Mark Austin advises clients on a full range of public and private securities offerings as well as M&A and general corporate matters across multiple sectors.

He leverages extensive experience to guide market-leading companies and investment banks on:

  • Initial public offerings (IPOs)
  • Rights issues and open offers
  • Placings
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • General corporate work

A recognized industry leader, Mark is a member and former Chair of the Listing Authority Advisory Panel, the practitioner panel that advises the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on primary markets policy and regulation issues. He also serves on the FCA’s Markets Practitioner Panel and The London Stock Exchange’s Primary Markets Group.

He is a member of the UK’s Capital Markets Industry Taskforce (CMIT), which was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in July 2022, and which is tasked with reforming the UK’s capital markets, as well as HM Treasury’s Digitization Taskforce.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer appointed him in October 2021 as the independent chair of the UK Secondary Capital Raising Review, which proposed reforms to the capital raising process for listed companies. He delivered the Review to the Chancellor in July 2022. He also advised Lord Hill on the UK Listing Review in 2021. He received a CBE in the King’s 2024 New Year Honours List for services to the economy.

Mark’s experience includes advising:

Initial Public Offerings

  • CK Infrastructure Holdings Limited (CKI) on its secondary listing on the UK Equity Shares (International Commercial Companies Secondary Listing) category of the Official List of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and to trading on the Main Market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange, the first listing under the new UK listing rules and first ever listing in this new category
  • Pod Point, Darktrace, Deliveroo, Cazoo (through a US de-SPAC), Pepco Group, Trainline, Watches of Switzerland, Network International, Funding Circle, Aston Martin, Quilter, Bakkavor, Alfa, Worldpay, McCarthy & Stone, Sophos, DFS, Virgin Money, Spire Healthcare, SSP, Zoopla, TSB, Poundland, Arrow Global, Partnership, Perform Group, Fresnillo, Gondola Holdings (Pizza Express), Hansen Transmissions, QinetiQ, Britvic, Virgin Mobile, and Eircom on their IPOs*
  • Rubix, Logicor, ReAssure, Helios Towers, CPA Global, Cabot, Misys, Arqiva, Pure Gym, The Priory, New Look, United Biscuits, Travelex, and P3 on their proposed IPOs*

Rights Issues and Open Offers

  • Aston Martin, Whitbread, Shaftesbury, Cineworld, Laird, Informa, BBA Aviation, Serco, LSE, Barclays, Lloyds, Wolseley, D S Smith, Lamprell, Balfour Beatty, National Express, and Centrica on rights issues*
  • Amec on a proposed rights issue*
  • AA, Barclays, and Kenmare Resources on open offers*

Placings

  • Aston Martin, Compass, National Express, SSP, and Auto Trader on undocumented placings*
  • Ultra Electronics, NMC Health, Investec, Phoenix, Pennon, Workspace, Hammerson, Serco, Shaftesbury, G4S, Perform Group, and BTG on placings* 
  • On sell-downs in Network International, Trainline, Poundland, Spire Healthcare, MicroFocus, and Virgin Money*
  • BIS on the ABB sell-downs in Royal Mail*
  • UKFI on:
    • HMT’s trading plan in relation to Lloyds*
    • HMT’s ABB sale of 7% of Lloyds*
  • The bookrunners on HMT’s ABB sale 6% of Lloyds* 

M&A

  • Spire Healthcare on its takeover approach from Ramsay Healthcare*
  • Northgate on its merger with Redde to form ReddeNorthgate*
  • ZPG on its take-private by Silver Lake*
  • Laird on its take-private by Advent*
  • Partnership on its merger with Just Retirement*
  • The London Stock Exchange on its proposed merger with Deutsche Borse*
  • Perform Group on its take-private by Access Industries*
  • BAE on its proposed merger with EADS using a dual-listed company structure*
  • CPPIB and Onex on their bid for Tomkins*
  • GMG on its bid with Apax for Emap*
  • Eircom on its take-private by Babcock and Brown*
  • Bank of America, as sponsor, on Just Eat Takeaway's acquisition of Grubhub*
  • Barclays, as sponsor, on Informa’s takeover of UBM*
  • Deutsche Bank, as sponsor, on:
    • Reckitt Benckiser’s acquisition of Mead Johnson*
    • GoCompare.com’s demerger from esure*
  • Morgan Stanley and Evercore, as joint sponsors, on Shire’s acquisition of Baxalta*
  • Morgan Stanley, as sponsor, on Afren’s restructuring and refinancing*
  • Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, as joint sponsors, on Indivior’s demerger from Reckitt Benckiser*
  • Morgan Stanley on:
    • ENRC’s buy-out of the Camrose Group*
    • WPP’s re-domicile to the UK*
    • Entertainment One’s step-up to premium listing*
    • C&C Group step-up to premium listing*

*Matter handled prior to joining the firm

Bar Qualification

  • England and Wales (Solicitor)

Education

  • LPC, College of Law
  • CPE, College of Law
  • BA, University of East Anglia