David advises clients across a number of sectors on corporate transactional work, predominantly focusing on mergers & acquisitions and investments. David is particularly familiar working with private equity firms and with managers of businesses looking to secure private equity investment. He also deals with MBOs, group reorganisations and shareholder arrangements.
David has a keen interest in working with companies in the Energy industry and before joining Womble Bond Dickinson David spent time in-house with a large publicly listed energy company.
David is dual-qualified in Scotland and England & Wales and is also part of our Transatlantic Lawyer Network, frequently working on cross border transactions alongside colleagues within Womble Bond Dickinson (US).
David is recognised as a Rising Star by The Legal 500 publication, and was shortlisted by the Insider NE Dealmaker Awards for "Corporate Lawyer of the Year" in 2024 and 2023 and "Emerging Dealmaker" in 2023 and 2022.
Experience
Examples of experience include advising:
- The shareholders of Lomond Property Lettings, one of the UK's largest lettings and estate agent platforms, on the investment by global asset manager ICG
- The management team at UK Land Estates on the majority investment by one of the world's largest property investors
- The owners of global Energy data analytics provider EnAppSys on the sale of the business to Montel AS (backed by the Riverside Company)
- Bourne Leisure Limited, a Blackstone portfolio company, on its acquisition of two prominent hotel and golf businesses
- The owners of pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Arcinova on the sale of the business to Quotient Sciences (backed by Permira)
- NVM Private Equity on its majority investment in MRO+ Solutions
- Perwyn on its lead investment in HungryPanda, the leading global Asian food delivery platform
- Lloyds Development Capital on a number of investments, including:
- its major investment in Aspire Technology Solutions, an award-winning managed service provider and internet service provider
- its significant minority investment in Connect Health – the UK’s largest independent provider of integrated community MSK (musculoskeletal) services (shortlisted for Deal of the Year above £10m in 2020); and
- its investment in iamproperty, a business specialising in technology-led software, platforms and services that support property professionals
- The owners of Engineering firm Reece Group's two central defence firms on the acquisition by global defence giant, Rafael
- Kennelpak (backed by Endless LLP) on the sale of its retail business to Pets & Friends
- Grainger Plc on its £57m acquisition of the Forge development
- Carpetright and its sister company Nestware on various matters including the acquisition of Carpet and Flooring Trading Limited from the management team and Endless LLP (winner of Insider Media Limited's deal of the month award)
- Nimbus on its majority investment in Hawthorn Timber Limited.
"Simon, James, David, and many others in the WBD team, have provided first class advice and support throughout and have gone above and beyond."
Gareth Marshall, partner and head of LDC's North East & Scotland team
"We would like to thank David, Simon and the rest of the WBD team for their support. The team's hard work and expertise was vital to enabling this deal, which represents a strong move into a new region where we see great opportunity for growth."
Robert Hamilton, Group Head of M&A for Lomond
"A big thank you to James Cook, David Ridley and the wider Womble Bond Dickinson team for their support and invaluable knowledge on this transaction. This deal was one which required a wide consideration of numerous matters and areas of expertise, and the team ensured all angles were covered in an effective manner."
James Woolley, Partner at Endless
"It’s been a pleasure to work with the Womble Bond Dickinson teams and in particular Robert, James and David with their extensive private equity experience. They were approachable and made their advice easy to understand throughout - this combined with their expertise gave us lots of confidence."
Johnathan Bulmer, Managing Director at Cleveland Containers
"David Ridley was excellent from start to finish. Sound, sensible, pragmatic commercial advice. The transaction was emotional, but was handled sensitively with a personal touch which was hugely appreciated."
The Legal 500 2021
