Biography
Helen Croke is a partner in our global M&A practice based in London, focusing on Private Equity.
She specialises in UK and international private equity and M&A, including acting for institutional investors, corporates and founders. Helen is recommended by Chambers UK and The Legal 500 as a leading individual in private equity who clients say is "fantastic" with a "unique ability to articulate complicated aspects in layman's terms." She was inducted into the Legal 500 Hall of Fame in 2020 for private equity transactions of £500+ million.
Experience
Representation of 3i Group plc:
- on the sale of MPM, a global leader in premium, natural pet food, to Partners Group;
- and GartenHaus on the acquisition of Outdoor Toys, one of the UK's leading online retailers of outdoor garden toys;*
- on its acquisition of Vattenfall AB alongside GS Infrastructure Partner;*
- on its acquisition of TCR, the largest independent lessor of airport ground support equipment with Deutsche Asset Management;* and
- on its acquisition of 33.3% of the equity in Cross London Trains, in consortium with Siemens Project Ventures GmbH and Innisfree Limited.*
Representation of Intermediate Capital Group:
- on its investment into Law Business Research (LBR) and LBR's subsequent strategic merger with ALM;*
- on its sale and reinvestment into IRIS Software Group, a leading global provider of mission-critical software and services in accountancy, payroll, HR and education. The investment represented one of Europe's largest software buyouts for 2023, valuing IRIS at an Enterprise Value of around £3.15 billion;*
- on its sale and reinvestment into Visma, a leading provider of mission-critical cloud software in Europe and Latin-America, valuing Visma at €19 billion;*
- on its investment in Travel Chapter, one of the UK's leading holiday rental platforms, supporting the sale of the company to its management team from private equity firm ECI Partners;*
- on an investment in Visma by Aeternum Capital, Government Pension Fund Norway (Folketrygdfondet), Vind, GIC and certain existing institutional investors;*
- on its investment in Education Personnel;*
- on its sale of CPA Global to Cinven;*
- on its investment in ATPI and Griffin Global;*
- on its investment in Baxter Storey;* and
- on its sale of Marken to Apax Partners.
Representation of Bridgepoint:
- on its sale and reinvestment in PEI Group, an international provider of information, insights and events for the global alternative private assets market;*
- on its acquisition of Fera Science, a national and international centre of excellence for interdisciplinary investigation and problem solving across plant and bee health, crop protection, sustainable agriculture, food and feed quality and chemical safety in the environment;*
- on its acquisition of SK AeroSafety Group, a global leader in aviation safety component maintenance, repair and overhaul services;*
- on its acquisition of Achilles, a supply chain risk and performance management business;*
- on its investment in digital marketing agency IDHL;*
- on its investment in Matrix SCM, a leading managed service provider for the outsourced hiring and management of temporary local government staff in the UK;*
- and its portfolio company, HKA, on the acquisition by HKA of The Kenrich Group, a U.S.-based business and litigation consulting firm;*
- on its sale of Inspired Thinking Group Holdings Limited (ITG), a martech services provider;*
- on its sale of Quotient Clinical to GHO Capital;*
- on its acquisition of tastecard and Gourmet Society;*
- on its investment in MVF;*
- on its acquisition of Phlexglobal from Inflexion Private Equity;*
- on its investment in LOC Group;*
- on its sale of Sibu to Stirling Square Capital;* and
- on its sale of Pulsant to Oak Hill Capital following BDC's successful buy and build strategy.*
Representation of Astorg:
- on the demerger of Fastmarkets from Delinian, formerly known as Euromoney Institutional Investor plc;* and
- on its acquisition of the Fastmarkets business division of Euromoney Institutional Investor, as part of a £1.61 billion acquisition of the financial publisher Euromoney by Astorg and Epiris.*
Representation of Avista Healthcare Partners:
- and Nordic Capital on the sale of Acino Pharma to ADQ;*
- on its sale of Trimb, a leading consumer health care company based in Stockholm, Sweden, to Karo Pharma for MSEK 3,400;* and
- on its joint acquisition with VHC Investco of Vision Healthcare, one of Europe's fastest-growing omni-channel and direct-to-consumer health care companies.*
Representation of Oakley Capital:
- on its sale of TechInsights;* and
- on its acquisition of TechInsights, a technology patent analysis business.*
Representation of Oak Hill and Scottish Equity Partners on sale of Pulsant, one of the leading nationwide providers of data centre and cloud infrastructure in the UK, to Antin Infrastructure Partners.*
Representation of certain selling shareholders of FirstPort, a leading UK residential property management company, to Equistone Partners Europe Limited.*
Representation of certain selling shareholders on the sale of Quotient Sciences, a UK-headquartered provider of outsourced drug development services, to Permira.*
Representation of the founders of Cathelco, a UK-based global manufacturer of equipment for ships and offshore installations, on its sale to Evac, the world's leading provider of integrated waste, wastewater and water management systems for the marine, offshore, and building industries.*
Representation of the founders of TCP LifeSystems, a software solutions provider to life and pensions insurance companies, on their sale of the company to iPipeline UK, a leading provider of business intelligence to the UK life, pension and investment markets.*
Representation of the founders of Thomas International, a leading international provider of psychometric assessment solutions, on the sale of a majority stake in the company to Palamon Capital Partners, a pan-European growth investor.*
Representation of Pulsant and Oak Hill on the acquisition of LayerV, a specialist public cloud solution integration company.*
Representation of PAI Partners on the buyout of Vacant Property Specialists.*
Representation of Pulsant, Oak Hill Capital and Scottish Equity Partners in their acquisition of Onyx.*
Representation of Stirling Square Capital Partners on its acquisition of Mettis Aerospace.*
Representation of the founders of CoreHR on their exit and equity arrangements following a majority investment by JMI Equity.*
Representation of Silverfleet Capital and other shareholders on the sale of Aesica Pharmaceuticals.*
Representation of CDC Group plc and the International Finance Corporation, on their investment in Garden City.*
Representation Chorion/3i on the disposals of various IP businesses and brands including Agatha Christie, Mr Men, Noddy, 3i, Raymond Chandler and Beatrix Potter.*
Representation of Candover/Arle Capital on its complex buy out of Candover Partners Ltd and simultaneous acquisitions of a portfolio of investments from Candover Investments plc.*
*Experience prior to joining White & Case.
Legal 500 UK – Hall of Fame, Private Equity: Transactions – High Value Deals (2020 – 2025)
Chambers UK – Ranked in Private Equity: Buyouts (2025)
Private Equity News – Twenty Most Influential Private Equity Lawyers (2023-2025)
Chambers Global – Private Equity: Buyouts (2024-2025)
The Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom - Private Equity (2018 – 2025)
IFLR 1000 Notable Practitioner (2018-2021); Market Leader (2022-2024)
IFLR 1000 Women Leaders (2021)