Philip Round

“Consistently professional,

with excellent attention to detail”

General Counsel, Skipti hf

Philip Round

Corporate Services Partner

Vastly experienced in managing large scale complicated transactions and leads the secured lending and debt funding practice.

What others say about Phil

Chambers & Partners says “Philip Round regularly acts for large corporates, financial service providers and entrepreneurs on a variety of transactional matters. He also has expertise in equity and debt funding.

Philip is very responsive, gets things done in the time frame he says he will, and is beyond helpful. He makes himself available at any time of the day and is very thorough.”

Philip was short listed for Partner of the Year at the Birmingham Law Society Legal Awards.

Philip specialises in acquisitions, disposals, reorganisations, joint ventures, shareholder arrangements and equity and debt funding, acting for corporates, entrepreneurs, funders and management teams.

Philip advises a portfolio of clients in the financial services sector, including share registrars, investment managers and IFAs, and has extensive experience of the practical issues encountered in financial services deals. Philip is recognised for his technical expertise and ability to document complex legal structures in a clear and concise manner. He has negotiated and prepared constitutional documents for large corporates, LLPs and prominent trade associations. Philip has also delivered well received company law seminars for organisations including the Black Country Chamber of Commerce.

Philip provides banking support on the firm’s corporate transactions and advises financial institutions and borrowers on all forms of debt funding, where his responsiveness and attention to detail are particularly valued. Philip has advised VC funds on a series of combined equity and debt investments into the healthcare sector, and is noted for his thorough but commercial approach to due diligence. Philip has been regularly instructed to create and update suites of in-house legal documents for funders.

Experience

  • Advises Saltus Partners LLP, an independently owned and managed investment management and financial planning business, managing over £2 billion of private client assets, on its acquisitions, including the recent acquisitions of Consilia Wealth Management, Fish Financial and Lorica.
  • Advises Scrivens Opticians on its national branch acquisition and disposal strategy and recently advised on its joint venture with Marks & Spencer plc to provide an in-store optical concession.
  • Advised Souter Investments backed investment vehicle, All Good Things, on its buyout of sustainable clothing and homeware business, Celtic & Co.
  • Advised on MBO of LikeZero, a proprietary intelligent data capture technology business from PwC, advising Manfield Partners, which co-invested in the purchase vehicle with Souter Investments.
  • Advises Ortus Secured Finance on its English and Welsh portfolio of lends.
  • Advised the shareholders of Cygnia Technologies on the sale of the company to SecureData, creating a group with £60 million of turnover.
  • Advised St Philips Care Group, a national care home provider, on its £27 million facility with Clydesdale Bank.
  • Advised Frontier Development Capital on the funding by Birmingham City Council of the MBO of Bowman Stor, which was shortlisted for the SME Deal of the Year at the Insider Midlands Dealmakers Awards
  • Advised on the banking aspects of a vendor funded buy–out of Metallisation Limited.
  • Advised Taylor Bins UK, the world’s largest manufacturer of metal bins, on the provision of a CID facility by Lloyds Commercial Finance.
  • Advised Catapult Venture Managers Limited on a series of investments by The Advantage Enterprise & Innovation Fund Limited Partnership and The Catapult Growth Fund Limited Partnership into healthcare and technology businesses.
  • Advised Arion Bank hf on the provision of security by the Iceland Seafood Group for a revolving facility, liaising closely with the bank’s Icelandic counsel.
  • In conjunction with the firm’s real estate team, Philip advised St Francis Group, a leading national provider of site management, remediation and development services, on a joint venture with Marcol Group and various banking facilities.
  • Advised the Equiniti Group, a leading UK financial and business services provider (and the UK’s largest provider of share services to FTSE 100 companies) on the acquisition of the employee share services division from Natwest Stockbrokers Limited. Philip co-ordinated Equiniti’s in-house compliance, HR and operational teams to implement a complex transaction structure within a short timescale.
  • Advised Skipti, the Icelandic telecommunications group, on a joint venture with Daisy Mobile, and Skipti’s subsequent exit from the UK mobile telecommunications sector.
  • Advised Grant Thornton on the sale of its investment management division to Principal Investment Holdings Limited.
  • Prepared and advised on the adoption by the Black Country Chamber of Commerce of a new constitution and bye laws pursuant to which the four divisional boards of the Chamber were replaced by a single consultative forum.

And for something else…

Philip has had a lifelong interest in music, attaining Grade 8 standard on the euphonium and performing in several national concert and competition bands. He now plays acoustic guitar in his spare time.