16 Acquisition International - M&A Awards 2017 Gilson Gray CloudOrigin Best Corporate & M&A Team 2017 – Scotland Best M&A IT Transformation Specialist 2017 Gilson Gray CloudOrigin Gilson Gray is a full service law firm with offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow. One of the largest law firm launches in Scottish history, Gilson Gray offers specialist legal, property and financial services, the firm is now in its third year. We spoke to Partner Derek Hamill, the firm’s Head of Corporate, about the business and how its approach to providing clients with the best possible service has been recognised with two consecutive awards for Excellence in Corporate Law. CloudOrigin provides award winning technology, operational and commercial due diligence alongside technology sector research in tailored combinations to meet the needs of each investor or vendor and the specific deal situation. We spoke to Richard Hall, Chief Executive and Founder to learn more. MA170024 MA170026 Gilson Gray offers a unique approach to legal services. Rather than having “partner led” teams where the partner oversees junior staff, their work is “partner-delivered”. The Gilson Gray partners are actively involved in the delivery of services to their clients. This ensures that the firm’s clients receive advice from accredited specialists and award winning individuals, committed to providing an excellent client experience. Many of their lawyers, including Head of Corporate Derek Hamill, are dual qualified in both Scottish and English law and advise on a range of international matters. Most recently the corporate team has advised on Scots and English law contracts in India, France, the Middle East, Thailand, Vietnam, China and the USA. He discusses the firm’s vast service offering and how it works to ensure excellence for all clients. “At Gilson Gray, we offer a vast array of services including corporate law, banking law, business restructuring & recovery, commercial litigation, commercial property/real estate law, construction & engineering, debt recovery, employment law, renewable energy law, estate agency and letting, financial services (including investment, mortgages, protection, CloudOrigin is dedicated to delivering buyside and vendor strategy and due diligence services, enterprise commercial due diligence and growth advice to the TMT sector and indeed any enterprise where technology is central to their future opportunities and risks, for example in financial services, life sciences or retail. Over the years the firm’s service offering has grown significantly and now the company provides technology, operational, commercial, digital marketing, alliance, M&A strategy and governance to many of Europe’s fastest growing technology providers spanning e-commerce, gaming, business process outsourcing, Software as a Service (‘SaaS’) and cloud hosting solutions to its myriad of clients. Richard outlines how far the firm has come since inception and how it continues to offer clients the very highest standards of service and support. “Since our foundation in 2009 we have worked on potential deals with a total enterprise value exceeding $19 billion. Based in London but operating globally, we have decades of experience designing, delivering and managing the most advanced business services, software solutions and infrastructure platforms worldwide. pension and tax planning), insolvency, international arbitration, family law, private client law, private litigation, residential conveyancing and solicitor advocacy.” “Overall, we believe that our clients deserve straight talking, friendly advisors that understand and care about their objectives. Furthermore, we provide the same full service and technical expertise as any of the largest law firms in Scotland, but with more cost-effective solutions. Since inception, Gilson Gray has developed a significant market presence with numerous appointments across both office locations. The firm has expanded in the last year, taking on additional premises in both Glasgow and Edinburgh and strategically recruiting, including the appointment of Philippa Cunniff (a recognised leader in Family Law) and Donna Kelly-Gilmour (a leading property lawyer in Glasgow). In addition, Gilson Gray acquired two financial advisory businesses in the East and West of Scotland, taking assets under management to over £165M. As such the firm has an exciting future ahead of it and we look forward to the opportunities our new acquisitions will bring. “Our reputation has grown in the Private Equity and Venture Capital community, as members are keen to clearly understand technology trends in terms of market demand. We are equally pleased to have enabled first round funding for new start-ups as we are to have advised on multi-billion dollar global acquisitions or carve-outs. We have been privileged to advise a range of global and European investors as well as leading trade investors and directly helped growth technology firms achieve their technical and commercial goals.” Overall, CloudOrigin has a bright future ahead of it as the firm looks to adapt around the latest developments in the various industries it serves, as Richard concludes. “Currently we are witnessing renewed interest across the insurance sector, for trade buyers consolidating in brokerage and technology solutions and services providers growing their platforms and reach. This space offers us many great opportunities to grow and build upon our current success, and we are looking forward to an exciting future.” Company: Gilson Gray LLP Name: Derek Hamill, Partner, Head of Corporate DD: +44 (0) 141 530 2021 Mobile: +44 (0) 7973 924333 Email:
[email protected] Website: www.gilsongray.co.uk Company: CloudOrigin Name: Richard J. Hall FBCS, FIoD Telephone: +44 203 642 5715 Email:
[email protected] Web: www.CloudOrigin.com