David Lewis
Biography
Overview
David Lewis is a partner in our global M&A and Corporate practice based in London. An experienced corporate M&A and equity capital markets lawyer with a primary focus on natural resources. David brings his breadth of knowledge and experience to a broad range of transactions across the mining and metals sector, regularly leading on project development, mining financing, capital markets and M&A transactions both domestically and internationally.
David was co-head of mining and minerals in his previous firm.
Guildford
Cambridge
Experience
General
the majority shareholder in Louis Dreyfus on the sale of a minority interest in LDC *
lenders on the debt for equity restructuring of Azzuri Restaurants, Bakkavor Group and the Innovation Group
Inmarsat on a number of deals including its takeover by a private equity consortium *
Edison on the signing of the agreement with Energean Oil & Gas to sell the 100% of Edison Exploration and Production and its subsidiaries *
Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Company on its proposed acquisition of a minority interest in Glencore Agri (deal value in excess of US$2 billion) *
an oil major in relation to its proposed sale of a portfolio of operated and non-operated upstream assets in the UK North Sea (deal value in excess of US$1 billion) *
IFC, Standard Charterred, Temasek and a range of other institutional investors on their equity investments in Seven Energy, a company with assets in Nigeria and on the related financial restructuring of the group (enterprise value in excess of US$1 billion at face value) *
Glencore on its US$1.35 billion strategic acquisition of Calgary-based Caracal Energy, a company with oil and gas reserves in Chad *
consortium of Chinese investors on their proposed acquisition of the Las Bambas mine in Peru (deal value in excess of US$7 billion) *
the underwriters of Glencore International’s IPO *
Wellstream Holdings, one of the world's leading suppliers of flexible pipes to the offshore oil industry on its sale to General Electric for £800 million *
ERAMET on the sale to the Chinese steel group Tsingshan of an interest in an ERAMET subsidiary and related JV arrangements (deal value undisclosed) *
VTB Capital in respect of its investment in EN+, the holding company of Oleg Deripaska that owns, amongst other things, UC Rusal (deal value undisclosed) *
one of the consortia bidding for Gatwick Airport *
France Telecom on its acquisition of Orange (US$20 billion+) *
Bwin on its proposed acquisition of AIM listed Sportingbet plc and on its merger with Party Gaming (deal value in excess of US$3 billion) *
Representation of Inmarsat on its acquisition by Triton Bidco for £2.6 billion *
Mining
- the Official Receiver of British Steel on the sale of its business to Jingye Iron & Steel *
- Eramet SA on the sale of TiZir Titanium & Iron AS *
- Eramet SA on the sale of a majority interest in, and formation of a joint venture in respect of, Weda Bay Nickel *
- Norsk Hydro on the disposal of its rolled products division at an enterprise value of Euro 1.38 billion *
- Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) on the proposed acquisition of the US$5.85 billion Las Bambas copper mine project in Peru, from Glencore *
- ZCCM – IH (a Zambian government controlled entity) in respect of its interest in Konkola Copper Mines (a distressed copper mine in Zambia) *
- Glencore on the merger of Katanga and Nikanor to create a US$3 billion + entity *
- Glencore on its consortium bid approach to DRC based Nikanor plc and then on its subsequent £300 million subscription of shares in Nikanor and US$100 million convertible subscription in Katanga *
- a potential acquirer of a sub-Saharan Africa gold mine from a major gold producer *
- the financial advisors to China Gold in relation to its proposed acquisition of African Barrick Gold (aborted) *
- a potential acquirer of a diamond mine from one of the diversified majors (aborted) *
- a potential acquirer of a controlling stake in Lonmin and in connection with Lonmin’s restructuring (enterprise value in excess of US$1 billion) *
- a precious metals company with assets in sub-Saharan Africa on its proposed (but aborted) London IPO *
- The underwriters on the IPO of Glencore International, one of the largest IPO’s in Europe *
Energy
- Edison on the disposal of its E&P division, including interests on the UK North Sea *
- Adani Green Energy Limited on its c.USD 3.5 billion acquisition of SB Energy's 5 GW India renewable power portfolio. The largest acquisition in the Indian renewable energy sector *
- AIIM on the restructuring of and investment into various assets of Nigerian based Seven Energy ( "Restructuring Deal of the Year" IFLR Sub-Saharan Africa Awards 2019). *
- JP Morgan Asset Management on the acquisition of a 43% stake in North Sea Midstream Partners from Wren House Infrastructure Management *
- an oil major in relation to its proposed sale of a portfolio of operated and non-operated upstream assets in the UK North Sea *
- AIIM on its acquisition of a 20% stake in certain subsidiaries of Seven Energy to be acquired by Savannah Petroleum *
- Temasek, IFC, Standard Chartered Private Equity, Capital International and Petrofac on their follow-on investment in Seven Energy *
- Gunvor on its attempted acquisition of Chevron's South African refinery and retail business and a number of other transactions *
- CITIC on its investment in a European wind farm project *
- the sponsors in respect of the equity aspects of a power project in Ghana and Nigeria *
- ENGIE on the sale of its upstream and midstream LNG activities, liquefaction, shipping and international LNG trading, for an aggregate value of up to US$2.04 billion *
- the Adani Group on its joint venture with Total to create one of India's largest downstream energy partnerships *
- British Energy on its restructuring and relisting (enterprise value in excess of £10 billion) *
- an oil major on the disposal of certain of its downstream operations in a Central Asian republic*
- Salamander Energy on the acquisition and disposal of a number of upstream interests and on its sale to Ophir Energy *
- Dominion Petroleum (a company with assets in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) on its takeover by Ophir Energy *
*Matters worked on prior to joining White & Case.
Chambers UK 2022, Energy and Natural Resources, Mining. Band 4, Individual ranking
"David Lewis is noted for his respected corporate practice and has a particular focus on the mining sector. He regularly assists international mining companties with restructurings, joint ventures and M&A transactions. "
Chambers UK: 2020: Mining & Metals
"He’s a really good sounding board, is thorough and gets things done. "
Chambers UK, 2019: Mining & Metals