Neil McDonald is a partner based in Walkers' London office, specialising in corporate and finance transactions involving British Virgin Islands ("BVI"), Cayman Islands and Bermuda law.
Neil leads the Corporate and M&A group in Walkers' London office and has extensive first-hand experience across the full range of corporate matters, including mergers, acquisitions and disposals, equity capital markets, joint ventures, digital assets and fintech, and reorganisations, redomiciliations and restructurings.
He has particular experience in cross-border restructuring and distressed situations, including issues arising out of shareholder and investor disputes, complex equity and debt restructurings, and group reorganisation matters involving BVI, Cayman and Bermuda entities.
Neil's recent corporate experience includes:
- Advising NASDAQ-listed NeoGames on the Cayman law aspects of the definitive business combination agreement for its US$1.2 billion acquisition by Aristocrat Leisure Limited.
- Advising Hong Kong-based investment company, Kingboard Holdings, on the BVI law aspects of its £302 million acquisition of 2 London Wall Place – a premium office development in the City of London.
- Advising Queen's Gambit Growth Capital in relation to the BVI law aspects of its business combination with Swvl Inc., a Dubai-based provider of transformative mass transit and shared mobility solutions with an implied, fully diluted equity value of approximately US$1.5 billion.
- Advising The Blackstone Group Inc. (through an affiliate) in relation to its acquisition of a significant property portfolio from Argo Real Estate for circa £180 million.
- Advising HeidelbergCement AG in relation to the Cayman law aspects of its acquisition of a 45% stake in Command Alkon Inc. from Thoma Bravo.
- Advising Inchcape plc in relation to the Cayman law aspects of its acquisition of Interamericana Trading Corp. and Simpson Motors Limited from the Simpson Group.
- Advising on the launch of Group 11's Fund V, the first venture capital fund to join trading on the TASE UP platform – an innovative electronic trading platform allowing companies and funds to trade on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, while remaining private.
- Advising Kerogen Investments No. 38 Limited, a part of the Kerogen Capital group, in relation to the BVI law aspects of the sale of its 30% shareholding in Energean Israel Limited to Energean plc for circa US$400 million.
- Advising Kingboard Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kingboard Chemical Holdings Limited, on the BVI law aspects of its acquisition (through a BVI incorporated SPV) of KPMG's London headquarters, 15 Canada Square in Canary Wharf, for circa £400 million.
Outside of his corporate practice, Neil also has a broad finance practice covering acquisition finance, real estate finance, debt capital markets, project finance and financial restructurings, and he acts for many of the world's leading international financial institutions as well as borrowers, issuers and other counterparties. In addition, he advises a large number of clients in the insurance sector.
Neil also heads Walkers' Israel Group which comprises a dedicated team of highly-qualified and experienced professionals who provide first-class, time-zone sensitive support to clients in Israel across the full spectrum of transactions involving Bermuda, BVI, Cayman, Guernsey, Irish and Jersey law.
