Dany Bidar
“You'll work with a friendly and supportive group of partners and associates.”
Key Facts
Read Economics at UCL
Joined A&O
March 2008
I spent my third seat in the Private Equity group the Corporate practice. There are several sub-groups within the corporate department, each with a certain client or industry focus, however the bread and butter of the department remains M&A.
From day one I hit the ground running and found myself assisting my trainer on the final stages of the complex restructuring of a Swiss aerospace company in which our client, a Middle East based investment company, is a major shareholder. Before I knew it I was co-ordinating various aspects of the transaction with our Banking colleagues, the Luxembourg office and our client, drafting the first draft of various documents including a share purchase agreement, and conducting research on the European Regulations governing the aviation industry. This transaction was my first opportunity to work with associates and trainees from another corporate group. There is a strong collegiate team environment within the Corporate practice means everyone works across the different groups.
I also worked on the sale by an Australian investment company (our client) of a stake in a Bermudan entity with subsidiaries in the UK. This involved preparing a due diligence report for the purchaser which involved a day trip to the trading company's headquarters to gather information from management, working hand in hand with specialists from the environmental and employment teams and assisting in the preparation of the disclosure letter whereby our client provided disclosures against warranties contained in the share sale agreement (assurances by the seller about the company's state of affairs which if breached can lead to a claim by the purchaser).
A seat in Corporate provides trainees with diversity of work and experience, plenty of responsibility especially on transactions for smaller institutional and private investors, and the opportunity to work with a friendly and supportive group of partners and associates. As transactions are often managed by the Corporate department you’ll gain a good grounding in company law as well as exposure to other areas of law arising from the finance, employment, tax, competition and other implications involved in most deals.