Profile: Stephen Cooke

Corporate Governance

Biography: Corporate Governance

Stephen Cooke heads the firm's mergers and acquisitions practice. He has a general corporate and M&A practice, with particular experience in takeover bids and other stock exchange related work and acts for a number of listed companies, including Aggreko, British Airways, Cadbury Schweppes and Diageo.

His more recent transactions include advising British Airways on its possible offer for Iberia; Associated British Ports on the competitive offers by the Admiral and Britannia consortia; PSA on its offer for P&O; Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund on its offer for Canary Wharf; Cazenove on the merger of its investment banking business with JPMorgan; Lazard in relation to the Hollinger restructuring; Diageo on its acquisition of Seagram's drinks business and its disposals of Pillsbury, Burger King and Malibu.

He worked in the New York office of the firm between 1989 and 1990. He is the author of Takeovers (PLC Publications, 1997).