CMS advises on multi-jurisdictional sale and restructuring of Spearhead

International law firm CMS has advised on the sale and debt restructuring of Spearhead, one of the leading vertically integrated food and agriculture businesses operating in the UK and EU, managing 83,000 hectares of farmland across Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Romania and the UK. 

The transaction – lasting over a year – was carried out via a highly competitive auction process with multiple bidders and negotiations in parallel tracks, with a restructuring of the group’s debt taking place simultaneously (and very much inter-linked with the overall M&A process). The company was ultimately sold to AMC Capital IV, advised by Accession Capital Partners (ACP), with Tomasz Zdziebkowski and Jonathan Lamont remaining in place as CEO and CFO respectively. 

The cross-border CMS team was led by Mark Moseling on the debt side, and Graham Conlon on the M&A side. The core team also included Peter Wiltshire, Timea Scholey and Olivia Crundwell on the debt/restructuring side and Jessica Tang on the M&A side, with support from Malgorzata Janiec, Louise Cakar, Yavor Danailov, Denys Hatseniuk. 

Other members of the team included Russell Hoare, Martin Brown, Sam Smith, Louisa Mottaz, Shona Murphy, Nina Noafshar, Tobias Seger, Jack Richardson, Magnus Wallsten, Andrew Boden, Katy Baker and Jack Regan (CMS UK); Rafal Zwierz, Magdalena Zmyslowska, Jagoda Nowakowska, Artur Bednarski, Agnieszka Starzynska, Agata Wladzinska and Piotr Lipinski (CMS Poland); Helen Rodwell, Kristyna Zmatlikova, Filip Gvozdek, Petr Koral, Stepan Havranek, Hana Ricankova, Danuse Safarikova, Marketa Frankova, Jakub Kabat and Lucie Halloova (CMS Czech Republic); Claudia Nagy, Adina Nanescu, Elena Andrei, Loredana Barbu and Cristina Ciomos (CMS Romania); and Petra Corba Stark, Martin Balaz, Zuzana Nikodemova and Vladimira Rostarova (CMS Slovakia).