DLA Piper advising FirstRand on GBP1.1 billion takeover of Aldermore Group PLC

DLA Piper is acting for FirstRand, South Africa’s largest financial services institution, who have put forward a GBP1.1 billion recommended offer for approval by the shareholders of Aldermore Group PLC, (Aldermore) a British specialist lender and savings bank. 

Aldermore was founded in the UK in 2009 and provides  award-winning asset finance, invoice finance, mortgage and deposit products to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), homeowners, landlords and savers.  It has over 230,000 clients and approximately 1000 employees.

Founded almost 20 years ago, the FirstRand Group’s track record of superior shareholder value creation relative to peers has been achieved through a combination of organic growth, acquisitions and creating completely new businesses on the back of innovation and disruptive strategies.

The DLA Piper team advising FirstRand is being led by UK Head of Corporate, Charles Cook, and Johannesburg-based Country Managing Partner, Johannes Gouws. They are supported by Johannesburg-based Corporate partner Peter Bradshaw, and a UK team consisting of Corporate  partner Mark Chivers, Head of Finance & Markets Mark Dwyer, and Litigation & Regulatory partner Sam Millar.

Charles Cook and Johannes Gouws commented: "We are delighted to be acting as a global team on this latest acquisition, and supporting FirstRand both through our international M&A capability and financial services expertise in its strategy of diversification both in products and geographies."