David Layton

David co-head’s the HWF PE team. His practice specialises in the placement and structuring of M&A insurance policies on UK and international private equity and M&A transactions. With over a decade in the market, David has placed numerous policies for a range of clients across a range of geographies, including corporates, institutional investors, management teams, and private equity investee companies.

Recent Experience

David’s recent experience includes:

• Working with long standing advisory partner Sidley Austin in structuring a W&I policy for Judges Scientific plc, in respect of their acquisition of Geotek Holding Limited and Geotek Coring Limited.
• Working with key clients and partners Onex and Clifford Chance in structuring a W&I policy for the acquisition of Independent Clinical Services.
• Working with key advisory firms Dechert (sell-side advisors) and Paul Weiss (buy-side advisors) in structuring a W&I policy for KPS Capital Partners for their market leading acquisition of the Europe, Middle East and Africa food, aerosol and promotional packaging business from Crown Holdings, Inc.
• Placing a buy-side W&I policy for Constantia Flexibles’ strategic acquisition of FFP Packaging Solutions. Involved on both sides of the transaction, working with key advisory partners Charles Russell Speechlys (acting for the sellers), and DLA Piper (acting for Constantia).
• Assisting Silverfleet Capital, a leading European private equity firm, in the procurement of a buyer W&I policy in respect of their investment in OneStock.
• Working with key clients and partners TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. and Sidley Austin, in structuring a W&I policy for the controlling equity investment of CarTrawler.
• Assisting long standing client Montagu Private Equity on their acquisition of ISI Emerging Markets Group, from CITIC Capital and Caixin Global. Involvement touched both sides of the transaction, working with key advisory partners Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (acting for sellers) and Weil, Gotshal & Manges (acting for Montagu).
• Working with Toluna Holdings Limited in connection with its acquisition of market research firm GutCheck. Involvement included advising on and structuring a R&W policy, working with key advisory partner, Cooley.
• Working with advisory partners Pinsent Masons and Arup in structuring a W&I policy for UBS Asset Management Real Estate & Private Markets, one of the largest asset managers in real assets worldwide, in respect of their acquisition of Datum Datacentres.
• Working on structuring a W&I policy for PaintWell’s acquisition of Kent Blaxill & Co Ltd. Involvement touched both sides of the transaction, working with Grant Thornton UK and Birkett Long (sell-side advisors) and Womble Bond Dickinson (UK)  (buy-side advisor).
• Working on structuring a W&I policy for Partner Group’s acquisition of Jeeves Information Systems AB, the holding company of the Forterro Group. Involvement touched both sides of the transaction, working with Charles Russell Speechlys (sell-side advisors) and Kirkland & Ellis (buy-side advisor).

Prior to HWF, David was a senior member of the Aon transaction liability team and over the last eleven years he has worked on over 500 deals ranging in value from the low millions to several billions.

David has worked across a broad range of sectors and geographies, with a particular focus in the UK, and across Europe with extensive experience of both inbound and outbound US and Asian investments.