Simon Toms

Mr. Toms was named to Chambers FinTech 2023 in the Corporate, Securities & Financing category, in which clients said he is on the “shortlist for who can deliver when it matters most.” He also is ranked as a leading individual for high-end M&A in The Legal 500 UK and is recognized by IFLR1000. He previously served as general counsel at News International (now News UK) between August 2011 and April 2012.

Since joining Skadden, Mr. Toms’ experience includes advising:

• Visa Inc. in its €1.8 billion acquisition of Tink AB;
• Electronic Arts Inc. in its US$1.4 billion acquisition of Playdemic Ltd. from Warner Bros. Games and AT&T Inc.;
• Netflix, Inc. in its acquisition of The Roald Dahl Story Company Limited, which manages the literary works, copyrights and trademarks of author Roald Dahl;
• RMG Acquisition Corporation II in its $8 billion business combination with ReNew Power, India’s leading renewable power company. This is the first-ever de-SPAC transaction involving an Indian company; 
• a bank consortium consisting of BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan on their Series B investment in blockchain market infrastructure platform HQLAx;
• Electronic Arts Inc. in its $1.2 billion recommended cash offer for Codemasters Group Holdings plc.;
• Zelon Holdings Inc. in its participation in Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc’s capital raise;
• Zuber and Mohsin Issa, owners of EG Group, and TDR Capital LLP in their acquisition of a majority stake in ASDA Group Limited from Walmart Inc.;
• Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. in its $1.4 billion sale of zColo to Databank;
• Halewood Artisanal Spirits plc in the sale of its Lambrini and Eisberg brands to Accolade Wines Limited and Schloss Wachenheim, respectively; and
• Iceland Foods in the acquisition, by founder and Executive Chair Sir Malcolm Walker CBE and CEO Tarsem Dhaliwal, of a 63% stake in Iceland Foods from Brait, a South African private equity fund.

Mr. Toms’ experience prior to joining Skadden includes advising:

• 21st Century Fox Inc. in its US$30 billion bid for Sky plc.;
• TransferWise (now Wise) on a secondary sale;
• HP in its £380 million acquisition of Apogee Corporation Limited;
• Cerberus Capital Management in its US$1.2 billion acquisition of HSH Nordbank alongside consortium partners;
• IHS in its joint venture with MTN to acquire 9,000 mobile phone towers and IHS’ associated US$2.6 billion fundraising;
• a consortium of leading financial institutions in a US$107 million investment in R3, a distributed ledger technology platform for financial services;
• 21st Century Fox in its US$9.3 billion sale of Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland to Sky plc;
• Toyota in the formation of Toyota Connected Europe;
• News UK in its participation in digital ad platform the Ozone Project, alongside the Telegraph Media Group, Guardian Media Group and Reach plc;
• Cisco in its US$700 million acquisition of Acano, a leading video conferencing and collaboration service provider;
• Circassia Pharmaceuticals in its acquisitions of Aerocrime AB and Prosonix Limited and its associated £275 million placing and open offer;
• Virgin Active in the sale of an 80% majority stake to Brait for £682 million;
• Clear Channel in the sale of its stake in ARN to APN for US$246 million;
• Deepmind Technologies in its US$500 million sale to Google Inc.; and
• News Corporation in its separation into two independently listed companies, 21st Century Fox and News Corporation.