Private Capital

We advised Ardian, a private investment house.... Read more

We advised Ardian, a private investment house, on its acquisition of a majority stake in Healthy Group, the parent company of leading independent French pharmacy group Aprium Pharmacie.

Ardian is investing in one of the largest pharmacy networks and supporting the evolution of drug purchase and delivery towards e-commerce.

Lawyers in our Paris office led the transaction, with support from our banking, employment, private equity, and tax practices.

We advised Boundary Street Capital, a private.... Read more

We advised Boundary Street Capital, a private credit investment manager focused on digital infrastructure, enterprise infrastructure software, and technology services, on its sale to Stonepeak, a leading alternative investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets.

The sale better positions Boundary Street to support the growth of innovative technology and digital infrastructure businesses and pursue investment opportunities driven by digitalization and AI.

Lawyers in our New York and Washington, D.C. offices led the transaction, with support from our employee benefits, employment, private equity, and tax practices.

We advised Cazenove Capital, part of the wealth.... Read more

We advised Cazenove Capital, part of the wealth management division of global investment firm Schroders, on its acquisition of Whitley Asset Management, a UK-based wealth manager.

The acquisition furthers Schroders’ commitment to extending Cazenove Capital’s strong UK franchise.

Lawyers in our London office led the transaction, with support from our banking, employment, intellectual property, privacy and cybersecurity, real estate, and tax practices.

We advised Equitix, an international fund manager.... Read more

We advised Equitix, an international fund manager, on a first-of-its-kind acquisition of a majority stake in a residential home decarbonization portfolio from Enpal, Germany’s leading renewable energy solutions provider.

The acquisition strengthens Equitix’s renewable energy portfolio.

Lawyers in our Frankfurt office led the transaction, with support from our Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, and Munich offices and our antitrust, banking, capital markets, infrastructure, intellectual property, real estate, restructuring, and tax practices.

Sector performance

Despite mounting pressure on financial sponsors to deploy capital ahead of investment period expirations, private capital deal activity did not gain momentum until mid-2024. Sector convergence intensified, with strong demand for investments in AI, data centers, financial services, health care, infrastructure, insurance, renewable energy, and businesses focused on energy transition.

The secondaries market continued its growth trajectory, providing liquidity solutions in a constrained transactional market. Consolidation of financial sponsors across the private capital spectrum persisted, driven by challenging market conditions and sponsors seeking efficiencies. The rise of private credit remained uninterrupted, solidifying its role as a cornerstone private capital strategy. Sovereign wealth funds also played an influential role in the sector, often accelerating their direct investing strategies.


Hogan Lovells activities

In 2024, our Private Capital team partnered with clients at every stage of the investment lifecycle. We developed a range of thought leadership on trending topics, including private credit, secondaries, fund and leveraged finance, ESG, cross-border investment, carried interest, and management incentives.

We hosted events across the globe, bringing together private capital investment and legal professionals to exchange ideas and challenge perspectives regarding market developments. We also delivered a three-part webinar series exploring financing throughout the fund lifecycle.

Acts for a broad spectrum of private equity houses and alternative asset managers, including specialist investors, sovereign wealth funds and pension funds.”

Chambers UK, 2024

450+

Private Capital
lawyers

Top 10

Legal advisers for
Europe: buyouts by
deal volume
Mergermarket, 2024

Four Pillars of our M&A Group

Technical excellence

Executing transactions effectively

Sector knowledge

Understanding issues in regulated industries

Global reach

Worldwide scope, local know-how

Full-service capabilities

Subject matter experience

M&A Year in Review

Expander

Dear Clients and Friends,

Welcome to the 2024 edition of our Hogan Lovells M&A Year in Review!

Each year, we publish the M&A Year in Review to express our gratitude to you — our clients and friends — for the opportunity to work together and for the successes we have shared. We hope you enjoy our review of dealmaking in 2024 and our outlook for M&A in 2025.

During 2024, M&A transaction values increased across the world, recovering from their decade-low levels in 2023, to reach an aggregate deal value of approximately US$3.5 trillion. These increases were attributable largely to a 25% rise in sponsor-related dealmaking and a return of megadeals. 

M&A transaction volumes improved during the third and fourth quarters of the year, following a lackluster first half of the year. This resulted in an annual global increase of 1.5%, even amidst a 3% decline in the United States.

Across sectors, technology M&A reasserted itself as the market leader by value and volume in 2024, rebounding from 2023 lows as investor demand for AI, digital innovation, and machine learning increased.

Our M&A Group is grateful to have worked with you over the course of the past year. Your transactions propelled Hogan Lovells to more than 30 M&A league table rankings worldwide, including top rankings for Global M&A and across Europe, France, Germany, Italy, the Nordics, Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and China.

We enter 2025 with measured optimism for substantial M&A activity, based upon strong corporate fundamentals for strategics, significant capital held by sponsors, and reduced regulatory intervention, and in anticipation of compromises to be reached across the economic and diplomatic policies of new administrations. Our perspectives are set forth within our 2025 M&A Outlook here.

We appreciate the trust that you continue to place in us, and we look forward to supporting you on your M&A transactions in the year ahead.

Best wishes for continuing success in 2025,

The Hogan Lovells M&A Group