Team advises Barclays and Morgan Stanley on £180m fundraising by Pennon Group

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright advised Barclays and Morgan Stanley as joint bookrunners on Pennon Group plc’s successful £180m fundraising, comprising an accelerated bookbuild placing to institutional investors and a separate retail offer through PrimaryBid. The fundraising was carried out in connection with Pennon’s acquisition of Sutton and East Surrey Water and closed on January 12, 2024.

Pennon is a FTSE-250 listed company and one of the leading businesses in the UK water sector, providing clean water and wastewater services through its businesses across the Great South-West, serving a population of c.3.5m, across nine counties and c.380,000 business customers across the UK.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team that advised on the Pennon equity fundraising was led by London-based corporate partner Fiona Millington with counsel Alexander Green, assisted by US securities partner Thomas Vita.

The Pennon fundraising continues a trend of high-profile international equity capital markets and sponsor transactions for Norton Rose Fulbright’s corporate team in a period of reduced market activity, including advising the sponsors on Smurfit Kappa’s proposed US$11.2bn merger with NYSE listed WestRock Company, Liontrust’s contested all share takeover offer for Swiss listed GAM Holding and LondonMetric’s proposed £1.9bn all share merger with LXi REIT, advising the syndicate banks on equity fundraisings by Volex Plc, Yellow Cake Plc and Accsys Technologies plc and advising Appian Capital on its proposed US$1bn de-SPAC transaction with LSE listed ACG Acquisition Company Limited.

Norton Rose Fulbright’s equity capital markets team delivers legal advice to a number of prominent corporations and financial institutions throughout Europe, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East. The firm handles all types of ECM transactions, from niche listings to global equity offerings for large multi-nationals across all key industry sectors.