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Headquartered in London with offices across the UK, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Charles Russell Speechlys is an international firm with a focus on private capital, advising individuals, families and businesses. In July 2023 it opened an office in Singapore.
Transactional highlights of the year include advising the supermarket giant Asda on the real-estate elements of its landmark acquisition of the Co-operative Group’s petrol station business for £438 million. The deal covers 129 trading petrol stations across the UK and three planned development sites.
The firm also acted for Greggs in its legal battle over a £150 million-pound insurance claim triggered by the coronavirus crisis. The insurer Zurich argued that the bakery chain could claim for only a “single occurrence” of business interruption caused because of the government-imposed lockdowns during the pandemic, which would have limited Greggs’ claim for losses to £2.5 million, being the claim limit under the policy.
In a landmark ruling the High Court decided that there was an occurrence of business interruption that triggered a payment of up to £2.5 million to Greggs during the first lockdown (March–May 2020), and further occurrences as the level of restrictions changed over subsequent months (including local lockdowns), meaning that Greggs could claim up to £2.5 million for each separate instance.
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The firm’s corporate sport team advised the Danish entrepreneur Thomas Sandgaard on his sale of Charlton Athletic Football Club — one of several acquisitions and disposals completed involving English football clubs.
★ Commended for commercial dispute resolution; commercial property; family; immigration; inheritance & succession; tax
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