DLA Piper advises Duke Street on its acquisition of McAvoy

DLA Piper has advised its long-standing client, Duke Street, a European mid-market investor, on the acquisition of McAvoy, a modular buildings and social infrastructure provider and manufacturer, from funds managed by Blantyre Capital.

McAvoy, founded in 1972, is headquartered in Lisburn, Northern Ireland and has over 160 employees with offices in Dublin, Birmingham, Bristol and London. The company is highly regarded for designing, building and renting premium space solutions. Its offer ranges from temporary modular buildings to fully bespoke permanent structures, supplying the health, education, pharmaceutical and commercial sectors across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Duke Street’s investment in McAvoy will increase the size and quality of its rental offering, enabling the company to enhance its portfolio of premium and high-quality buildings.

The cross-practice team from DLA Piper's UK offices advised Duke Street on the transaction. The team was led by Corporate partners Tim Wright and John Pryor. They were supported by partners David Thompson (Tax), Neil Campbell (Finance), and Chris Wilson (Corporate).

Commenting on this acquisition, John Pryor said: "Duke Street's acquisition of McAvoy is another example of its focus on investing in social infrastructure services following its investment into AGITO Medical. By investing in McAvoy, Duke Street is backing a premium business that supports essential services with a strong management team.

"Our ability to provide legal services in both UK and Ireland, and to add specialist construction lawyers to our leading mid-market PE and M&A capability, meant that we were ideally placed to support Duke Street on this exciting investment."

DLA Piper has the strongest M&A practice in the world and has been cited as the highest-ranked legal advisor for M&A (by volume) for the 15th consecutive year by Mergermarket, and the most active legal advisor for European PE for the seventh consecutive year by PitchBook.

The full DLA Piper team included: Lilly Alamir (legal director, Finance), Ben Wilson and Isabella Gee (both senior associates, Corporate), Jenni Entwisle and Matthew Manwaring (both associates, Corporate), Radina Denkova (associate, Finance) and Freya Patten (trainee solicitor, Corporate).