About
Kate Cooper is an M&A and corporate partner based in London. Kate acts for international corporate and FTSE clients as well as some of the world’s largest financial sponsors. Her areas of practice include complex public and private M&A, UK public takeovers defence and activism as well as corporate restructurings, corporate governance and general UK listed company advice. Kate's varied experience spans a range of sectors, including TMT, Industrials, Consumer and Healthcare.
Kate joined Freshfields in 2006 as a trainee, and has been seconded previously to our Tokyo office, to the Organising Committee of the London Olympics and, as a senior associate, to Goldman Sachs’ European Investment Banking Legal team.
Before becoming a lawyer, Kate obtained a first class honours degree in English Literature and French from Oxford University.
- AstraZeneca plc on its $39bn acquisition of NASDAQ-listed Alexion, Inc., the largest US acquisition of 2020
- AstraZeneca plc on its £3.5bn equity placing via an accelerated book build process, the largest undocumented equity raise in Europe ever
- Bakkavor Group plc on its recommended acquisition by Greencore Group plc, creating a leading UK convenience food business
- Blackstone, as part of a consortium with Tinicum, on its pending £1.3bn recommended acquisition of Senior plc
- BT on its £12.5bn purchase of EE mobile from Deutsche Telekom and Orange and its corporate restructuring of Openreach, its broadband infrastructure division
- BT Group plc on its joint venture with Verizon to create a global connectivity platform for multinational customers
- Comcast Corporation on its takeover of Sky plc for £30bn, following a competitive public auction with 21st Century Fox
- Convatec Group on the acquisition of an innovative antimicrobial nitric oxide platform from 30 Technology, a VC backed biopharmaceutical company
- DNO ASA on its hostile takeover of energy company Faroe Petroleum plc
- DWS Infrastructure fund on its takeover of Stagecoach plc, following a competitive public to private process
- EQT on its pending £9.5bn recommended offer for Intertek Group plc
- Google Ventures on their investment in Monzo, the UK based challenger bank (Series I fundraising round)
- ITV plc on the £1.6bn sale of its Media & Entertainment business to Sky and the acquisition of Love Productions
- Keysight Technologies on its takeover of Spirent Communications plc, a competitive public to private process
- Macquarie’s Infrastructure fund on the takeover of the UK communications and IT provider, KCOM Group plc, following a competitive public to private auction
- PepsiCo on the acquisition of South-African listed Pioneer Foods for $1.7bn
- Permira on its takeover of pharmaceutical company Ergomed plc (a cash and partial securities offering), a public-to-private acquisition
- Smiths Group plc on the disposal of its medical division to NASDAQ-listed ICU Medical for $2.8bn
- Universal Music Group on its acquisition of Mavin Global Holdings Limited, the Nigeria-based music label
- Silver Lake portfolio company ZPG and its shareholders on the sale of Hometrack to Providence Equity Partners
Kate Cooper
100 Bishopsgate
London EC2P 2SR