Conference programme

The day will kick off with a series of roundtable discussions on hot topics. Attendees will split across tables of 10 participants each to debate key issues across three topics:

• Preferred Equity: the growth of preferred equity as an alternative to secondary buyouts in the current market
• Exit provisions in SHA: sticky negotiation points, market practice and execution risks when seeking to enforce during a sale process
• Completion accounts vs Locked Box: market trends and handling disputes

To facilitate interaction across groups, attendees will rotate across tables every 15 minutes, before sharing key themes emerging from the discussions

The panelists will discuss topics ranging from how the role of an inhouse lawyer compares to that of a private practice lawyer, how that has changed during their time spent inhouse, and what keeps them up at night – and will share tips on how private practice lawyers should build relationships with sponsor lawyers and deal execs and what private practice lawyers could do to improve the way they service sponsor clients.

This panel will bring together leading voices from across the debt financing landscape to explore the range of debt funding solutions available to sponsors in the current market. The discussion will cover private credit, syndicated loans, high-yield bonds, and asset-backed and other alternative structures, with particular focus on the growing role of private credit in sponsor-led transactions, alongside practical insights on structuring and current market dynamics.

This panel will explore the growing role of family offices as both a source of capital and increasingly sophisticated investors in their own right. Bringing together perspectives from different jurisdictions, the discussion will examine how family offices are evolving into quasi-private capital managers, pursuing direct investments and co-investments alongside sponsors or using similar playbooks.

The last few years have seen a significant increase in M&A activity in the data centre space, involving sponsors, hyper-scalers, developers and construction companies. Drawing on cross-border legal and market perspectives, this panel will examine recent trends in this space, including continued investor appetite, platform consolidation and the growing importance of digital infrastructure as an asset class. It will also consider some of the key regulatory and execution issues shaping the sector, including grid connection constraints, power availability and the implications for development, financing and transaction structures.