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Lawyers

Jonathan Cooklin

Lawyers

Focuses on corporate tax and corporate tax planning. Advises on the UK tax aspects of the full spectrum of corporate transactions. Lawyer and chartered accountant.

Jonathan’s practice concentrates on corporate tax and corporate tax planning, including tax aspects of corporate finance and private equity work, public and private mergers and acquisitions, demergers, joint ventures, reconstructions, equity and debt capital markets transactions, and cross-border transactions. He also has considerable experience advising insurance groups and on restructuring of distressed groups.

Chambers GlobalChambers Europe and Chambers UK recognize Jonathan as a Band 1 UK tax lawyer. Clients quoted by Chambers say he is “a highly sophisticated tax adviser. He provides insightful responses and he’s a real pleasure to work with.” 

Jonathan is a lawyer and chartered accountant.

Capabilities
Capabilities

Experience highlights

Public Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Atairos $580 million take private of Ocean Outdoor
  • A.P. Moller – Maersk on its demerger and $3.6 billion Nasdaq Copenhagen listing of Maersk Drilling
  • Comcast on its £30.6 billion competitive takeover offer for Sky
  • Dialog Semiconductor on its:
    • $4.6 billion aborted acquisition of Atmel
    • $5 billion proposed merger with AMS
  • Maersk Drilling merger with Noble
  • Markit on its $13 billion merger with IHS
  • Mereo BioPharma on its $57.4 million combination with OncoMed Pharmaceuticals
  • Nuvei on its $889 million takeover of SafeCharge
  • SS&C Technologies £1.2 billion offer for Blue Prism
  • Temenos on its £1.4 billion takeover offer for Fidessa
  • Technip on its $17 billion merger with FMC Technologies
Private Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Aetna on its acquisition of InterGlobal from investors led by Alchemy Partners, ARM Holdings on its acquisition of Sensinode, and Lydall on its acquisition of Andrew Industries’ filtration business
  • Antares Holdings, a Lloyd’s insurance company, on its sale by an affiliated investment fund of Lightyear Capital and others to Qatar Insurance
  • A.P. Møller – Maersk on its $7.45 billion disposal of Maersk Oil to Total
  • Ding sale of majority stake to Pollen Street Capital
  • Ferrero acquisition of Eat Natural
  • Gilead Sciences $405 million acquisition of MiroBio
  • Lightyear Capital acquisition of Wren Sterling
  • MasterCard on its £700 million acquisition of a 92.4% stake in VocaLink
  • Morgan Stanley on the sale of its Global Oil Merchanting Business
  • Natura on its €1 billion acquisition of The Body Shop from L’Oréal
  • Verisk Analytics on its:
    • $3.1 billion sale of Wood Mackenzie to Ventas Capital
    • £250 million acquisition of Sequel from Hg Capital and others
    • £1.85 billion acquisition of Wood MacKenzie from Hellman & Fredman and others
  • Viva Wallet strategic investment by J.P. Morgan
Capital Markets
  • IPOs by Abengoa Yield, Charter Court Financial, ContourGlobal, Financial Acquisition Corp, Gates Industrial, Hudson, Made.com, Manchester United, New Energy One Acquisition, OneSavings Bank, Orchard Therapeutics, Oxford Immunotec and WizzAir
  • Debt offerings by Aon, BBA Aviation, British American Tobacco, Crédit Agricole, Endava, FedEx, Ferguson, GE Capital, IHS Markit, LYB International, Ocado, Société Générale and The Royal Bank of Scotland
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Insights

Credentials

Recognition

Chambers Global, Europe and UK – Tax, Band 1

Legal 500 UK – Corporate Tax, Hall of Fame

Who’s Who Legal – Corporate Tax, Advisory

ILO Client Choice Awards – UK Corporate Tax, 2016

Education
M.A., University of Cambridge
  • Trinity Hall
B.A., University of Cambridge
  • Trinity Hall
Professional history
  • Partner, Davis Polk, 2012-present
  • Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, 2001-2012
Qualifications and admissions
  • England and Wales
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