Graham Watson is a partner in the corporate department of our London office.

Graham’s practice encompasses capital markets, public takeovers and mergers, private M&A and general corporate advice. His experience includes advising on:

Capital markets transactions:

  • rights issues by Xstrata, Corporación Mapfre and Banco de Sabadell;
  • the placing and open offer by Lloyds TSB in conjunction with its acquisition of HBOS;
  • placings by Xstrata, Mwana Africa and Taylor Nelson Sofres;
  • the IPOs of Corporación Dermoestética, Thus, Befesa, Azkar and Tabacalera;
  • the AIM admission of Payzone on the merger of Cardpoint and alphyra; and
  • the introduction to listing of the London Stock Exchange.

Public takeovers and mergers:

  • EMI’s acquisition by Terra Firma;
  • Xstrata’s acquisition of Falconbridge, offers for LionOre, offer discussions with Vale and proposed offer for Lonmin;
  • Sinochem's offer for Emerald Energy;
  • the merger of Emirates Bank International and National Bank of Dubai to form Emirates NBD;
  • the merger of Smiths Industries and TI Group to form Smiths Group; and
  • the take-privates of Recoletos and McKechnie.

Private M&A transactions:

  • Xstrata’s related party acquisitions of Cerrejón and Prodeco Colombian coal mining assets;
  • a consortium bid for National Grid Wireless;
  • Taylor Nelson Sofres’ acquisition of NFO Worldgroup; and
  • Compass Group’s disposals of its Le Méridien, Heritage, Travelodge and Little Chef businesses.

Graham is co-head of our natural resources group and was a member of our team advising Xstrata that was named corporate team of the year at the 2007 Legal Business Awards.

Graham speaks English and Spanish and has been seconded twice to our Madrid office, in 1998 and from 2003 to 2005. He graduated with a law degree from Trinity College, Oxford, joined the firm as a trainee in 1997, qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 1999 and became a partner in 2008.

Contact details

graham.watson
@freshfields.com

  • London office
  • 65 Fleet Street
    London EC4Y 1HS
    United Kingdom
  • Telephone
  • +44 20 7832 7263
  • Fax
  • +44 20 7108 7263