Simon Rae

Simon Rae

Partner
Simon is outstanding counsel. He provides great client service. He's technically very strong and does an outstanding job of balancing commercial and legal considerations.
— Chambers and Partners UK 2025
Edinburgh
About

Simon Rae has considerable experience of a wide range of UK and cross-border corporate transactions including acquisitions and disposals (with a particular focus on private equity related transactions), fund raisings (both private and public), restructurings and reorganisations, and joint ventures.

Simon is a longstanding member of DLA Piper's UK management team. He is also the managing partner of our Scottish business and leads the corporate team in Scotland.  

 
Areas of FocusEnergy and Natural ResourcesIndustrialsCorporateFinanceMergers and AcquisitionsPrivate EquityTechnologyInvestment Funds
Professional QualificationsAdmitted as a Solicitor with the Law Society of Scotland

EXPERIENCE

  • Acting for BrewDog on the acquisition of a 22.3% stake by private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners.
  • Acting for First Reserve on the institutional buyouts of Rigmar Services Limited and Interocean Marine Services Limited.
  • Acting for Energy Ventures on the institutional buyouts of Aquaterra Energy Limited and Enpro Subsea Limited.
  • Acting for Vespa Capital on the management buyout of Lumi Technologies.
  • Acting for Scottish Equity Partners, Hermes Private Equity and the Environmental Energy Fund on the institutional buyout of Anesco Limited.
  • Acting for Ivanhoe Cambridge on the disposal of St Enoch's Centre Unit Trust and related entities to Blackstone.
  • Acting for the vendors on the disposals of Red Spider Technology Limited and Intelligent Well Systems Limited to Halliburton.
  • Acting for the vendors on the disposal of Meta Downhole Limited to Schlumberger.
  • Acting for the vendors on the disposal of Random 42 Limited to Graphite Capital.
  • Advising MeadWestvaco Inc on its global group reorganisation and capital reduction programme.
  • Advising for Moody’s Corporation on its European group reorganisation and debt restructuring.

Awards

  • Inducted into the Legal 500 Hall of Fame for continued excellence in the area of Corporate and Commercial.
  • Ranked as one of only seven Band 1 individuals for Corporate M&A Scotland by Chambers & Partners UK 2025.
  • Market commentators say "Simon is my trusted advisor." and "Simon Rae's leadership is impeccable." – Chambers and Partners UK 2025; "Simon has a good commercial hat on, always keeping the goal of the transaction in focus." and "Simon is fantastic to deal with. He makes himself accessible to clients and is highly communicative." – Chambers and Partners UK 2024; "Simon puts the client first and will always ensure that the detail is impeccable while also taking a helicopter approach to ensure all bases are covered."  – Chambers and Partners UK 2023. 
Education
  • Strathclyde University, LLB (Hons), 1994
  • Strathclyde University, DiP LP, 1995

My latest insights

News

DLA Piper appoints new Litigation and Regulatory partner to its Edinburgh Office

4 January 2023 .2 minute read

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+44 131 242 5085
+44 7968 559 163