Joe Bedford

Partner
Joe is dedicated to client success.
Joe is dedicated to client success.

About

Joe is Head of Corporate. Known for his recognition of the optimum route to your desired successful commercial outcome and skill at driving transactions towards that goal, Joe immerses himself in deals from initial approach to final close.

Drawing on decades of experience at Stevens & Bolton and in the City, Joe advises on mainstream M&A, sponsor-backed transactions, growth by acquisition strategies, corporate structuring and finance. He advises on the shaping of deals for public and private companies, sponsors, seller groups, management teams and leading UK and European banks.

Joe enjoys getting to grips with what drives your business and your core reasons for wanting to transact. He invests the time to understand your goals, strategy and preferred methodology so that every deal aligns to the overriding bigger picture, bringing a rare combination of technical excellence and commercial thinking to every interaction. He is proactive and responsive, pragmatically tackling obstacles head-on in order to manage transactions through to successful completion.

Expertise
Corporate advisory Corporate transactions Franchising Insurance

Experience

  • Transaction experience
    • Advising FTSE 100 value-add distribution group Diploma plc on its £100m acquisition of R&G Fluid Power Group and a number of other acquisitions.
    • Advising on the USD188m sale of Seal Software to DocuSign, having acted for Seal and its shareholder from incorporation, through multiple funding rounds, to exit.
    • Acting for global insurance brokers, Ardonagh Group, on numerous UK acquisitions, supporting the rapid expansion of the group’s insurance broking business portfolio.
    • Advising Business Growth Fund on various investment and exits, including two of the Top 50 SME’s as featured in The Sunday Times SME Export Track 100.
    • Advising insurance, financial services and regulated market technology specialist Davies Group on strategic acquisitions.
    • Acting for specialist secure paper manufacturer Drewsen Spezialpapiere GmbH on its strategic acquisition of Portals Paper Limited (originally a spinout from DeLaRue, including a UK banknote paper printing facility) from private equity firm Epiris.
  • Qualifications and recognition

    Joe has been recommended in both Chambers UK and The Legal 500 as a leader in his fields.

    Joe was a founder member of ACG UK, the UK division of the Association of Corporate Growth – a global community for mid-market dealmakers.

  • Advising FTSE 100 value-add distribution group Diploma plc on its £100m acquisition of R&G Fluid Power Group and a number of other acquisitions.
  • Advising on the USD188m sale of Seal Software to DocuSign, having acted for Seal and its shareholder from incorporation, through multiple funding rounds, to exit.
  • Acting for global insurance brokers, Ardonagh Group, on numerous UK acquisitions, supporting the rapid expansion of the group’s insurance broking business portfolio.
  • Advising Business Growth Fund on various investment and exits, including two of the Top 50 SME’s as featured in The Sunday Times SME Export Track 100.
  • Advising insurance, financial services and regulated market technology specialist Davies Group on strategic acquisitions.
  • Acting for specialist secure paper manufacturer Drewsen Spezialpapiere GmbH on its strategic acquisition of Portals Paper Limited (originally a spinout from DeLaRue, including a UK banknote paper printing facility) from private equity firm Epiris.

Joe has been recommended in both Chambers UK and The Legal 500 as a leader in his fields.

Joe was a founder member of ACG UK, the UK division of the Association of Corporate Growth – a global community for mid-market dealmakers.

‘Joe Bedford is an exceptional corporate partner’… ‘He provides superb, commercial advice and is extremely responsive to feedback and able to tailor his negotiating style as required’ ….’his attention to detail is astronomically good’… ‘calm, wise, strategic and razor focused; a delight to work with and a hugely impressive lawyer’
Legal 500 and Chambers UK

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