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International Private Equity Law Firm

Our Private Equity lawyers have been advising private equity funds and family offices for many decades. Our private equity practice enjoys a high standing and reputation in the European market and beyond. We strive to understand the needs of our clients and the market and to tailor our advice accordingly. The Private Equity players we represent include large, medium and small funds as well as family-run funds across the world that are facing fundraising, origination, valuation, execution, performance, exit strategies and regulation challenges.

Our Private Equity Teams provide cross-disciplinary advice on a wide range of legal and tax matters arising in relation to national and international daily pressures of valuations, performance, exit strategies and regulation. As strategic advisors, we combine many years of experience, expertise and international capability.

The relative availability of debt together with significant levels of capital committed to the private equity industry, or held on corporate balance sheets, has strongly impacted the competition for assets and pricing levels. A cohesive private equity strategy will support you to ensure that you acquire the right assets and obtain maximum value from your portfolio. We are structured around your business sectors and that of your targets. This means we can advise you on all stages of a fund’s lifecycle, from formation and administration to the making of investments, portfolio monitoring and exiting.

Your deals are executed according to tight deadlines and complex regulatory constraints. Our multi-disciplinary specialist teams across more than 40 countries globally can mobilise quickly, whatever the size and complexity of your transaction. With anti-trust, tax, employment, banking, commercial, ESG and disputes expertise, we can also assist in the protection and growth of your funds and investments. Whether your deal is in the upper or mid private equity or venture market, our specialist lawyers can guide you towards the best business outcome in your home markets and across multiple jurisdictions.

CMS Total Private Equity, one stop-service

  • Fund Formation and GP / LP Advisory
  • Financial Services
  • Regulatory
  • Tax
  • Fund Manager
  • Fund Administration & Corporate Services
  • Investment M&A - Comprehensive Due Diligence
  • Investment M&A - Buyouts, Minority Stakes, LBOs, MBOs, MEUs, Take-Privates
  • Shareholder Arrangements, Co-Invests and Sell-downs
  • Acquisition Finance, Debt Restructuring & Refinancing
  • Anti-trust and FDI
  • Portfolio Monitoring (including Tax, Employment, Corporate and Commercial)
  • Dispute Resolution & Mediation
  • Exit M&A - Vendor Due Diligence & Remediation of identified issues
  • Exit M&A - Trade Sales IPOs, Auctions, Recapitalisation
  • Secondaries and GP-Led Secondaries
  • ESG

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25/01/2024
Emerging Europe M&A Report 2023/2024
Despite geopolitical tensions, fears of recession and strong inflationary pressures across the EU, as well as the fiscal tightening needed to contain them, M&A in the CEE region has remained reasonably buoyant. Findings from the CMS Emer­ging Europe M&A 2023/24 report, published in cooperation with EMIS, demonstrate the resilience of the Emerging Europe deals market as activity holds firm against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions and strong inflationary pressures. Welcome to the 2023/24 edition of the Emerging Europe report.
13/09/2023
Turning the Corner? CMS European M&A Outlook 2024
We are pleased to share with you the 2024 edition of the European M&A Outlook, published by CMS in association with Mergermarket.
29/05/2023
CMS European Private Equity Study 2023
We are very pleased to share with you the second edition of the CMS European Private Equity Study 2023. This study analyses hundreds of Private Equity deals that we advised on in 2022 and previous years, providing unique insights into market trends and differences between private equity and trade deals. Key findings: Deal activity remained strong until Q3 2022, but experienced a significant drop in Q4. New investments accounted for 85% of PE deals analysed, with fewer exits and secondary buy-outs in 2022 compared to 2021. Bidding processes decreased in 2022, potentially due to less involvement of PE funds on the sell-side. Entry into new markets was the most common deal driver (64% of deals), while digitalisation was no longer a deal driver­Tech­no­logy, media, and telecoms (TMT) was the busiest sector, followed by Real Estate & Construction and life sciences. Use of MAC clauses decreased to 10% in 2022, compared to 15% in 2021. Fewer FDI approvals or clearances were sought in 2022 (8%) compared to 2021 (15%).W&I insurance played a prominent role in PE M&A transactions, increasing with deal value. Locked box mechanisms for setting purchase price were preferred in 80% of PE deals, while purchase price adjustments decreased. Earn-out provisions increased overall in 2022 but were more common in smaller deals than higher value deals. ESG considerations have not yet featured in legal due diligence or transaction documents. Management incentive schemes saw shorter vesting periods, increased management allocation, but tightened leaver provisions. Overall, there were buyer-friendly developments in some deal metrics, such as the use of "tipping" baskets.
22/03/2023
CMS European M&A Study 2023
The CMS Corporate/M&A Group is pleased to launch the 15th edition of the European M&A Study
16/12/2021
CMS Expert Guide for directors and CEOs
 We last updated this guide in April 2020 in response to the outbreak of COVID-19 – to include specific guidance for directors on their responsibilities in light of the pandemic, and to provide a summary of the relevant changes in law made as countri
28/07/2022
CMS Private Equity Global Brochure
Private equity investors face daily pressures of origination, valuations, execution, performance, exit strategies, fund raising and regulation. At CMS, our private equity strategy is designed around our...

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13/02/2024
Hungary makes changes to labour law, occupational health and safety at...
Hungary has initiated a series of legislative amendments to laws governing labour, occupation health and safety at work, some of which already entered into force on 1 January 2024. Specifically, Hungarian...
09/02/2024
Ukraine launches State Register of Sanctions
On 29 January 2024, the President of Ukraine by the Decree No. 36/2024, approved the Decision of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine “On Approval of the Regulation on the State Register...
25/01/2024
Emerging Europe M&A Report 2023/2024
Despite geopolitical tensions, fears of recession and strong inflationary pressures across the EU, as well as the fiscal tightening needed to contain them, M&A in the CEE region has remained reasonably buoyant. Findings from the CMS Emer­ging Europe M&A 2023/24 report, published in cooperation with EMIS, demonstrate the resilience of the Emerging Europe deals market as activity holds firm against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions and strong inflationary pressures. Welcome to the 2023/24 edition of the Emerging Europe report.
17/01/2024
Hungarian Competition Authority launches study on impact of AI on competition...
On the eve of the European Commission’s calls for contributions on competition in virtual words and generative AI, the Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA) announced that it is launching a market analysis...
08/01/2024
CMS Appoints Seven New Practice and Sector Group Heads
CMS is pleased to announce the new heads for five of its international expertise groups. All CMS lawyers work in cross-border groups in 76 cities across 45 countries that are structured according to the industries in which our clients operate. Commercial Sam De Silva (CMS UK) will join Aukje Haan (CMS Netherlands) as co-head of the CMS Commercial Group. Based in London, Sam specialises in complex and strategic technology and outsourcing projects including all forms of cloud computing, outsourcing, system development and supply, system integration, software licensing, and support and service agreements. Sam also regularly advises on data protection, privacy, cybersecurity and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) issues. Employment Gaël Chuffart (CMS Belgium) and Daniela Krömer (CMS Austria) have been appointed as co-heads of the CMS Employment Group. Based in Brussels, Gaël advises on a wide range of employment law and social security matters. He specialises in collective labour relations, individual labour law and remuneration conditions. He also advises on international employee mobility. Daniela, based in Vienna, specialises in employment law and European law. In her work she focuses on assisting clients with issues such as the cross-border use of labour, as well as equal-treatment issues. Life Sciences & Healthcare Sarah Hanson (CMS UK) and Roland Wiring (CMS Germany) have been named as co-heads of the CMS Life Sciences & Healthcare Group. Sarah is based in London and specialises in high value, cross-border commercial, intellectual property and outsourcing transactions. She has advised on a broad range of commercial agreements related to in-licensing and out-licensing, sales and distributor arrangements, research and development, manufacturing and supply, strategic alliances and joint ventures. Based in Hamburg, Roland advises and represents pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech companies as well as enterprises in related industries. He specialises in drafting contracts for research and development, cooperations, distribution and transaction, and has expert knowledge of issues related to advertising. Private Equity Hamburg-based partner, Jacob Siebert (CMS Germany) joins Jason Zemmel (CMS UK) as co-head of the CMS Private Equity Group. Jacob advises strategic investors and private equity funds on merger and acquisition transactions, joint ventures and private equity investments, often across borders. He has significant experience in advising on buy-outs and public takeovers. Jacob also assists his clients with all aspects of corporate law. Public Procurement Brussels-based partner, Virginie Dor (CMS Belgium) has been named as the head of the CMS Public Procurement Group. In this role, Virginie specialises in legal support for large-scale public projects and advises contracting authorities and companies in all sectors on advisory and litigation matters. Additionally, she supports projects in the fields of life-sciences, construction, IT and energy.
17/11/2023
Proposed legislation would radically expand the UK’s class action regime
15 November 2023 saw publication of two proposed amendments to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill that would have significant impacts on the UK’s class action regime:First, a proposed...
24/10/2023
CMS European Energy Sector M&A and Investment Outlook 2024
As the world economy increasingly embraces the push towards decarbonisation, Europe has actively sought to place itself at the vanguard of the discussion on energy trans­ition. Op­por­tun­it­ies to deploy capital abound as power sources switch further towards offshore and onshore wind, solar, heat, hydrogen, battery storage, new networks, carbon capture, and industrial decarbonisation. The latter brings an interface with other sectors such as technology companies (with power hungry data centres a particular focus), real estate, low carbon transport and decarbonisation of industrial processes such as cement, glass and steel production. As much as it is difficult, complex and highly political, the energy transition is also a huge business opportunity. To reach net zero by 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global investment in clean energy alone will need to increase from the USD390bn in the first half of 2023, to USD 1.3tn in 2030. Many commentators worried that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would put back the transition and shift Europe back towards fossil fuels. While it appears to have resulted in a renewed political focus on energy security it has also laid bare the financial and political consequences of relying on oil & gas imports, giving further impetus to renewables as a secure form of energy. Europe has also sought to be a leading light on the concept of “reaching net zero”, with the European Union (EU) having set out its ambition, back in 2019, to become the world’s first major economic bloc to be climate-neutral by 2050. This has added momentum to energy investment and M&A over recent years – 2021 and 2022 saw the second and third highest annual aggregate values of Western European M&A in the sector on record, at USD 59.8bn and USD 53.7bn, respectively, bested only by the anomalously high total of USD 89.4bn logged in 2018. Energy M&A in the region has been more subdued in 2023, but our survey demonstrates that energy executives are gearing up for a more active dealmaking period, with most expecting more opportunities and anticipating increased levels of investment in the year ahead. Capital looks set to continue to flow primarily to renewable energy projects and related assets, with solar and batteries topping the list of attractive subsectors among our respondents. Consistent with this, South West Europe takes pole position as the most promising region for investment opportunities. But there are thorns among the roses. Our respondents are cognizant of the challenges in the energy market, with supply-chain volatility and commodity price increases emerging as a prominent concern. This is unsurprising after a period of dislocation following the pandemic and amid a time of rising global demand for renewable products and commodities. Persistent inflation and elevated interest rates, combined with an uncertain macroeconomic outlook, are raising investors’ concerns, with financing risk (including the increased cost of financing) also coming to the fore for respondents. Overall, while some sense a recent softening of the market due to these fundamentals, our survey paints a picture of steadily improving investor sentiment in Europe’s energy sector, laying the foundations for a busier period ahead for M&A activity.
22/10/2023
ACC Annual Meeting 2023
Meet our experts at booth #712
12/10/2023
Ukraine improves regulations governing representative offices and branches...
On 3 September 2023, Ukraine enacted a new Law regulating the activities of representative offices and branches of foreign companies, which significantly simplifies the procedures for the establishment...
11/10/2023
Hungary sets cybersecurity fines in decree
A Hungarian government decree (Government Decree 305/2023 (VII. 11.) on the amount of cybersecurity fines, detailed rules of procedure for the imposition and payment of fines) has set down the minimum...
04/10/2023
Swiss self-regulation for sustainable asset management: takeaways at the...
BackgroundOn 26 September 2022, the Asset Management Association Switzerland (AMAS) published a principle-based self-regulation for sustainable asset management, which is mainly applicable to its members...
13/09/2023
Turning the Corner? CMS European M&A Outlook 2024
We are pleased to share with you the 2024 edition of the European M&A Outlook, published by CMS in association with Mergermarket.