Corporate & Commercial

Michael has been in practice for over forty years and having resisted the pressure to deal with only one aspect of the law, he has been determined to remain a multi-disciplinary practitioner and as a result is very experienced in matters relating to property, litigation, insolvency and company commercial work.

Working with developers on sites with a GDV of up to £100m and dealing in litigious and insolvency matters often involving tens of millions of pounds, he brings his sense of humour to all situations and ensures that he does not take an hour to do ten minutes worth of work.

He is the ideal lawyer for clients who want a sharp commercial view delivered in a very straight talking fashion to let them know their position and their options going forward.

Michael and his family live on their 34 acre equestrian centre in north London with two dogs, two cats (plus four cats on the farm), fifty horses and three donkeys

Valeriia Budakova is a solicitor in the Dispute Resolution Department at SBP Law, with over eight years of experience handling complex cross-border disputes, international law, and arbitration.

She previously served as a sole legal counsel at the Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom and held legal positions at the Directorate General for International Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Department of Justice and National Security of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. Throughout her roles, she has advised on complex international legal matters, negotiated bilateral agreements and handled high-profile disputes, including Ukraine’s cases against Russia before the International Court of Justice and arbitral tribunals under UNCLOS Annex VII.

Valeriia holds distinctions in both her LL.B. and LL.M. degrees from Yaroslav Mudriy National Law University (Ukraine) and BPP University (UK).

Fluent in English, Ukrainian, and Russian, Valeriia regularly advises on a wide range of disputes and commercial litigation.

Dr. Macfarlane represents all sizes of business covering all their corporate and commercial needs. Whether it is contract reviews or an acquisition of your business through to commercial litigation – Dr. Macfarlane can assist.

Typical work includes drafting and negotiating all corporate, commercial, technology and IT contracts often involving complex licensing, SaaS, JV, partnership, SPA, APA, commercial loans based on assets and confidentiality/security plus internal corporate support as required.

As a trusted adviser Don brings experience, technical, governance and compliance knowledge and the experience from having worked for international corporations both in legal and operational roles. Recognised as a highly commercial senior lawyer (also a Solicitor Advocate England and Solicitor admitted in Australia), he has excellent technical, IT, technology and corporate/commercial experience.  In addition to +25 years pre-sales experience, his strong technical background provides invaluable insight into negotiation, drafting and delivery of all types of corporate and commercial documentation.

Excellent understanding of all legal aspects covering contracts, commercial, corporate (acquisitions and disposals), governance, regulatory, compliance, eDiscovery and legal services including at GC level in-house.

Over 25 years’ experience working within large multinationals like IBM, BP and International Law Firms and SME’s including high tech start-ups like Hanzo, HDM and Baku Ltd.

Through SBP Law, Donald can provide you as our client with discreet, creative and strategic business advice.

Arthur has been practising law for over 30 years and has practiced abroad. He is also a notary public.

He specialises in mergers and acquisitions, private equity, AIM listings, corporate finance, banking law and corporate restructuring and insolvency.

He has acted on acquisitions in a variety of sectors including pharmaceuticals, high-tech, IT, oil and gas, financial services, media, retail and the hospitality industry.

Arthur is practised in cross border transactions and has developed a vibrant international practice and has acted for a number of brand named English, American, Japanese and Indian companies.

Arthur has also developed a vibrant banking and secured lending practice and acts for a number of banks, mezzanine and bridge lenders.

He holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree and is a member of various institutions including, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb), the Association of Business Recovery Professionals (R3) and the Notaries Society.

Corporate Experience

Arthur’s deals include:

• Acting for seller in £330m cross border sale of pharmaceutical company
• Acting for a number of investors and developers in several multi-million pound property deals
• Acting for seller in multi-million pound MBO of F1 racing team
• Acting for Japanese Company in restructuring of its UK and European subsidiaries
• Acting for sellers in a group company consisting of a Swiss company and a Nigerian company in a multi-million sale of shares to a US company in the oil and gas sector
• Acting for Indian pharmaceutical company in £multi-million acquisition of UK pharmaceutical company
• Acting for Indian cinema company in acquisition of majority stake in UK cinema chain
• Acting for sellers in £multi-million pound acquisition of group comprising US, UK and Indian companies
• Acting for sellers in sale of issued share capital of IT company to Swedish company
• Acting for US-based pharmaceutical company in acquisition of a UK company specialising in clinical trials
• Acting for sellers in £20m sale of shares in a communications group to a US company
• Acting for buyers in £multi-million purchase of international subsidiary of high-tech company (microwave technology)
• Acting for Indian steel company in setting up a company in Georgia and dealing with international bank funding for set-up
• Acting for sellers in £10m sale of shares in financial consulting company to US company
• Acting for developer in £multi-million joint venture property development, involving off-shore vehicles
• Acting for seller in £26.5m sale of shares in off-shore company with a 25-property portfolio
• Acting for a consortium of Japanese companies in a £multi-million acquisition of shares in a joint venture company in the automotive sector
• Acting for a large international design company in multi-million pound design agreement for a hotel consortium in Hungary
• Advising a number of international brand name Japanese companies on various matters, including restructuring, acquisitions and a variety of commercial agreement
• Acting for buyer in a £80m acquisition of shares an SPV whose single asset was a five star London hotel
• Acting for administrators/liquidators and buyers in numerous sales and purchases of businesses out of administration/liquidation
• Advising a number of clients on listings on the junior stock exchange
• Acting for banks and financial institutions in multi-million pounds secured lending deals

 

Personal Interests

Enjoys chess, languages, politics and spectating at football, cricket and Formula 1 racing.

Languages

French and Portuguese.

Practice areas

• Asset and Corporate Finance
• Banking and Secured Lending
• Business Contracts
• Business Structures
• Business, Company and Commercial
• Buying, Selling and Listings
• Corporate Recovery and Insolvency
• Employment
• Employment Law for Businesses
• International
• Notarial
• Projects and infrastructure

Karishma is a trainee solicitor currently undertaking a seat in our property department. Prior to this she completed seats in dispute resolution and corporate & commercial, gaining experience across a broad range of matters including commercial disputes, transactional work and employment issues.

Prior to obtaining her training contract, Karishma worked as a paralegal within the Dispute Resolution department at SBP Law for a year.

Outside of work, Karishma enjoys attending dance classes and has been a dedicated dancer since the age of five

With experience in property law, including commercial leases and both commercial and residential conveyancing, Sophia can assist across a broad range of matters. She also has experience in commercial, company and dispute resolution work, particularly in landlord and tenant disputes. Drawing on her wider legal knowledge, Sophia effectively applies insights from her commercial and company law experience to provide well-rounded, strategic solutions in her property and dispute resolution matters. She also regularly attends networking events to engage with potential clients and fellow professionals. Sophia’s focus is not only on the law but also on building strong, positive, lasting relationships with her clients.

Sophia graduated from King’s College London with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, she then immediately began and completed her GDL / LLM at BPP university, whilst working full time at SBP. She is now currently in the middle of her Solicitors Qualification Exams.

In her spare time, when she is not studying, Sophia enjoys developing her language skills, with conversational ability in both Eastern European and Middle Eastern languages and developing relationships within her local community.

“SBP have been exceptional, professional, efficient and genuinely supportive throughout.  Their expertise and clear communication made the whole process smooth and stress-free”  – commercial property client

“I found Sophia Guilfoyle very professional, thorough, hard-working and most importantly, logical.  I am lucky to find such a good lawyer” – property litigation client

“Having to deal with a very sensitive upsetting matter, Sophia was friendly, empathetic, approachable, transparent and honest.  I was always kept in the loop at all times.  I couldn’t recommend Sophia enough!” – litigation client