James Halstead is UK qualified lawyer and a senior associate in the Corporate Group of Morrison & Foerster’s London office.

Mr. Halstead advises on a range of corporate transactions including public offerings, private financings, mergers and acquisitions and restructurings. He acts for a range of clients including companies at all stages of development, investors and management teams.

He has extensive transactional experience. Representative corporate transactions include:

• Investors. Advising investors and investor syndicates on early and late stage financing arrangements, including investors such as Merlin Biosciences and Intel Capital.
• Investee companies. Advising private companies raising finance, including companies such as Iris Financial Solutions Limited, Energist Limited and Onyvax Limited.
• Public Offerings. Advising companies seeking admission to, and raise finance on, UK public markets. For example, the initial public offering and subsequent placings by Intercytex Group plc.
• Public Takeovers. Advising on the public takeovers of companies listed on the UK Official List (Acambis plc) and AIM (CeNeS Pharmaceuticals plc).
• General M&A. For example: advising the selling shareholders on the sale of Paradigm Therapeutics Ltd to Takeda Pharmaceuticals; advising Iris Financial Solutions Limited on its sale to Mascon; and advising ReNeuron Group plc on its acquisition of Amcyte Inc and related vendor-placing of consideration shares on AIM.

Mr. Halstead has also acted on technology transfer arrangements, intellectual property pipeline arrangements, joint ventures and other commercial transactions.

Mr. Halstead studied economics at the University of Cambridge and law at the College of Law. He qualified as a solicitor in 2000 and joined Morrison & Foerster from the London office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges.