Nicholas Rees

Slaughter and May is advising Equinix and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) on the pair's $4 billion acquisition of data centre provider atNorth, marking the firm’s first mandate for CPPIB. U.K. corporate partners James Cook and Hem Sumanasuriya are leading the Slaughter and May team on the deal, which involves a U.S.-listed buyer and a Canadian pension investor but is being conducted under U.K. law. The target, atNorth, has eight operational data centres and several sites under development across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It is Slaughter and May's first instruction from CPPIB, adding to the firm’s collection of sponsor-style and private capital mandates. However, Equinix is a long-standing client, which it has advised since 2010 across a range of international transactions. In October, Slaughter and May advised Equinix in October on a £3.9 billion data centre development site in South Mimms, U.K. Linklaters also advised CPPIB on the acquisition led by led by partners Michael Honan and Ben Suen . The firm also advised both CPPIB Investments and Equinix on the debt financing aspects of the transaction, led by partner Ross Schloeffel. Clifford Chance is advising the seller, Partners Group, led by London head of private capital Spencer Baylin and partners Angharad Lewis and Jennifer Storey. The firm advised the Swiss-based global private markets firm on its acquisition of atNorth in 2021, led by Baylin. According to Partners Group, contracted EBITDA increased 14-fold during its ownership period. Clifford Chance also advised Partners Group on a minority stake exit in Apex Logistic, the acquisition of Life Cycle Power from Arroyo in October 2025 and the acquisition of The Hoxton Hotel in Poblenou, Barcelona in December 2025. Slaughter and May and Clifford Chance were also on opposite sides of the table earlier this month when Nuveen’s acquisition of London-based Schroders was announced, with the firms acting in reverse roles to this deal: Clifford Chance advised the buyer while Slaughter and May acted for the seller. For Slaughter and May, these deals form part of a run of work worth more than £25bn over the past two months, including advising Zurich on its acquisition of Beazley, NatWest on its acquisition of Evelyn and Vodafone on its sale of Ziggo.

Feb 27

2 min

Second Judicial Circuit Judge Lance Neff was appointed to the First District Court of Appeal by Gov. Ron DeSantis Monday, filling the seat vacated by Florida Supreme Court Justice Adam Tanenbaum. DeSantis also gave Neff the nod for the circuit seat in 2023. He was assigned to the criminal division in 2024 and has been presiding over the case of the man accused of gunning down two people and wounding several others at Florida State University last year. That trial is slated to begin in October. Judge Lance Neff. Courtesy photo Before joining the bench, Neff served as general counsel to the state’s largest agency, the Florida Department of Corrections, and spent years as a trial attorney in the Florida Office of the Attorney General. The Waycross, Georgia, native is a Valdosta State University and Florida Coastal School of Law graduate; a 20-year veteran of the Bar; and a member of the U.S. Military. According to his biography on the Second Judicial Circuit’s website, Neff is a lieutenant colonel in the Florida National Guard, the staff judge advocate for the Florida Army National Guard and the legal adviser to the Assistant Adjutant General-Army. Neff did not immediately return the Daily Business Review’s interview request Tuesday. Neff beat out five other finalists for the appellate seat, including two colleagues on the Second Judicial Circuit, Judges Joshua Hawkes and Stephen Everett. The Second Judicial Circuit saw significant turnover in 2025. Judge Robert Wheeler resigned in March and was replaced by Judge Jason Jones; Judge Dawn Caloca-Johnson's unexpected death led to the appointment of Judge Michael Beato; Judge Jeremiah Hawkes filled a vacancy created by lawmakers in November; and Judge John Cooper's successor has yet to be named after his December resignation.

Mar 3

1 min

Schroders said Thursday that it has agreed to a £9.9 billion ($13.5 billion) cash takeover by U.S. asset manager Nuveen in a transaction that would take one of the City's historic names into private ownership. Schroders has agreed to a takeover by U.S. asset manager Nuveen in a transaction that would take the London-headquartered company into private ownership. (Getty Images/Bloomberg) Nuveen is offering shareholders in Schroders PLC 590 pence per share in cash, a 29% premium on Wednesday's closing price of 456 pence for the U.K. multinational, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Nuveen is using its bidding vehicle, Pantheon LLC, to allow Schroders to retain a dividend of up to 22 pence if it is paid before the deal closes, bringing the offer price up to 612 pence. That is a higher premium of 34% on the Wednesday closing price. The offer, including the dividend, values the share capital of Schroders at £9.9 billion. Clifford Chance LLP is acting as legal adviser to Nuveen, its bidding vehicle and its parent company, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America. The team is led by partners Nicholas Rees, David Pudge and James Bole. Slaughter and May is providing counsel to Schroders. The team includes partners James Cook, Richard Hilton and Hemita Sumanasuriya and senior partner Roland Turnill. Shares in Schroders, a member of London's blue-chip FTSE 100 index, were up almost 29% in Thursday morning trading, compared with their closing price on Wednesday of 457 pence. Schroders has been implementing a three-year turnaround program since March 2025: its shares have been on a downward spiral over the past five years. The wealth manager wants to cut costs and boost growth. Schroders said on Monday that it will work with a U.S. private equity firm, Apollo, to provide investment and retirement products to wealthy clients on both sides of the Atlantic. Nuveen said on Thursday that the deal will create one of the largest global asset managers and that the combined group will have almost $2.5 trillion of assets under management across institutional and wealth clients. Schroders had £825 billion of assets under management at the end of December, while Nuveen had $1.4 trillion. Schroders was founded in 1804 and has a strong identity as a British money manager. Nuveen said that it will keep the brand and retain London as the enlarged group's headquarters outside the U.S. William Huffman, chief executive of Nuveen, said that the deal "will create an extraordinary opportunity to enhance the way we serve our collective clients through access to new markets, bolstered product offerings and deeper pools of investment talent." The deal will pull Schroders from the LSE, where it has had a presence since 1959. But the U.S. asset manager added that it would consider London as a dual-listing venue if it considered floating the combined group in the future. The transaction is being completed through a scheme of arrangement under the Companies Act 2006, which requires the backing of at least 75% of shareholders in Schroders at a court meeting and a general meeting. The date of the meetings has not yet been set. The directors of Schroders said that they consider the terms of the transaction to be fair and reasonable and therefore intend to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favor of it at the meetings. Richard Oldfield, chief executive of Schroders, said that "the transaction will significantly accelerate our growth plans to create a leading public-to-private platform with enhanced geographic reach and a strengthened balance sheet." Nuveen said it has won irrevocable undertakings from shareholders that hold approximately 42% of shares in Schroders, including from members of the Schroders family. Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said that the bid premium "is below the 44% average year-to-date, and there may be grumbles from shareholders the takeout price is not generous." But he added that "there's not a lot they can do in this situation. The Schroders family own approximately 45% of the business, and they've indicated support for the bid at the current price. "What they say goes in this situation, given the scale of their voting power," Coatsworth added. The deal must also win regulatory approval in jurisdictions including Bermuda, Hong Kong, Switzerland and the U.K. and antitrust approval in territories including Europe, the U.S. and Australia. The parties said that they expect the deal to complete during the fourth quarter of 2026. BNP Paribas SA is acting as financial adviser to Nuveen and the bidding company. The bank is being advised by Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, led by partner Paul Whitelock. Wells Fargo Securities International Ltd., Barclays Bank PLC and J.P. Morgan Securities PLC are acting as financial advisers to Schroders. The Clifford Chance team included director Rui Huo, senior associate Antonio Folgore and associates Zoe Ram, Nicole Jones, Cathal Lynam and Francesca Warren. The Slaughter and May team also included associates Olivia Hosker, Duncan McEwan, Anna Winter, Caroline Robinson and Henry Alexander.

Feb 12

4 min

Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May have taken leading roles on the £9.5 billion recommended cash offer for Schroders. The acquisition is expected to create one of the world's largest active asset managers with nearly $2.5 trillion in assets under management. Nuveen has agreed to acquire Schroders for up to 612 pence per share, comprising 590 pence in cash and up to 22 pence in permitted dividends, valuing the company at approximately £9.9 billion. Nuveen is a prominent global asset manager and the investment management arm of TIAA (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America) Clifford Chance is advising the Bidco, Nuveen and TIAA. The team was led by Nuveen relationship partner Nicholas Rees and fellow London corporate partners David Pudge and James Bole. The firm has a history advising Nuveen Real Estate, including on its €540 million joint venture with Global Student Accommodation to acquire a French student accommodation portfolio in 2024, eight lettings at 70 St Mary Axe in 2020, and the 2021 acquisition of renewable energy specialist Glennmont Partners. Slaughter and May is advising longstanding client Schroders with a team comprised of corporate partners James Cook, Richard Hilton, Hemita Sumanasuriya and Roland Turnill. Incentives and employment partner Phil Linnard, financial regulation partners Nick Bonsall and David Shone, competition partners Lisa Wright and Jonathan Slade, pensions partner Charles Cameron and tax partner Dominic Robertson were also on the deal team. Slaughter and May has advised Schroders on many matters in the past. In October 2025, the firm advised Schroders on the acquisition of the remaining 19.1% stake in Cazenove Capital held by Lloyds Banking Group. In 2024, it advised on its debut bond issuance, and in 2022 on its acquisition of the U.K. advisory, fiduciary management and derivatives business of river and mercantile group, as well as the acquisition of an initial 75% shareholding in Greencoat for a value of £358 million. Norton Rose Fulbright is also playing a role on the deal led by corporate partner Paul Whitelock alongside banking partner James Dunnett. The firm is advising BNPP as financial adviser to TIAA. The boards of both Nuveen and Schroders have agreed to the terms, with the Schroders board unanimously recommending the transaction to its shareholders, and the deal is anticipated to complete in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Feb 12

2 min

Information law and e-discovery focused firm Redgrave has hired a Big Law C-suite veteran as its first COO as part of its plan to move the boutique to the “next level” six years after conflicts led it to end its bid to merge with an Am Law 100 firm. Britney Colton joined the midsize firm in February from Am Law Second Hundred firm Stoel Rives, where she rose from human resources director to chief administrative officer over seven years. Redgrave joins other firms in recent years that added professionals to their C-suites to operate their business sides as they worked to find and retain clients and talent in an increasingly competitive legal industry. Jonathan Redgrave, firm co-founder and chair of its executive committee, said the firm primarily operates virtually and its leadership believed hiring a COO was a “critical component for where we’re going” as it navigates two major changes in the legal marketplace. “You’ve got a lot of disruption to come with both [generative] AI and various client demands for value and how that’s viewed in creating a move toward AFAs,” he said in an interview. “That really puts a higher premium on running (law firms) as businesses—being able to match client expectations.” He said the Northern Virginia-headquartered firm also needs to build “a great platform for our own internal success” in such areas as practice and personal development. “We said, ‘How are we going to position this firm for the next 10 years?’ We were really spending a lot of time thinking about how to structurally recalibrate about what takes us through in the next decade,” Redgrave said. Redgrave, a former partner with Nixon Peabody and Jones Day, said the firm has moved beyond its humble beginnings with him and wife, Victoria, in 2010 "at the kitchen table," to a 115-person firm that has become a “go-to” for its expertise in information law. “We really felt with firm growth, which is really continuing, we were ready to take that next step,” Redgrave said. The firm’s core practices focus on “addressing the legal challenges that arise at the intersection of the law and technology,” including information and AI governance, data privacy and security, and E-discovery, according to the Redgrave website. Colton said in an interview that she saw the position as an opportunity to help the Redgrave firm become an “elite boutique.” The firm already is an industry leader in information law but needs the “infrastructure” to bring the firm to the next level, she said. “A lot of the lawyers are ex-Big Law partners so they know what sophisticated legal work looks like and that’s the expectation they have,” Colton said. “But they don’t yet have the infrastructure. “It’s important that they operationally do that, and that’s why they were looking for a COO,” she said. Colton is charged with helping develop and execute strategic plans, improving the firm’s operational infrastructure, supporting attorney and adviser productivity and professional development, and making sure client service is a priority—all in concert with the firm’s executive committee, a news release stated. She said one of her first responsibilities will be to memorialize a formal, three-year strategic plan—which the firm does not now have—as part of its partners’ plans to create an “elite boutique.” Redgrave said the firm had written less-formal operating plans over the years that were “not at the depth and level that we’re going to go through this time with the rigor and discipline needed. Staying Independent After Nelson Mullins Deal Fell Through Jonathan and Victoria Redgrave—a former counsel with two Fortune 500 companies—opened the firm as a cybersecurity boutique in 2010. It has remained about the same size in recent years—about 55 lawyers—through such events as a failed merger with Am Law 100 firm Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough in late 2020. Redgrave said Nelson Mullins was offering an opportunity that included hiring the entire firm—including attorneys and its team of data management and analytics consultants. It would have combined Redgrave with Nelson Mullins' Encompass subsidiary to create one of the country's largest information governance and E-discovery law practices. However, the deal was abandoned after “conflict-related issues involving key clients of each firm” could not be resolved. Afterward, Redgrave said the firm’s clients convinced the firm to remain independent. The firm subsequently has focused on key lateral hires to enhance its standing as a specialty boutique that could compete with the largest firms, Redgrave said. “We made a conscious decision to say, ‘No, this boutique being a separate, independent entity has great value,’” he said. “A lot of those clients also used Nelson Mullins but they really viewed our role in what we do as being very special.” Recruiting Nationwide A licensed attorney, Colton began her career as an associate with Am Law 100 firm Davis Wright Tremaine. She later spent 12 years with TriMet—Portland, Oregon’s municipal transit system—where she worked as director of labor and employee relations before joining Stoel Rives. Colton, a Portland resident, said she is among the few female law firm leaders holding law and MBA degrees—which she said led to her exploring offers from larger firms. Redgrave’s offer to let her remain in her hometown to manage the mostly virtual firm rather than relocating was a key factor in her decision, Colton said. She said her plan to add "infrastructure" requires “maturing all of the functional areas,” such as financial performance, HR, talent recruitment and retention, marketing and AI innovation that help support the firm’s lawyers “right now and where we want to go,” Colton said. Helping the firm develop “thoughtful approaches to technology and AI that support our people and advance the interests of our clients as well as the firm’s long-term goals” also is among her responsibilities, she said. Concerning talent recruitment and retention, she said the firm only hires attorneys with experience. However, she is aided by the firm's mostly remote operation that allows it to recruit nationwide without needing to fill a physical office in a specific location. “We seek out talent across the country,” Colton said. “We want to find the best talent and we recognize sometimes it’s in Portland, Oregon, and sometimes it’s in New York or Chicago. So geography is not so much what I see as a driver for the strategic plan.” Stoel Rives managing partner Melissa Jones said in a statement, “We appreciate Britney’s many contributions to Stoel Rives and we look forward to watching her succeed in a COO role at Redgrave.”

Mar 3

5 min