Ben Higson
20 Fenchurch Street
24th Floor
London EC3M 3BY
United Kingdom
Ben Higson brings valuable experience within the nooks and crannies of foreign/cross-border M&A transactions and seamlessly merges overall advice with fine attention to detail.
He is able to reply quickly and pragmatically to any kind of issue or problem.
[Legal 500 UK, 2021]
Ben is Head of the London Corporate practice and a partner in our Mergers & Acquisitions and Capital Markets team. He advises on a wide range of domestic and international mergers and acquisitions (public and private), financial investor investments and exits, joint ventures, strategic alliances, projects and complex commercial contracts. His work involves many industry sectors but he has a particular focus on energy, infrastructure, natural resources and diversified industrials. In recent years, Ben’s practice has also included a significant amount of Japan outbound investment work.
Ben is rated as an Acritas Star (since 2020) and has been highly rated for high value M&A by Legal 500, was identified as one of the “corporate rising stars” of the London market by Legal Business magazine in November 2013 and featured in The Lawyer Hot 100 for 2011.
Experience Highlights
Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation plc on its $735 million acquisition of Bahia Minerals (Brazil) and related transactions
ExxonMobil on its $1.75 billion disposal of the North Sea assets of Mobil North Sea and other (confidential) projects
Stellwagen, a Dublin-based leader in global aviation asset management and financial and technology solutions, on its sale to Acasta Enterprises (Canada) as part of a cash and stock deal worth more than $900 million
Advised a private equity fund in its entry into a definitive agreement to acquire a leading global manufacturer of sprayed materials
Asahi on its £250 million acquisition of Fuller, Smith & Turner plc’s entire beer and cider business
Citi Infrastructure Investors on its $1.5 billion acquisition of 75% of D.P. World’s Australian port terminals business and the related joint venture arrangements
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners on joint venture arrangements with Abertis and OHL relating to Arteris SA (Brazil), for an amount in excess of €1 billion, and the follow on take private offer
Urals Energy PCL on its $600 million acquisition of an upstream oil and gas interest in East Siberia
Autogrill S.p.A. on its £545 million purchase of World Duty Free Europe from BAA
Bureau Veritas on its £450 million acquisition of the Inspectorate group
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation on its disposal of NedCar (the largest car plant in Holland) and its European network development
Fressnapf on its acquisition of the Italian Arcaplanet group from Permira
Citi Infrastructure Investors and InfraCapital on the reorganisation and sale of their interests in Yorkshire Water (the Kelda group)
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on each of its recent global joint ventures, namely with Siemens (in metals machinery manufacturing technology), Hitachi (in thermal power) and Vestas (in offshore wind turbines)
VTB Bank on its interests in Pulkovo Airport (St Petersburg) and the restructuring of those interests as part of the underlying joint venture arrangements
Primetals Technologies and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on their acquisition of ABP Induction Systems
An oil major on the potential acquisition from another oil major of its downstream businesses in Botswana and Namibia
Chiyoda Corporation on its acquisition of a controlling stake in Xodus group, a global oilfield services group, and related matters
Kuwait Petroleum on its acquisition of the entire downstream business of Shell in Italy
Schlumberger on its oilfield services joint venture interests in Libya and Tunisia
Renault on the restructuring of its dealer and customer financing joint venture with RBS
Credentials
- Distinction, Oxford Institute of Legal Practice, 1997
- LL.B., University of Bristol, 1996
- IFLR1000, Rated as “Highly Regarded”, 2023
- Legal 500 UK, Risk Advisory: Corporate Governance, 2023
- The Lawyer‘s Hot 100, 2011
- England and Wales
- French
- InsightFebruary 14, 2024
Published by IFLR
- Rankings & AwardsJuly 14, 2023
- Deals & CasesJune 1, 2023
- Press ReleaseNovember 14, 2022