Gerry HalpennyMergers and Acquisitions, Chairman, LK Shields
Gerry is regarded as a leading M & A practitioner in the Irish market and features prominently in the various independent legal directories.
Gerry advises a broad range of clients operating in various industry sectors, and his practice involves a wide geographical spread, reflecting the increasingly international nature of his and the firm's practice.
Gerry is a Partner in the Corporate and Commercial Department. He also leads the firm's thriving Mergers and Acquisitions practice, in addition to advising on various other commercial agreements and arrangements on behalf of clients operating within and outside Ireland.
In recent years, in addition to transactions in Ireland and the UK, he and his team have advised clients on numerous deals in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean region/Central America, China and the Pacific Rim region.
He has acted extensively for both buyers and sellers of businesses as well as venture capital/private equity investors, joint venture partners and companies raising funds through debt or equity on either public or private markets.
Gerry qualified as a Solicitor in 1981 and joined LK Shields Solicitors as a Partner in 1998 from another leading Dublin firm, where he had been a Partner for nine years. He was President of the Ireland France Chamber of Commerce 2011-2013.
Experience
- Acted for the seller, Topaz Investments Limited in the sale of Topaz Energy Group Limited, Resource Property Investment Fund plc and Esso Ireland Limited to Alimentation Couche-Tard.
- Acted for Harvest Energy in the sale of Harvest Biofuels Limited to Greenergy.
- Advised Kendrick Investments, a vehicle wholly owned by Denis O’Brien, on the acquisition and refinancing of the IBRC debt facilities of the Topaz Group.
- Advised the Elverys management team on their successful buy-out of the business through the examinership process.
- Advised The Jelly Bean Factory in the sale of a majority stake of the company to Swedish confectionery firm Cloetta.
- Acted for the shareholders of Saongroup Limited in the sale of Saongroup Limited to StepStone.
- Acted for Chevron in the disposal by it of its Texaco retail fuel network to Valero Energy.
- Acted for Veolia Environmental Services in relation to acquisition of hazardous waste company AVR Safeway and the sale by it of its Irish (all island) commercial and industrial waste business to Greenstar, one of the largest transactions in the sector in the last five years.
- Acted for Dalkia Group across a broad range of matters including numerous acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures and commercial contractual arrangements.
- Acted for Communicorp Group, Ireland’s largest independent radio broadcasting group, in relation to numerous acquisitions in Ireland and abroad, including the largest acquisition ever in the sector in Ireland.
