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Briefing Notes
International
White & Case, RPC, and Gleiss Lutz advise on Frasers Group's $2.3bn takeover bid for Hugo Boss
Cross-border public M&A splits advisory work across jurisdictions — English takeover law and German corporate law must run in parallel, not sequentially.
Capital Markets
SpaceX's hotly anticipated Nasdaq IPO is said to test investor appetite for founder-controlled governance and high-valuation listings
Founder-retained super-voting rights at IPO set a governance benchmark that London's reformed listing rules must either match or explicitly reject.
Regulation
Draft EU merger guidelines introducing a 'theory of benefit' framework are likely to be formally adopted later in 2026, reshaping how companies justify deals to the European Commission
A 'theory of benefit' defence in EU merger filings will become standard practice — not a last resort — from 2026 onwards.
M&A
Strabag UK's £58.8m court-sanctioned scheme to acquire ground engineering firm Van Elle expected to complete 15 June
Scheme structures give acquirers certainty of 100% ownership — a key advantage over conventional offers when full integration is the strategic goal.
Banking & Finance
Carlyle aims to raise approximately $15bn for its ninth flagship buyout fund alongside a new defence-focused vehicle targeting up to $3bn
A $15bn Carlyle raise sustains LBO deal flow — every deployment of capital from a fund this size generates leveraged finance and M&A mandates.
Energy & Tech
UK economy contracts as Iran war weighs on growth, with energy infrastructure disruption and defence spending pressures compounding domestic headwinds
Hormuz disruption turns every long-term energy supply contract into an active force majeure analysis.
Disputes
UK employment tribunal backlog reaches record 531,000 cases as workers file over 64,000 claims in Q1 2026 alone
At 531,000 cases, the employment tribunal backlog is now a strategic business risk for every UK employer, not just an HR inconvenience.
AI & Law
UK insurtech EIP launches AI claims automation tool designed to handle the full cycle from first notification to settlement in a regulated environment
Automating claims decisions in a regulated sector means every AI error is a potential FCA consumer duty breach — governance design is the product.