Legal Counsel (M&A)

The Legal Team sits within the Global Support division of Informa.

The Legal Team is highly respected and a valued business partner to the Group. It has lawyers based principally in North America, the UK and Asia and has a mixture of leaders and experts in subject areas (such as Intellectual Property, Data Protection, Mergers & Acquisitions, Employment) and geographies, providing global advice in a timely and often business critical environment.

The Legal Team has played a pivotal role to the Group’s recent growth and strong financial results, assisting the business with its acquisition strategy, supporting the successful execution of numerous transactions that have transformed the Group to the business it is today. In 2021, the Group announced its Growth Acceleration Plan 2 ("GAP 2"), an ambitious strategic plan to deliver knowledge and connections to customers through an expanded range of products and platforms. As part of GAP 2, the Group announced the divestment of its Informa Intelligence businesses, which successfully completed in 2022. Since then, the Legal Team has assisted with a range of M&A activities, including acquisitions and joint ventures. Most notably, in January 2024, the group announced its entry into an agreement to combine Informa Tech's digital businesses with US-listed TechTarget, to create a leading platform for B2B data and market access. This transaction is expected to complete later this year, subject to the relevant approvals being obtained.

The Legal Team is currently recruiting a M&A Legal Counsel to assist with the Group’s continuous corporate development activity.   

This role will report to the Head of Legal (M&A) EMEA & APAC and will be based in Informa’s London head office at 5 Howick Place, SW1.

What we’re looking for

We are currently looking to hire an M&A Legal Counsel who will work on a broad mix of transactions, including public and private M&A (acquisitions and divestments), joint ventures, and other corporate transactions. Most of the work will have an international dimension and will range from larger scale, complex cross border transactions to smaller deals which provide greater leadership responsibility. The role will assume the following key responsibilities:

• Provide proactive legal services, supporting the EMEA & APAC region in M&A legal matters including in relation to business strategy, performance and risk management
• Working on a wide variety of complex private and public M&A transactions, with responsibility for progressing key legal workstreams, including being responsible for liaising with key stakeholders such as Corporate Development, Company Secretarial, Legal HR, Finance, Treasury, HR, Property and Insurance, as well as external stakeholders such as external counsel, accountants, corporate financiers, investment banking and corporate broking
• Supporting on full scale worldwide or pan-regional acquisitions and divestments of existing businesses, new ventures and a variety of joint ventures, principally across the EMEA & APAC region and providing co-ordination and support on global or US focussed transactions
• Supporting on securities/debt offerings including Bond issuances, as well as managing legal aspects of Informa’s existing EMTN programme
• Front-line management of deals, including drafting and negotiating the key transactional documents, management of due diligence, advising on anti-trust issues, disclosure exercises and closings, managing projects to a budget, and taking responsibility for client satisfaction
• Working with key stakeholders on transitional separation and integration planning and execution following divestments and acquisitions
• Assisting with general corporate advisory work/training and other activities to keep in touch with internal clients and continue building relationships
• Working as part of a team including collaborating with other lawyers and taking an active part in sharing knowledge and experience with the team
• Work with senior lawyers to ensure a consistent and coordinated approach to legal issues and that efficiencies and synergies are harnessed across the Group 
• Supporting on Group led restructurings and re-financings
• Supporting on ad-hoc commercial work (e.g. outsourcing agreements, licensing arrangements, IT contracts)
• Working with members of the Team to audit, update and modify standard template contracts as and when needed

• A qualified lawyer with approximately 3-6 years post qualification experience (PQE is given as a guide only, this will not be a determining factor of suitability and applicants of other levels of PQE may apply) strong academics and relevant corporate transaction experience gained in a top law firm. Secondment or in-house experience will be considered favourably
• Cross border M&A experience is essential, and experience in APAC countries is advantageous
• Direct experience of public and private transactions is essential given the nature of the Group’s deals. In this respect, knowledge of listing rules and familiarity generally with DTR would be advantageous
• Must be able to work and lead autonomously on deals with minimal supervision and have credible experience of doing so. Be comfortable with negotiating commercial and non-legal issues (including price adjustment mechanisms e.g. working capital adjustments, earn outs) as well as purely legal corporate issues
• Experience of working with media or content businesses would be helpful but not essential
• Excellent commercial judgment enabling consideration of legal requests in a commercial, constructive and business-sympathetic way, balancing business needs with legal risk
• A confident, dynamic and personable individual who is able to influence senior executives and stakeholders with ability to communicate at all levels in the organisation and build strong internal and external relationships
• Collaborative, growth mindset team player who is able to get their “hands dirty” and assist with a variety of tasks
• The ability to present clearly and effectively, especially to distil complex technical concepts into business terms
• A self-starting attitude with flexible but robust approach with the ability to work autonomously and prioritise in a fast-moving environment

We work hard to make sure Life at Informa is rewarding, supportive and enjoyable for everyone. Here’s some of what you can expect when you join us. But don’t just take our word for it – see what our colleagues have to say at LifeAt.Informa.com

Our benefits include:

• Freedom & flexibility: colleagues rate us highly for the flexibility and trust they receive and most of us balance time in the office with time working remotely
• Great community: a welcoming culture with in-person and online social events, our fantastic Walk the World charity day and active diversity and inclusion networks
• Broader impact: take up to four days per year to volunteer, with charity match funding available too
• Career opportunity: the opportunity to develop your career with bespoke training and learning, mentoring platforms and on-demand access to thousands of courses on LinkedIn Learning. When it’s time for the next step, we encourage and support internal job moves
• Time out: 25 days annual leave, rising to 27 days after two years, plus a birthday leave day and the chance to work from (almost!) anywhere for up to four weeks a year
• A flexible range of personal benefits to choose from, plus company funded private medical cover
• A ShareMatch scheme that allows you to become an Informa shareholder with free matching shares
• Strong wellbeing support through EAP assistance, mental health first aiders, a healthy living subsidy, access to health apps and more
• Recognition for great work, with global awards and kudos programmes
• As an international company, the chance to collaborate with teams around the world

We’re not solely focused on a checklist of skills. We champion energy and ambition and look for colleagues who will roll their sleeves up, join in and help make things happen. If it sounds like a match and you have most – although not all – of the skills and experience listed, we welcome your application.
At Informa, you'll find inclusive experiences and environments where all perspectives and backgrounds are welcomed. As part of this approach and our diversity and inclusion commitments, we are also formally an Equal Opportunities Employer. This means we base decisions on relevant qualifications and merit and do not discriminate on the basis of key characteristics and statuses, including all of those protected by law. Ask us or see our website for full information.
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