OLIVER CURRALL co-heads Sidley’s Tax group in Europe. Oliver advises on UK and international tax planning, with a particular focus on UK and cross-border private equity and M&A transactions, fund formation work and restructuring mandates. Oliver has advised a number of major private equity sponsors on the tax aspects of their deals, as well as on the structuring of their fund, management company and executive carry and co-invest arrangements.
Oliver is a UK Chartered Tax Adviser, as well as a lawyer, and regularly works with local experts to deliver cross-border transaction and structuring tax advice.
Recent representative matters for current clients include acting for:
- Kiniciti on its investment in Ncardia, a leader in developing stem cell-based solutions for drug discovery and cell therapy.
- KKR on its majority acquisition of Biosynth Carbosynth, a Swiss life sciences reagents and custom synthesis and manufacturing services company.
- Partners Group, a leading global private markets firm, on expanding the shareholder base of International Schools Partnership, a leading international group of K-12 schools.
- KKR on its investment in Ornikar, a European provider of road safety education.
- KKR on its participation in a US$530 million funding round in Wolt, a leading European food delivery business based in Finland.
- EQT Partners Inc. in the merger of its portfolio company, FocusVision, with Confirmit, a portfolio company of Verdane.
- Queen’s Park Equity LLP on its debut private equity fund, Queen’s Park Equity Partners I, L.P.
- KKR on its acquisition of Argenta, a leading animal pharmaceutical research and manufacturing company.
- GIC in connection with a US$1.0 billion investment in Convex Group Limited led by GIC and Onex Partners.
- Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company on its acquisition of a shareholding in Rothesay Life.
- TowerBrook Capital Partners in its sale of and re-investment in Independent Clinical Services Group to Onex Corporation.
- Queen Park’s Equity on its acquisition of Learndirect Limited and its subsidiaries, a provider of online learning platform and courses.
- TowerBrook Capital Partners on the acquisition of the Azzurri Group.
- KKR on its investment and follow-on investment in music platform Artlist.
- TowerBrook Capital Partners on the acquisition of CarTrawler.
- Macquarie on its joint venture with Sun Hung Kai.
- Goldman Sachs on its investment in tech platform LumApps.
- GHO Capital Partners LLP on its acquisition of Ardena.
- Independent Clinical Services Group (ICS), a portfolio company of TowerBrook Capital Partners (TCP), on the successful recapitalization and portable refinancing of its existing debt structure.
- WEX Inc., a leading financial technology service provider, in connection with its acquisition of EG Group Limited’s GO Fuel Card business.
- Famar on the successful restructuring, recapitalization and strengthening of its capital structure.
- Apollo Global Management, LLC on its US$2.6 billion cash acquisition of Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited.
- Certain investment funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC on the acquisition of a majority stake in Catalina Holdings (Bermuda) Ltd (pending).
- Blackbaud, Inc., the world’s largest cloud software company powering social good, on its acquisition of UK-based online fundraising services provider, JustGiving.
- TowerBrook Capital Partners on its acquisition of Schweighofer Fiber GmbH, an Austrian company that produces high-quality viscose pulp and bio energy, from family-owned Schweighofer Group.
- TowerBrook Capital Partners on its acquisition of the majority of shares in Van Dijk Educatie, the Netherlands’ largest provider of learning materials.
- TowerBrook Capital Partners and KKR Credit Advisors (US) LLC on their €250 million acquisition of a minority stake in OVH Groupe SAS, a leading provider of cloud infrastructure, telecommunications and web hosting services.
- An affiliate of H.I.G. Capital European Partners LP on its disposal of Zmarta Group to Bauer Media Group.
- H.I.G. Europe, the European arm of global private equity firm H.I.G. Capital on the sale of the International School of Europe Group to Inspired.
- BlackRock-advised fund on its sale of Asia Square Tower 1 to Qatar Investment Authority.
- New York-based private equity firm Siris Capital Group LLC in its US$643 million acquisition of Xura, Inc., a leading provider of digital communication software solutions.
- Mid Europa Partners, the leading private equity investor in Central and South Eastern Europe, in connection with its sale of Alpha Medical, the leading provider of laboratory testing services in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to Unilabs, an Apax Partners portfolio company. The transaction represents the largest healthcare transaction in Central Europe since 2008.
Most recently, the London Private Equity practice was honored as “Private Equity Team of the Year” in the 2021 Legal Business Awards. In addition, Oliver has been recognized in Chambers UK 2022 for Tax, with clients noting that he’s “very pragmatic, responsive and takes the time to understand what the client's needs are" and "is very flexible and personable and is good at walking you through the tax analysis". He is also recognized in Legal 500 UK 2022 for Corporate Tax. Oliver was previously ranked in Chambers UK 2021 for Tax. In the 2020 edition, clients say “he gives clarity to complex topics and he's very strong technically.” In the 2018 edition, clients described him as “very calm, conscientious and detail-orientated,” and “able to explain topics with perfect clarity.”
Prior to joining Sidley in 2016, Oliver was a partner in the tax practice of another international law firm.