Tughans Solicitors

Tughans tops the Northern Ireland deal league for sixth year

Tughans has been named Northern Ireland’s most active commercial law firm, as it topped  the Experian M&A and Real Estate Advisor League Table for an impressive sixth year in a row. The Belfast-based firm advised on an outstanding 49 deals during 2020. The Tughans’ transactional teams have acted on a wide spectrum of deals involving many different sectors and encompassing a range of structures including:

  • A series of equity investments both investor side (BGF’s investment in Decora Blinds and others) and company side for numerous companies;
  • The sales of each of TitanIC to the Nasdaq-listed group Mellanox and Connect Total Communications to Radius Payment Solutions; and
  • CA Ventures equity and development funding deal to unlock the Botanic Link student accommodation project in Belfast. This unlocked a complex site that has been waiting for development for over 20 years.

 

Head of Corporate, James Donnelly, said “We are delighted to be ranked as the most active commercial law firm in Northern Ireland. The profile and complexity of our work really stands out in the market and we are proud to have played a role in a significant share of the transactions making the headlines over the last year. Of course, underpinning those headlines is the ambition of our clients backed up by the outstanding dedication of our teams in what has been a challenging year for everyone and this ranking is once again welcome recognition of that effort.

Fellow Corporate Partner, John McGuckian, added “Our deals involved businesses and assets of all sizes across many different sectors and to be the most active legal advisors across a period of time that straddles the very obvious challenges caused by the pandemic  shows strong consistency in the context of a turbulent and changing market. We are also pleased to experience a very strong start to 2021, with the recent completion of significant transactions including acting for Metacompliance  in respect of a major equity investment by Tenzing, acting for gym equipment maker BLK Box in its move to a new premises tripling its footprint and representing nTopy Data shareholders interests in the sale to Civica.”

Tughans’ Managing Partner Patrick Brown said, “This success reflects the talent within our Corporate Team under the leadership of James with Corporate Partners, John McGuckian and Paul O’Brien, as well Real Estate Partners David Jones, Rebecca Moffett, and Joe Moore and Chris Milligan. But it is also driven by the strength in depth of other departments such as Employment, Banking & Finance, Restructuring  and Contracts & Technology.

“To be the most active advisor in the region for six consecutive years, and over such a challenging  period of time is fantastic recognition, but the ranking only shows part of the picture. In addition to our transactional work, we also have market leading teams in our Disputes, Construction, Planning, Environmental, Insurance, Public Law, Healthcare and Regulatory practices as well.”

Patrick Brown continued, “We are proud that our lawyers have been recognised, however it is important to acknowledge that this is only possible because of the success and ambition of our clients. Similarly, we value close connections with law firms in both the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain, and have a strong record in acting as NI counsel on multi-national transactions.”