David Avery-Gee
Biography
He has advised on numerous cross-border mergers, joint ventures and capital raisings across a range of industries and jurisdictions, particularly in natural resources and energy, where David is widely regarded as one of the leading names in the sector. David’s experience includes acting on numerous public takeovers /P2P transactions, distressed M&A and the corporate aspects of restructurings. He also provides strategic boardroom advice to corporate clients.
David is widely recognised as one of London’s most influential and trusted M&A lawyers, with an exceptional track record advising on many of the market’s most high‑profile and complex transactions. The Weil London M&A team was ranked by Legal 500 as the number one UK firm for “Overall Client Service” in Premium M&A in 2025/2026. Clients consistently praise David’s “technical expertise and permanent client‑driven focus”, “formidable intellect”, and describe him as “an expert in his field”, “always available and committed”, and “the most responsive partner [they] have ever worked with”, delivering a “fantastic service” and “finding ways to get to the right outcome”. He is ranked as a Leading Partner for Upper Mid‑Market and Premium M&A by Legal 500 2026, is individually ranked by Chambers 2026 for Corporate/M&A: £800 million and above - where he is described as “an exceptional lawyer”. David was recently named in Financial News’ 2025 list of the Fifty Most Influential Lawyers in Europe and in the Legal 500 2024 M&A Private Practice Powerlist.
He has previously completed a secondment to the M&A team of the investment banking division of Morgan Stanley.
David is a trustee of the Alex Roberts-Miller Foundation, a charity which provides educational, sporting and social opportunities for disadvantaged young people across the UK.
He speaks English and Italian.
Recent experience includes advising:
- Advent and FedEx on their €7.8 billion takeover of InPost Group
- Advent International on the sale of its shareholding in InPost Group (market cap of approximately €8bn), representing 30% of the Group’s total share capital, to PPF Group
- Algonquin on its PIPE investment in Atlantica Infrastructure
- Algonquin on the $2.555 billion sale of Atlantica to Energy Capital Partners and Co-Investors
- American Securities on the $3.25 billion sale of CPM Holdings and ASP MWI Holdings to Rosebank Industries and on its $1.85 billion agreement to sell Acuren, a leading North American provider of critical asset integrity services, to Admiral
- ARCM in connection with its equity placement and strategic investment in Premier Oil plc
- Balderton Capital on the sale of a $2 billion stake in Revolut and as a lead investor in Wayve’s $1.5 billion equity raise
- Cardtronics plc on its $2.5 billion sale to NCR Corporation
- Century Aluminium on its agreement with Noble Group to acquire Noble’s 55% ownership interest in Jamalco, a bauxite mining and alumina production joint venture in Jamaica
- ChampionX Corporation in its sale to SLB
- Dugout on its merger with OneFootball
- Eli Lilly on its collaboration with Sitryx, its research and collaboration agreement with MiNA and its acquisition of Aparito
- Eutelsat and its Board on the £2 billion all-share combination with OneWeb to create a global satellite services provider
- Financing banks to the acquirer on the £7.2 billion acquisition of RSA Insurance Group plc
- Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II on its $9 billion business combination with Paysafe Limited
- Glencore on a number of matters including on the proposed $260 billion merger with Rio Tinto plc, the sale of Cobar, the strategic partnership with Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., its investment in Horizonte Minerals plc. the take-private of PolyMet and its minority investment in ACG Acquisition Company
- Glencore plc, CPP Investment Board and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, as shareholders, in Viterra Ltd.’s approximately $18 billion business combination with Bunge Ltd.
- Gores Guggenheim, Inc. on its $20 billion business combination with Polestar Performance
- Highland Gold Mining plc on its take private by Fortiana Holdings
- HM Government on its investment along with Bharti Global Limited to provide more than USD$1 billion to acquire OneWeb and fund the full restart of its business operations
- Howden on its €208 million take private of listed Italian insurance broker, Assiteca
- InPost and the selling shareholders on the English and U.S. aspects of the offering and listing of InPost on the Euronext Amsterdam, which was the largest ever European technology IPO, and at the time gave InPost a market capitalisation of €8 billion
- Lone Star Funds on its £709 million takeover of McCarthy & Stone plc
- MGM Resorts International on its $607 million acquisition of LeoVegas AB
- NEOGEN Corporation on its $5.3 billion combination with the Food Safety business of 3M in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction, which implied an enterprise value of the combined company of $9.3 billion
- Petropavlovsk plc on its sale of IRC and related corporate governance advice
- Sanofi on its approximately $13 billion sale of nearly all of its 20.6% stake in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. through a registered public offering and related share repurchase by Regeneron
- The Home Depot, Inc. in its $18.25 billion acquisition of SRS Distribution Inc.
- Various sponsors on proposed P2P bids
- Willis Towers Watson plc on its proposed $80 billion all-share merger with Aon plc
Firm News & Announcements, Awards and Recognition, Speaking Engagements, Guides and Resources, Latest Thinking
Firm News & Announcements
- Weil Advises American Securities in $3.25B Sale of CPM Holdings and ASP MWI Holdings Deal Brief — March 03, 2026
- Weil Advises Balderton Capital as a Lead Investor in the $1.2B Series D for Wayve Deal Brief — February 26, 2026
- Weil Advises on the €7.8B Take Private of InPost Deal Brief — February 09, 2026
- Weil Advises Harbour Energy plc on the $3.2B Acquisition of LLOG Exploration Company Deal Brief — December 22, 2025
- Weil Advises Glencore on the Acquisition of Li-Cycle in CCAA and Chapter 15 Proceedings Deal Brief — August 13, 2025
Latest Thinking
- Global Legal Insights - Mergers & Acquisitions 2025 United Kingdom Publication — By David Avery-Gee, Sarah Flaherty, Nafees Saeed and Ian Hamilton — PDF — July 16, 2025
- Developments in Climate-Related Disclosures for UK Listed Companies Alert — Sustainability & ESG — By David Avery-Gee, Sarah Flaherty, Jack Gray, Murray Cox, Ian Hamilton and Amy Waddington — PDF — January 2025
- New Listing Rules for London Publication — By David Avery-Gee, Sarah Flaherty and Murray Cox — July 11, 2024
- Updates to the UK Takeover Code Publication — By David Avery-Gee, Murray Cox, Sarah Flaherty, Ian Hamilton and Jack Gray — May 03, 2024
- Updated Briefing on Proposed Reforms to The UK Listing Regime: Opportunities for Sponsors Alert — By David Avery-Gee, Sarah Flaherty and Murray Cox — January 29, 2024