Cathy Cook joined LCF Law in 2016 after formerly working at large national practices including Addleshaw Goddard and in-house at Callcredit plc.
Cathy’s focus is to grow and develop LCF Law’s corporate work in Leeds and to maintain her links and connections in the Wakefield, Calderdale and Kirklees areas.
Her clients include owner managers and their businesses for whom she undertakes both corporate and commercial work.
Her corporate experience has covered a full range of advice to all sizes of business from start-ups to established businesses including business and share sales and purchases, reorganisations, mergers; preparation of shareholder and partnership agreements; put and call option agreements; amendments to articles of association share buy backs dissolution of partnerships and deeds of retirement.
Recent matters in which Cathy has been involved:
- Employee Ownership Trust (‘EOT’) of Edge Analytics Limited – as of June 2021 only 300 EOT’s have been created in the country although this figure is increasing all the time. . An EOT made perfect sense to the founding directors as there was a natural succession team who had been mentored throughout and who were welcomed as successors and owners of the business.
- Acting for family members of Company in connection with sale of a controlling interest of the issued share capital to a listed PLC group where the majority selling shareholder retained equity and there was an earn out. Cathy was managing the expectations of a client who had never sold a company and was selling to a company which for regulatory reasons had to take a very hard line in negotiating terms . Ultimately the client needed to be comfortable with the process and the deal that had been agreed.
- Over a 5 year period Cathy acted for the client on his acquisition of the Company from trustee sellers and ultimately his sale of the Company. The Client really doubted whether he was doing the right thing at the point of purchase as he understood the implications of the banking documents but it all proved worthwhile at the point of sale as he reaped the benefits of his commitment .
- Purchase of company by management buy out team - Helped buyers though bidding and heads of terms to completion - the management buyout team had the understanding of the IP and how the technology worked. The Seller would have had to procure their co-operation if there had been a sale to a third party. – it made sense commercially to sell to the management team.