CMS has been working with long-standing client, Royal Mail on issues surrounding the Government’s transfer of a 10% stake in Royal Mail to employees for free as well as advising it on other aspects of its IPO, which successfully concluded today.
 
The team advising on the employee free share offer was led by firm client relationship partner, David Day (corporate), and included partner, Nicholas Stretch, senior associate, Isabel Pooley, and associate, Tair Hussain (employee incentives). Partners, Emma Burnett (outsourcing) and Anthony Fincham (employment) also took on key roles in advising on the free share offer.
 
David Day also led a large corporate team supporting Royal Mail on a wide range of corporate governance and due diligence issues in its preparation for IPO, and included partners Gary Green, James Parkes and Helen Johnson, as well as associates Peter Bateman and Michelle Kirkland. Senior associate, Sophie White, led on employment issues.
 
Nicholas Stretch said: "Most IPOs focus on executive share plans, and the all-employee piece often comes in late in the day and follows what other companies routinely do. From the start, Royal Mail focused on the all-employee piece and took great pains to make sure that the plan, which saw 99.75% of its employees agree to receive free shares under an HMRC approved scheme, was understood by all employees in good time for the IPO."

Royal Mail’s lead legal advisers on the IPO were Slaughter and May, while Davis Polk, Herbert Smith Freehills and Eversheds advised on US law, competition and regulatory, and industrial relations aspects of the IPO.