Corporate Associate

Buchanan; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Buchanan in London is seeking a corporate and private equity associate at 2–5 PQE to join a partner-led team focusing on sponsor-side M&A, portfolio company deals and cross-border work. The role involves drafting and negotiating core documents, leading due diligence, coordinating with overseas counsel, and engaging directly with clients to drive transactions from start to finish.

Candidates with a broad corporate background and private equity exposure will be considered; juniors with strong M&A

Qualifications

• Substantial corporate transaction experience with M&A background.
• Experience in private equity deals is a plus.
• Strong drafting and negotiation skills on main deal documents.

Responsibilities

• Drafting and negotiating core deal documents for corporate and PE transactions.
• Lead due diligence and disclosure processes; coordinate overseas counsel.
• Interact directly with clients and manage steps to completion of deals.

Job description

Corporate and private equity associate, London (around 2–5PQE)

An international firm is building its London corporate and private equity team around a partner whose practice covers sponsor-side M&A, portfolio company deals and cross-border consortium work. It wants associates at roughly 2–5PQE, and its strongest need is at mid-level.

The PQE band is a guide, not a fixed specification, and the firm’s priorities change as you move along it. At the junior end, a broad corporate background with strong training is enough. Further up, private equity experience counts for considerably more. You don’t need a private equity CV to apply at 2PQE, but at 5PQE it will be a large part of the conversation.

The deals

The London office managing partner joined this year, after more than a decade co-leading an international private equity practice. His work covers domestic and cross-border M&A, joint ventures and consortium deals, from mid-market to large-cap. His clients are private equity sponsors, the businesses they own, and major corporates, and his experience includes financial services transactions, growth investments, acquisitions and disposals. Behind the London team sits the firm’s international private equity practice, which advises sponsors and portfolio companies on buying businesses, growing them and selling them.

On deals of that kind, the associate’s job is the transaction itself. That means drafting and negotiating the main documents, running due diligence and the disclosure process, and getting a deal through signing and completion. It also means coordinating specialist colleagues and overseas counsel, and dealing directly with clients and the other side. On sponsor work, that extends to bolt-on acquisitions for portfolio companies, management equity and shareholder arrangements, and minority or growth investments.

Who we’d like to hear from

If you are mid-level, this is where the firm most needs people. It has found experienced corporate associates hard to recruit, so a strong candidate here can expect serious attention. The firm wants to see private equity execution: sponsor-led acquisitions and exits, portfolio company deals, management arrangements. It will also want to know what you personally drafted and negotiated on those deals. Cross-border, joint venture and consortium experience all help. If you are a mid-level associate whose experience is mostly outside private equity, apply if your wider M&A record is strong, but expect that gap to be discussed.

If you are more junior, the firm is more flexible about background. Solid private M&A and corporate execution, with good training behind it, can be enough. The private equity experience can come later.

Financial institutions experience is relevant to parts of the partner’s practice, but this is not a FIG-only role. It applies to associates in a FIG group too: what matters is the M&A and investment work behind your department’s name.

The baseline

Whatever your level, you will need substantive corporate transaction experience, sound commercial judgement and a track record of taking more ownership of matters as you have progressed. From our experience of similar searches, it is unlikely to suit you if your background is mainly equity capital markets with little M&A, finance work without corporate transactions, or regulatory-only FIG advice.

The firm is considering candidates now. Contact us and we will talk you through the partner’s practice, where the firm is putting its emphasis across the PQE range, and how the London team is developing.