CMS Corporate team in Manchester caps £1.6bn year with RDI REIT plc takeover advice

The Manchester corporate team of CMS has capped off a successful last 12 months by acting for London Stock Exchange listed RDI REIT PLC on its £468 million takeover offer by Starwood Capital, the US private equity fund, which closed last week. This takes CMS corporate to over £1.6 billion of deals completed in the last year, including acting for Bibby Line Group on the sale of Costcutter Supermarkets Group, Manchester Airports Group on the £340 million+ disposal of its non-core portfolio of assets at Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands Airports, WSP UK on the sale of its UK parking enforcement software business Taranto and Worldline (the largest European operator in payment services) on the sale of certain of its Payone payments business.

Head of Corporate, Howard Gill, said ‘it has been another strong year for the Manchester corporate team.  Despite the difficult circumstances our clients have faced over the last year or so, they have remained resilient and determined as ever to get on with business. This has been reflected in the deals we have completed for key clients such as Bibby Line Group, MAG, WSP and RDI REIT PLC. And the pipeline is also looking strong, which is hopefully a good sign that the UK corporate bounceback is well under way.”