Jon Lawley

Senior Partner

Corporate Healthcare Team

About

Jon heads up the largest dedicated dental M&A team of any law firm in the UK.

He is a highly experienced corporate healthcare lawyer with a strong presence in the dental sector, where he advises practice-owners and groups on their acquisition strategies. He is a member of the National Association of Specialist Dental Accountants and Lawyers, the pre-eminent centre of excellence for accounting, tax and legal matters for dentists. He is recognised by The Legal 500 as a Next Generation Partner.

Jon’s largest client is Portman Dental Care, the largest active acquirer of dental practices in the UK. As the lead adviser to Portman, he has advised on the successful acquisition of over 175 dental practices in England, Wales, Scotland, and the Isle of Man in the last seven years and has grown Portman to become Acuity’s largest client. Jon also advises Portman on commercial contracts, equity fundraises and regulatory issues.

Work highlights

Advising Portman Dental Care on its acquisition strategy in 2022, acting on the successful purchase of 40 practices, for example:

    • a three-dental-practice group in London
    • an eleven-dental-practice group across South East England
    • a dental practice in Daresbury
    • a dental practice in Immingham
    • a dental practice in Kenilworth.

Advising Licentia Group Ltd, the owner of Mypinpad, an innovator in mobile card payments acceptance and identity authentication software services, on a substantial investment round of $13 million (c. £10.2 million) led by Crossfin Holdings.

Advising the UK arm of global packaging specialist Tri-Wall UK Limited on its acquisition of The Corrugated Case Company, a Derbyshire-based sheet plant manufacturer.

Representing leading secure payments acceptance and personal authentication solutions company MYPINPAD in its merger with Singapore-based SmartPesa, a leading provider of payments and agency banking solutions.

Lead advisor to Toca Equity Group on its acquisition strategy. Since 2020, Jon has advised the company on the successful purchase of five hair and beauty businesses.

Advising the shareholders of the Harris Pye Engineering Group on the sale of their shares to Dubai-based Joulon, a company backed by global private equity firm KKR.

Advising Licentia Group in connection with the sale of its subsidiary company, myHSM, a global provider of payment hardware security modules. The sale saw myHSM being acquired by Utimaco IS GMBH, a worldwide supplier of professional cyber security solutions.

“

As a longstanding adviser to MYPINPAD since its incorporation in 2012, Jon is our lead adviser and has guided us through a number of multi-million pound funding rounds and strategic international transactions. He understands our business and is always present, focused, and responsive with a pragmatic, commercial and risk-based approach to negotiations. From its base in Cardiff, MYPINPAD is now a global leader in secure payments and Jon’s advice has played a key role in our development.

“

We have been delighted with the support provided to us by… Jon and the rest of the Acuity team over the years, with their commercial insight and ability to get deals done quickly proving invaluable to the ongoing success of our acquisition programme. We consider Acuity to be an extended part of our team and find the Acuity Counsel service to be an effective tool by which our day-to-day legal needs can be met quicky and effectively.

“

Jon Lawley has become a very trusted adviser to our firm. Jon knows what our business needs are and is always willing to advise and support on a wide range of issues. This collegiate approach is refreshing and helps us move quickly through challenging issues.

“

Jon’s ability to bring clarity to the legal procedure of establishing the ownership trust and transferring control of the business to it was a critical factor. Jon has played a key part in a process that has fundamentally shaped the future of the company for many years to come.

“

Thank you very much for your support, advice and guidance through the process. To say we could not have done it without you is just stating the blindingly obvious. But more than all that, I was grateful for HOW you worked. It is really a pleasure to work with people who retain their senses of both perspective and humour – an unusual combination.

Expertise

  • Corporate deals and transactions
  • Dental business structures (including partnerships, expense sharing arrangements and incorporations)
  • Commercial contracts
  • Banking and finance structures
Corporate Healthcare practice area

Accolades

  • Jon is listed as a Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500
  • The Corporate Team is ranked Tier 1 by The Legal 500
  • The Corporate Team is ranked Band 1 by Chambers and Partners