Lewis Atherton

LEWIS ATHERTON advises private equity sponsors, their portfolio companies, and corporate borrowers and issuers in leveraged finance transactions and corporate financing matters, with a particular focus on cross-border acquisition financing.

Lewis draws on extensive transactional experience to help clients navigate leveraged and investment-grade financings, with a focus on private equity transactions, including:

• Private and public acquisition financings;
• Syndicated term loan financings;
• Private credit financings;
• Bridge-to-bond and super senior revolving credit facility financings in high yield bond transactions;
• Holdco financings;
• Bridge financings (including fund level bridge facilities); and
• Post-IPO and public company financings.

Lewis is recommended by Legal 500 UK 2026 for Acquisition Finance.

Recent examples of Lewis’s work include advising:

• Ridgeview Partners in its Proposed £545 Million Acquisition of Pinewood Technologies.
• Athora on €3.5 Billion Equity Commitment.
• Permira, including in relation to its investments in:
  
  • JTC plc, a FTSE 250-listed provider of fund administration, corporate and trust services, including in connection with the €1.5 billion private credit facilities to finance Permira's £2.3 billion recommended cash offer for JTC plc.
  • Quotient Sciences, a drug development and manufacturing accelerator. 
• EQT on its acquisition of:
  • a majority stake in an environmental management software company;
  • Anticimex Group;
  • a veterinary pharmaceuticals company;
  • a telecommunications infrastructure company; and
  • Universidad Europea.
• EQT and Anticimex on the senior financing for Anticimex.
• EQT and a veterinary pharmaceuticals company on the senior financing in relation to such veterinary pharmaceuticals company.
• WS Audiology on its senior financing.
• Nordic Capital on its acquisition of Consilium Marine & Safety Group.
• A private equity firm on its acquisition of a real estate services company.
• A private equity firm on its acquisition of a financial research and analytics company.Vizrt, a global leader in production software for live video production, in relation to the structuring and refinancing of its capital structure.
• Swissport in relation to a €600 million senior secured unitranche term loan and €200 million super senior revolving credit facility in order to refinance their existing capital structure.

Some of the above matters were handled prior to joining Sidley.