Paul Foote

Paul Foote is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice. Based in London, Paul advises private equity and infrastructure funds on a wide range of complex domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, joint venture and consortium transactions, restructurings, leveraged buyouts and take private transactions, among other corporate matters.  Prior to joining Simpson Thacher, Paul was a senior associate in a Magic Circle firm in London, and spent time on secondment to Blackstone and Antin Infrastructure Partners.

Paul’s experience includes the representation of:

• Blackstone Capital Partners in its investments in Civica, Esdec Solar Group, Desotec, Huws Gray and Bourne Leisure
• EQT in its agreement to acquire Statera Energy Limited
• EQT in its acquisition of InstaVolt
• EQT’s portfolio company evidia on its acquisition of the 4Ways Group
• Blackstone Infrastructure Partners in partnership with the Benetton family, in its acquisition of Altantia SpA valuing the company at approximately $59 billion
• Stonepeak on its recapitalization of euNetworks, a Western European bandwidth infrastructure company
• KKR in its acquisition of Refresco
• Blackstone Infrastructure Partners in the acquisition, alongside CDP and Macquarie, of a controlling stake in Autostrade per l’Italia, one of Europe’s leading toll road operators
• H.I.G. Capital, LLC in its acquisition of KPMG’s U.K. restructuring business
• Blackstone Tactical Opportunities in its investment in Lazeo
• Bourne Leisure, a portfolio company of Blackstone, in its agreement to sell Butlin’s, the British chain of seaside resorts

Paul’s representations prior to joining Simpson Thacher include:

• Blackstone on its £1.1bn sale of Armacell, a Luxembourg/Germany-based global business manufacturing and distributing insulation and fibre products
• Blackstone on its €1bn public takeover bid for NIBC Bank NV
• Blackstone on its successful €3 billion public takeover bid for Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios SOCIMI SA (Hispania)
• BlackRock on the disposal of an interest in a Bulgarian telecommunications business
• Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan on the acquisition and the sale of its 40% interest in Koole Terminals
• Antin Infrastructure Partners on its acquisition, with the Borletti Group and ICAMAP, of Grandi Stazioni Retail
• Cinven on its acquisition of Envirotainer, a leading global provider of temperature-controlled air cargo containers
• CVC on the acquisition of a 30% stake in Cosan Lubes Investments Limited, the Latin American manufacturer and distributor of specialty lubricants