaccines, on:
    • An £11.5 million placing of ordinary shares on the AIM market*
    • A £20 million placing of ordinary shares on the AIM market*
    • Its acquisition of Alerpharma, a Spanish allergy immunotherapy company*
  • Qualcomm on its £1.56 billion recommended cash offer for CSR*
  • Indivior on its demerger from Reckitt Benckiser and £1 billion listing on the London Stock Exchange Main Market*
  • Safe Harbour Holdings, a company established to acquire a platform trading business in the business-to-business distribution and/or business services sphere, on its AIM IPO and £22.7 million placing*
  • Wilmcote Holdings, a company established to acquire a platform trading business in the downstream and specialty chemicals sector, on its AIM IPO and £15 million placing*
  • Galapagos on its recommended takeover of BioFocus*
  • Minster Pharmaceuticals on its recommended takeover by Proximagen Neuroscience*

* Representation handled prior to joining Cooley 

Education

College of Law, Guildford
Law Society Finals and Common Professionals Examination, 1993

Durham University
BA, 1991, with honors

Court admissions

Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales

Rankings and accolades

The Legal 500 UK: Venture Capital (2021 – 2022)

The Legal 500 UK: M&A: Upper Mid-Market and Premium Deals (2021 – 2022)

The Legal 500 UK: Equity Capital Markets: Small and Mid-Cap (2021 – 2022)

International Financial Law Review (IFLR) Europe Awards 2015, shortlisted for Deals of the Year: Equity