Kate Cooper is an M&A and corporate partner based in London.
Kate acts for international corporate and FTSE clients. Her areas of practice include complex public and private M&A, corporate restructurings, as well as general UK listed company advisory matters. Kate's varied experience spans a range of sectors, including TMT, Industrials, Consumer and Healthcare.
Kate’s recent transactions include advising AstraZeneca on the $39bn acquisition of Alexion, the largest US acquisition of 2020, DWS Infrastructure on its take private of Stagecoach following a competitive process, Cazoo on its $7bn de-SPAC transaction (the first UK to US de-SPAC), Smiths Group on the corporate aspects of the disposal of its medical division for $2.8bn and Comcast on its £30bn public acquisition of Sky following a competitive process against 21st Century Fox.
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 the University of Oxford.
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- Advising AstraZeneca plc on its $39bn acquisition of NASDAQ-listed Alexion, Inc., the largest US acquisition of 2020
- Advising Smiths Group plc on the carve out and corporate aspects of the disposal of its medical division to ICU Medical for $2.8bn
- Advising Cazoo Group Ltd on its de-SPAC and US listing, and various bolt-on M&A transactions
- Advising DWS Infrastructure on its takeover of Stagecoach plc, following a competitive process
- Advising Comcast Corporation on its takeover of Sky plc for £30bn, following a competitive public auction with 21st Century Fox
- Advising Getir on the acquisition of Gorillas for cash and equity worth $1.2bn
- Advising AB InBev on the disposal of its Australian brewery business and related IP licensing arrangements to Asahi for $11bn
- Advising AstraZeneca plc on its £3.5bn equity placing via an accelerated book build process, the largest undocumented equity raise in Europe ever
- Advising Macquarie’s Infrastructure fund on the takeover of KCOM Group plc, following a competitive public auction
- Advising DNO ASA on its hostile takeover of Faroe Petroleum plc
- Advising Laird plc, a FTSE 250 technology and engineering company, on its takeover by Advent International
- Advising Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, a NASDAQ-100 company, on various tech acquisitions
- Advising BT on its £12.5bn purchase of EE mobile from Deutsche Telekom and Orange and its corporate restructuring and regulatory response following the digital market review by Ofcom which imposed greater separation of BT from Openreach, its broadband infrastructure division
- Advising CVC Capital Partners on the acquisition of QA Group from funds managed by Bregal Capital and various of its founders
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2020 - Present: Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
2014 - 2020: Senior Associate, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
2008 - 2014: Associate, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
2006 - 2008: Trainee, Freshfields Bruckhuas Deringer
2003 - 2005: Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Certificate, Oxford Institute of Legal Practice
1999 - 2003: BA (Hons) English Literature and French, The Queen's College, University of Oxford
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