“Allan Taylor is ‘very commercial, very client-focused, very responsive and super hard-working.’”
Chambers UK 2014
“Allan Taylor is ‘very commercial, very client-focused, very responsive and super hard-working.’”
Chambers UK 2014
Co-head of our EMEA M&A/Corporate Practice, Allan Taylor's practice focuses on complex international transactions. He is adept at steering cross-border, multi-disciplinary teams to provide innovative solutions to his clients' business needs.
As well as his extensive track record in international mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets, joint ventures and private equity transactions, he has experience advising on UK corporate governance matters. He also advises both issuers and underwriters on initial public offerings, including London and dual exchange listings.
Allan's client list is varied and international in scope, and includes Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Renaissance Capital, Sberbank CIB, UBS and VTB Capital, as well as fund managers and corporations such as Summa Capital, Nordic Capital, Nostrum Oil & Gas plc and Pallinghurst Resources.
Recent notable transactions include an International Financial Law Review European Equity Deal of the Year (2012), the African Deal of the Year (2010) awarded by The Banker magazine, the most successful fundraising on AIM in eight years, a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange of a Kazakh oil & gas business by way of an innovative scheme of reorganisation, and one of the first syndicated leverage financings completed in compliance with the then recently revised UK Takeover Code.
Allan has written extensively on matters relating to listing companies on the London Stock Exchange, as well as co-authoring The Exchange's Guide to Listing Depositary Receipts is a contributing editor to the materials prepared by Practical Law on The Alternative Investment Market.
Experience
Allan advised Pallinghurst Resources on its £211 million takeover offer for Gemfields plc.
He represented ADES International on its US$283 million IPO and standard listing on the London Stock Exchange.
He represented Rosneftegaz on its €10.2 billion disposal of 19.5% of Rosneft Oil Company to a consortium comprising QIA and Glencore.
Allan led the international team that represented Nostrum Oil & Gas plc on its successful admission to the premium listing segment of the Official List and to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. The deal involved a complex scheme of reorganisation, with Nostrum Oil & Gas plc acquiring the assets of Nostrum Oil & Gas LP, which had its global depositary receipts listed on the London Stock Exchange for US$2.35 billion. Allan fielded a cross-border, cross-practice team of lawyers who together were able to navigate the corporate, capital markets and banking complexities of the transaction efficiently and effectively.
He advised DX (Group) plc, a leading independent logistics operator in the UK and Republic of Ireland, on the successful pricing of its initial public offering and admission to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. The proceeds of the placing enabled DX to repay existing senior debt, shareholder loans and private equity investors. Admission to AIM allowed the company to invest in service developments for its customers, enhance its reputation and add further credibility to its service offering. The float represented the most successful fundraising on AIM since 2006, raising over £200 million.
He advised Goldman Sachs International, J.P. Morgan, Sberbank CIB and VTB Capital, as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners, and Citigroup and Gazprombank, as joint bookrunners, on the US$469 million follow-on offering by the Central Bank of Russia of shares in the charter capital of Moscow Exchange, Russia's largest securities exchange group in 2014. The deal followed a successful representation to the underwriters by the Firm in 2013 on the Moscow Exchange's US$500 million privatisation and IPO which, at that time, was the largest domestic initial share offering in Russia and the largest securities exchange IPO.
Allan led the international team that advised RusPetro plc on its US$250 million IPO and admission to the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange. This was the first premium listing IPO of 2012 on the London Stock Exchange, and one of a very few successful premium equity offerings in the previous six months. RusPetro is an independent UK oil exploration and production company with assets in Western Siberia, Russia.
He represented Summa Capital, a Russian private equity company, on its US$1 billion majority acquisition of Far Eastern Shipping Company, a leading port operator and shipping business in Russia.
Allan advised Afren plc (a pan-African oil and gas business) on its acquisition of a majority stake in First Hydrocarbon Nigeria, its US$588 million acquisition of two production licences in Kurdistan, its US$100 million acquisition of Black Marlin Energy, an East African oil and gas exploration company and over US$300 million of secondary offerings of shares. The deals represented examples of the ongoing consolidation of the oil and gas market and a further reinforcement of the Firm’s strong position on African work.
Allan has spoken at a number of conferences organised by the London Stock Exchange on the requirements for international companies to obtain a listing in London, including "Preparation for IPO" (June 2013) and "Migration from GDRs to a premium listing" (November 2011).
The Alternative Investment Market, Practical Law, 2006–2014, (contributing editor)
Current market practice trends in rights offerings, Practical Law, 2010, (co-author)
The Exchange's Guide to Listing Depositary Receipts, London Stock Exchange Publication, 2009, (co-author)
Capital Markets – Equity