Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co has advised MxP Partners LLP on its £80m private equity (PE) buyout of Amber Taverns. MxP Partners, an investment firm and a founding shareholder of the business, acquired Amber Taverns, a north west-based operator of 95 community pubs, from Legal & General Capital in a buyout jointly backed by BlueBay Asset Management.

Owing to the unusual and complex nature of this transaction, in addition to the more vanilla acquisition and debt finance aspects typical to buyouts of this size, Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co took an innovative approach to the equity structuring of the deal and advising on the provision of various deal specific funding structures to enable its successful completion.

Corporate partner Ian Piggin led the Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co 12-strong multidiscipline team comprising: partners Sharon Ayres (funds); Kirsty Barnes (banking and finance); Phil Clissitt (real estate); directors Penny Sanders (financial services regulation); Jonathan Segal (banking and finance); Graham Spalding (corporate); associates Laura Charles (funds); Nicholas Crabtree (corporate); solicitors James Bradshaw (corporate); Anup Mehta (corporate); Saffron Smith (corporate); and Amy Tabari (real estate).

Ian Piggin said: "This type of private equity transaction is still quite rare, even in today's market, so it was a particularly exciting deal for us to be able to advise on.

"Being able to draw on the significant knowledge and experience of such a tight-knit team of experts, from across a range of specialisms, was invaluable to securing the best result for our client, especially when it came to the deal specific funding and structuring the investment arrangements between MxP Partners and BlueBay Asset Management.

"This is a wonderful outcome for MxP Partners and we're pleased to have been part of it."

Michael George, Founder of MxP Partners said: "The success of this deal was pivotal to the future growth of the business; it was therefore essential to have the right legal team in place.

"The Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co team worked seamlessly, despite the unforgiving deadlines and challenges that arose. Their knowledge and commercial foresight was second to none. We couldn't have had a better team on our side."