Gavin Gordon
Partner, Corporate & Financial Services
Gavin Gordon is a partner in the Corporate & Financial Services Department in London and Chair of the European Private Equity Practice Group and a member of the firm's Executive Committee. His practice is focused on representing sponsors and other investors on European buy outs, take privates and growth deals. He also represents multiple clients in relation to special situation and distressed M&A opportunities.
Gavin has advised many of the leading European and U.S. sponsors on transactions in the UK and almost every European jurisdiction.
Gavin is rated among the leading private equity practitioners by Chambers UK (2025) where clients comment that “Gavin has been exceptional ever since we started working with him and helps us to create value” and that he “is always available, very sophisticated and commercially savvy.” He is also rated among the leading private equity practitioners by Chambers Global (2024), The Legal 500 UK (2025), IFLR1000 (2024) and Best Lawyers (2023). Client testimonials in Chambers UK have also previously described Gavin as “displaying strength in his handling of domestic and cross-border LBOs, M&A and financing matters” and “a very strong lawyer when it comes to negotiations.”
Experience
Prior to joining Willkie in 2019, Gavin was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis International LLP.
Gavin has advised on the following significant matters*:
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Acronis AG in its sale of a majority stake to EQT
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Searchlight Capital Partners in connection with a £500 million consortium investment in RSK Group Limited, a leading provider of environmental consulting and engineering solutions
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Platinum Equity on its acquisition of Sunrise Medical, a world leader in advanced assistive mobility solutions, from Nordic Capital
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FTV Capital in the sale of its portfolio company Egress, a leader in adaptive cloud email security, to KnowBe4
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Cooper Consumer Health, a portfolio company of CVC Capital Partners, in its proposed acquisition of Viatris’ Over-the-Counter business
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CMA CGM Group and its subsidiary CEVA Logistics S.A. in CEVA’s £566.9 million acquisition of Wincanton plc
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Searchlight Capital Partners on its recommended final cash offer for the entire share capital of London-listed Gresham House plc, a specialist alternative asset manager
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Briarwood Capital Partners in Keysight Technologies’ binding offer to key shareholders of the ESI Group, a French virtual prototyping software company
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Searchlight Capital Partners in its joint offer to acquire Hyve Group plc, a UK-based organizer of international trade exhibitions and conferences
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FTV Capital on the sale of its majority stake in Centaur, a global provider of fund administration services, to Waystone
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iCON Infrastructure LLP in its strategic partnership with Royal Caribbean Group
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Black Knight Football Club, an investor consortium led by Bill Foley, in its acquisition of Premier League club AFC Bournemouth
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Stanley Capital in its acquisition of French pharmaceutical group Laboratoire XO
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Searchlight Capital Partners on the sale of its controlling stake in Opus, a market-leading vehicle inspection business in Sweden, to Arcus Infrastructure Partners
- Searchlight Capital Partners and Invesco Senior Secured Management in connection with the recapitalisation of the Mediapro Group, a leading multimedia communications group in Spain
- FTV Capital, 83North, Notion Capital and Kindred Capital on their Series D co-investment in Paddle, a provider of payments infrastructure for SaaS companies
- FTV Capital in its investment in LogicSource, Inc., a leading provider of procurement services and technology
- Searchlight Capital Partners in its sale of Global Risk Partners, a leading UK-based insurance brokerage business
- Stanley Capital in its acquisition of Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance Services Solutions
- Searchlight Capital Partners in its agreement to acquire a majority stake in Celestyal Cruises
- PDI in its acquisition of Universe Group plc, a British financial technology company
- Bain Capital Credit in its acquisition of GAIL’s Bakery
- Searchlight Capital Partners in its negotiations to acquire Flowbird, a global market leader in parking management solutions
- Searchlight Capital Partners on the sale of its significant stake in EOLO, an Italian broadband provider, to Partners Group
- Searchlight Capital Partners in connection with a €55 million Series B funding round in EasyMile, a leader in driverless vehicle software and solutions
- FFP on its contemplated acquisition of a minority interest in International SOS, a worldwide leader in health and security services
- Stanley Capital on its acquisition of global specialty pharmaceutical company, Noden Pharma DAC
- FTV Capital in its growth equity investment in London-based pet insurer Bought By Many
- Searchlight Capital Partners on its acquisition of Global Risk Partners, a leading UK based insurance brokerage business
- FTV Capital on its acquisition of Sysnet Limited, a leading provider of cyber security and compliance solutions operating in over 60 countries worldwide
- FTV Capital as lead investor in a funding round for CloudFactory, a UK headquartered provider of managed workforce solutions for artificial intelligence
- Searchlight Capital Partners on its take private of Opus Group AB, a Sweden-based technology-driven global leader in the vehicle inspection and intelligent vehicle support markets
- Advanced, a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company and the UK’s third largest software company, on its acquisition of leading legacy modernisation solutions provider Modern Systems
- ABRY Partners on their preferred equity investment in Sermo, a global social network for doctors
- KKR on its takeover offer for TelePizza Group SA
- FTV Capital on its $40 million Series C financing round for Egress Software Technologies Ltd., a leading provider of data privacy and compliance software designed to secure unstructured data
- H.I.G. Capital and General Atlantic on the sale of their investment in FNZ
- FNZ Group on the acquisition of European Bank for Financial Services GmbH (ebase) from comdirect bank AG
- Vista and its portfolio company Advanced on the acquisition of Docman, the market leading electronic document management, workflow and information sharing platform provider to primary and secondary care services
- Pamplona Capital Management on the sale of Partner in Pet Food (‘PPF’), a market-leading European pet food company headquartered in Hungary, to Cinven
- Vista Equity Partners on its acquisition of Allocate Software, a UK-based international leader in workforce management software for the healthcare sector
- GTCR on its £1.0 billion sale of Callcredit Information Group Limited to TransUnion
- Searchlight Capital on its sale of Ocean Outdoor to Ocelot Partners Limited
- Searchlight Capital Partners in its acquisition of a significant stake in EOLO SpA, a leading broadband provider covering more than 10 million homes in central and northern Italy
- Trintech, a leading provider of cloud-based financial reporting software and portfolio company of Vista Equity Partners, on its acquisition of Norwegian-based Adra Software
- Vector Capital on its investment in Cloudsense, a leading commerce software as a service provider with operations across the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific
- Bain Capital and Cinven on their €5.4 billion joint public takeover of the German pharmaceutical company Stada Arzneimittel AG; to date the largest private equity transaction ever realized in the German market
- KKR and its portfolio company Selecta on the acquisitions by Selecta of Pelican Rouge Group B.V. and Argenta
- Vista Equity Partners and Misys on the acquisition of DH Corporation for an enterprise value of approximately C$4.8 billion
- Cerberus Capital Management on the acquisition of a controlling interest in Staples’ European business
- Maxis Communications Berhad in a transaction with Reliance Communications (RCOM) to combine RCOM’s Indian wireless business with Aircel Limited, a subsidiary of Maxis. The transaction is the largest ever consolidation in the Indian telecommunications sector and one of the largest merger of equals in India
- Cinven on the acquisition of BioClinica
- TPG Growth LLC on the acquisition of Frank Recruitment Group Limited (FRG)
- KKR in connection with the initial public offering of Telepizza
- Vista Equity Partners on the acquisition of Cvent, Inc.
- Vista Equity Partners on the disposal of a majority stake in Sovos Compliance to HgCapital
- Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan on the merger of their Bridon business with the global ropes and advanced cords business of Bekaert N.V.
- Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan on the acquisition of a stake in Synlab
- Searchlight Capital Partners on the acquisition with Duke Street of Fork Rent and One Call
- Stats, a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company, on its acquisition of Prozone Sports
- Pamplona Capital Management on the €315 million purchase of Partner in Pet Food
- GTCR on its £462 million sale of Premium Credit Limited to Cinven Partners LLP. This transaction was named “Financial Services Deal of the Year” at The M&A Advisor 2016 International M&A Awards
- TGI Fridays on the sale of the UK TGI Fridays business
- Searchlight Capital Partners on its purchase of Ocean Outdoor
- Vista Equity Partners on the £725 million take private of Advanced Computer Software Group plc
- Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan on the £365 million acquisition of Bridon Limited
- Summit Partners on the acquisition of Independent Vetcare Holdings
- Agencyport Europe, a portfolio company of Thomas H. Lee Partners, on its £64 million sale of its European operations to Xchanging plc.
- GTCR on its acquisition of Callcredit Information Group Limited
- Taminco Corporation on the acquisition of the formic acid business of Kemira Oyj
- Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan on the acquisition of Burton's Biscuits Company
- FTV Capital on its investment in World First
- New Mountain Capital on the £250 million acquisition of Alexander Mann
- KKR on the $1 billion acquisition of The Crosby Group
- FTV Capital on their $40 million investment in Credorax Inc.
- KKR and Bayside in relation to the restructuring of Estro Group
- ABRY Partners on the acquisition of Basefarm AS.
- GTCR on the acquisition of Premium Credit Limited, asset value $1.45 billion
- Vista Equity Partners on the $2 billion take private of software company Misys plc
- Vista Equity Partners on the acquisition of Thomson Reuters risk management software business
- Cinven and GS Capital Partners on the €1.8 billion sale of Ahlsell to CVC Capital Partners
- Merlin Entertainments and Blackstone on the funding and development of Legoland Florida
- Gala Coral on its £2.8 billion debt restructuring
- British Midland plc on its £300 million sale to Lufthansa
- Alinda Infrastructure on the acquisition of South Staffordshire Water
- Merlin Entertainment Group and Blackstone in Merlin's £2 billion merger with The Tussauds Group and subsequent £622 million sale and leaseback of certain properties
- RUSAL Limited on its $30 billion merger with domestic rival SUAL International Limited and the alumina business of Swiss natural resources group Glencore International AG
- RUSAL on the $15 billion acquisition of a stake in Norilsk Nickel
- A consortium led by Netcare Healthcare Holdings Ltd and Apax Partners on the £2.3 billion acquisition of General Healthcare Group
- Tragus Group and Blackstone on the £140 million acquisition of Strada Restaurants
- Blackstone and Forest Bidco on the £205 million acquisition of Center Parcs
- Management of Countrywide on the Countrywide restructuring
- Various management teams on buy-out transactions including the management of the Ambassadors Theatre Group, Svendborg Brake and Saft Batteries
- NIBC Infrastructure on the acquisition of Welcome Break
- The management and employees of Lehman Brothers Investment Banking Division on their transfer to Nomura
- Balfour Beatty Capital on its acquisition of Blackpool Airport and the proposed acquisition of Belfast City Airport
*Gavin advised on some of these matters prior to joining Willkie.
Credentials
Education
Nottingham Law School, LPC, 1997 Trinity College, M.A., 1996