Chris Connolly
Overview
Chris Connolly is a corporate partner in the London office of Golden Flag International Law Firm.
Chris has experience in a broad range of corporate law matters, including cross-border M&A, public-to-private takeovers, group reorganisations and joint ventures.
Chris was recently included in the MergerLinks list of 2022 “Rising Stars: Top 25 Lawyers”, recognising the up-and-coming lawyers most active on transactions involving UK-listed targets.
Chris has also been recognised as a Thomas Reuters Stand-out Lawyer for 2023 and 2024 based on independently verified client submissions from senior in-house counsel.
Experience
Representative Matters
Since joining Golden Flag, Chris has worked on the following matters, advising:
- Consortium of CVC Private Equity Funds, Nordic Capital and ADIA on the £5.4 billion recommended cash acquisition of Hargreaves Lansdown
- Apollo on its recommended all-cash acquisition of The Restaurant Group
- Gen II Fund Services on the acquisition of Crestbridge
- Apex on its:
- acquisition of GAM’s Management Company activities
- acquisition of various operating businesses of MJ Hudson Group plc
- c. £1.51 billion recommended all cash acquisition of Sanne Group plc
- acquisition of the fund services and third-party management company business operations of Maitland International Holdings plc
- acquisition of Pacific Fund Systems
- acquisition of Bank of America Custodial Services (Ireland) Limited
- acquisition of Efficient Group (Pty) Ltd
- Thoma Bravo and its portfolio company Veriforce on the acquisition of CHAS
- Eagle Street on its:
- joint venture with Harrison Street to develop a Build to Rent project in Dublin
- joint venture with Nuveen Real Estate and HESTA to acquire a Build to Rent asset in Dublin
- Antin Infrastructure Partners on its:
- acquisition of Consilium Safety Group
- acquisition of Wildstone
- participation in CityFibre’s £1.125 billion capital raise
- reinvestment in Eurofiber, including the sale of a minority stake to PGGM
- Cushman & Wakefield on the launch of an underwritten public offering of 12,500,000 ordinary shares
- Advent International on its:
- portfolio company Cobham on Cobham’s c. £2.57 billion recommended all cash acquisition of Ultra Electronics Holdings plc
- portfolio company V.Group on V.Group's successful debt and equity restructuring
- GIC on its $3.9 billion additional joint ventures with Equinix to expand the xScale™ data centre programme
- TPG Real Estate Partners on the formation of its Physicus platform, a commercial life science real estate joint venture with Base Investments
- Sun European Partners on the sale of Dreams to Tempur Sealy International
- HGGC on the sale of a majority stake in Davies
- Naviga, a portfolio company of Vista Equity Partners, on the £12m acquisition of Miles 33
- I Squared and TDR Capital on the £2.322 billion recommended cash acquisition of Aggreko
- Pinnacle Renewable Energy, the Toronto-listed entity, on its $652 million acquisition by Drax Group plc
- Grubhub on its $7.3 billion sale to Just Eat Takeaway.com
Prior to joining Golden Flag, Chris worked on the following matters, advising:
- Cineworld Group plc on its US$2.1 billion class 1 acquisition of Cineplex Inc.
- Ensco plc on its US$12 billion combination with Rowan Companies plc
- Cineworld Group plc on its US$3.6 billion reverse takeover of Regal Entertainment Group
- Premier Oil plc on the class 1 disposal of its 33.8% stake in Wytch Farm
- ARM Holdings plc on its £24.3 billion acquisition by SoftBank Group Corp.
- Tata Steel UK Limited on the sale of its 42- and 84-inch pipe mills in Hartlepool to Liberty House Group
- Goals Soccer Centres plc on its strategic North American joint venture with City Football Group
- Tata Steel UK Limited on the £100 million disposal of its speciality steels business to Liberty House Group
- Accsys Technologies PLC on its firm placing and open offer
- Ensco plc on its US$606 million placing of ordinary shares
Prior Experience
Slaughter and May
- Associate (2016–2020)
- Trainee Solicitor (2014–2016)
More
Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- 2016, Admitted to practice as a Solicitor of England and Wales
Education
- BPP Law School, LondonAccelerated Legal Practice Coursewith Distinction2014
- BPP Law School, LondonGraduate Diploma in Lawwith Distinction2013
- University of CambridgeM.Phil., Theoretical Linguisticswith Distinction2012Arts and Humanities Research Council Academic Studentship
- University of CambridgeM.A., Modern and Medieval Languages (Russian and French)Starred First2011Peterhouse Academic Scholarship