DLA Piper appoints Chris Field to team

DLA Piper has announced the strategic appointment of Chris Field to its Corporate practice, effective from September 2025. As a private equity veteran, Chris will work out of the firm's London office, aiming to strengthen the firm's global Private Equity offering. With dual qualifications in both England & Wales and South Africa, Chris is renowned for advising a variety of global and national private equity houses, Sovereign Wealth Funds, and investors on their private equity and M&A activities across the UK and Europe. His expertise has earned him a place in the IFLR 1000 for PE and M&A, where he collaborates across other practice areas including Tax, Finance, Employment, and Real Estate.

Jon Kenworthy, Global Co-Chair of DLA Piper's Corporate Group, expressed his enthusiasm about Chris's addition to the team, stating "Our global private equity and M&A teams are recognised as some of the industry's most active, and with Chris's appointment, we aim to continue to increase our market presence in line with our strategic growth strategy." Kenworthy further noted that with Chris's cross-border and sector skillset, "our teams will continue to be well-positioned to help our clients with their most complex and important transactions and afford them access to the benefits of our global platform."

Over the past year, DLA Piper's private equity and M&A teams have played vital roles in several high-profile deals. These include advising Grant Thornton UK's majority investment from private equity firm Cinven and supporting AirTrunk on its AUD24 billion sale to Blackstone, marking the most significant data centre transaction to date and Australia's largest for 2024. The firm has also assisted Global IBO Group Ltd with its business combination with Bukit Jalil Global Acquisition 1 Ltd, now trading as GIBO Holdings Limited on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol "GIBO." Additionally, they have worked with MidEuropa on acquiring a controlling stake in FAMAR from ECM Partners and Metric Capital Partners.

DLA Piper continues to be prominent in the M&A landscape, being cited for the 15th consecutive year as the highest-ranked legal advisor for M&A (by volume) according to Mergermarket. Furthermore, the firm has also been recognised as the most active legal advisor for European private equity for the seventh consecutive year as per PitchBook, showcasing its strong position and capability in this competitive sector.