Baker McKenzie Advises CDP on Transformative Investment and Strategic Reorganisation

Baker McKenzie has advised CDP Foundation (CDP Worldwide, CDP North America and CDP Japan), which operates a leading global environmental disclosure system, on its transformative investment and strategic reorganisation involving global investment firm Permira.

CDP announced today that it will be transforming into two separate organisations: CDP, a commercial entity backed by global investment firm Permira, which will continue to provide environmental data and disclosure services to companies worldwide; and the CDP Foundation charitable/not-for-profit entities that will drive the strategic principles for disclosure based on the latest environmental science.

CDP Worldwide will remain a shareholder in CDP with board representation, with CDP Foundation leading on translating frontier science into action-ready disclosure methods, informing the evolution of CDP's question bank. CDP will focus on deploying the world's most comprehensive disclosure system, surfacing Earth-positive information to drive tomorrow's economy. Completion of the transaction is subject to receiving regulatory approvals, including from the Charity Commission.

Baker McKenzie advised on all aspects of the transaction relating to: Corporate M&A, Tax, Intellectual Property, Corporate Reorganisations, Overseas Charity/Not-For-Profit, Employment, Competition and Banking & Finance. Bates Wells advised on the English charity law aspects of the transaction.

The cross-border Baker McKenzie team was led by Corporate Partner, Nick Bryans and Tax Partner, Natalie Dunne (both London), with support from IP Partner, Natalie Ellerby (London) and Corporate Reorganisations Partners Jo Hewitt (London) and Jonathan Yeo (New York).

The wider team included:

• Corporate/M&A: Ben Saraci (Senior Associate, London), Abigail Saffron (Associate, London), Lilly Imhof (Associate, London), Rikke Vestergaard (Associate, London)
• Tax: Philip Thomas (Counsel, London), Tetyana Zhuravska (Senior Associate, London), Taras Varava (Senior Associate, London)
• Banking & Finance: James Tanner (Partner, London), Thomas Hosted (Senior Associate, London)
• Employment: Stephen Ratcliffe (Partner, London) and David Woodward (Senior Associate, London)
• Corporate Reorganisations: Isabel Carty (Senior Associate, London), Halle Broadbent (Associate, London)
• Competition: Samantha Mobley (Partner, London) and Imogen Green (Senior Associate, London)
• Commercial/IP: Steve Holmes (Partner, London), Catherine Woods (Senior Associate, London) and Bryan Poon (Senior Associate, London), Khaya Thomas (Associate, Johannesburg)
• Not-For-Profit: Glenn Fox (Partner, New York), Sonja Klein (Senior Counsel, Frankfurt), Chris Cook (Senior Associate, London), Ryutaro Oka-san (Partner, Tokyo), Ken Tomura (Counsel, Tokyo), Corey Bass (Senior Associate, Tokyo)
• International colleagues: Vivian Wu (Partner, Beijing), Grace Tso (Partner, Hong Kong), Chelsea Chung (Associate, Hong Kong), Jon Marcus Meese (Partner, Munich), Stefanie Tesch (Senior Associate, Munich), Tobias Beck (Associate, Munich), Zachary Bethel (Associate, New York), Andrew Martin (Partner, Singapore), Thara Ing (Associate, Singapore), Allan Yang (Associate, Singapore), Satoshi Abe (Partner, Tokyo) and Yuki Takada (Associate, Tokyo)
• Trench Rossi Watanabe*: Bruno V. Dreifus (Partner, Sao Paulo), Victoria Villas Boas (Associate, Sao Paulo), Renata Yuasa (Senior Associate, Sao Paulo)

The team also included over 200 lawyers from 29 Baker McKenzie offices in 15 jurisdictions.

Commenting on the transaction, Nick Bryans, said: "It has been a pleasure to support CDP Foundation on this significant transaction, with Baker McKenzie being uniquely placed to support the CDP Foundation given the breadth and depth of our multi-disciplinary cross-border practices. This deal marks an important moment in CDP's evolution and positions the organisation to strengthen its environmental disclosure offering while enabling the CDP Foundation to continue driving strategic principles for disclosure based on the latest environmental science."

* Trench Rossi Watanabe and Baker McKenzie have executed a strategic cooperation agreement for consulting on foreign law.