Mark Austin advises clients on a full range of public and private securities offerings, as well as M&A and general corporate matters across multiple sectors.

He leverages extensive experience to advise companies and investment banks on public and private corporate matters generally, including IPOs, secondary capital raises, and M&A.

A well-known figure in the UK’s legal and financial sectors who has been one of the principal architects of the reform of the UK's markets in recent years, Mark received a CBE in the King’s 2024 New Year Honours List for services to the economy. In 2025, he was appointed to establish and chair the Digital and Electronic Money and Assets Dematerialisation Market Action Taskforce (DEMAT). The taskforce is set to play a crucial role in removing paper share certificates and moving to a fully intermediated system of shareholding in the UK, marking a significant step forward in the evolution of the nation’s financial infrastructure of the UK’s capital markets.

In 2021, the Chancellor of the Exchequer appointed Mark as the independent chair of the UK Secondary Capital Raising Review, which proposed reforms to the capital raising process for listed companies, and Mark delivered the Review to the Chancellor in July 2022. He also advised Lord Hill on the UK Listing Review in 2021. His numerous significant roles within the UK’s financial regulatory framework have led directly to the successful implementation of the reforms in July 2024.

Mark is a member of the UK’s Capital Markets Industry Taskforce (CMIT), which the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in July 2022, and was also a member of HM Treasury’s Digitisation Taskforce, which reported in July 2024. Mark also sits on the FCA’s Markets Practitioner Panel, which advises the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on financial market matters, and he is the former Chair of the Listing Authority Advisory Panel, the practitioner panel that advises FCA on primary markets policy and regulation issues. He additionally sits on the London Stock Exchange’s Primary Markets Group.

Mark’s experience includes advising:

IPOs

  • Verisure, the leading provider of professionally monitored security services in Europe and Latin America, on its EUR 13.7 billion IPO on Nasdaq Stockholm
  • Jefferies International Ltd as the sponsor on Third Point Investors Limited’s proposed all-share combination with Malibu Life Reinsurance SPC and re-IPO to create a unique London-listed reinsurance operating company
  • CK Infrastructure on its secondary listing on the UK Equity Shares (International Commercial Companies Secondary Listing) category of the FCA’s Official List and trading on the Main Market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange — the first listing under the new UK listing rules and the first-ever listing in the new category
  • Pod Point, Darktrace, Deliveroo, Cazoo (through a US de-SPAC), Pepco Group, Trainline, Watches of Switzerland, Network International, Funding Circle, Aston Martin, Quilter, Bakkavor, Alfa, Worldpay, McCarthy & Stone, Sophos, DFS, Virgin Money, Spire Healthcare, SSP, Zoopla, TSB, Poundland, Arrow Global, Partnership, Perform Group, Fresnillo, Gondola Holdings (Pizza Express), Hansen Transmissions, QinetiQ, Britvic, Virgin Mobile, and Eircom on their IPOs*
  • Rubix, Logicor, ReAssure, Helios Towers, CPA Global, Cabot, Misys, Arqiva, Pure Gym, The Priory, New Look, United Biscuits, Travelex and P3 on their proposed IPOs*

Rights Issues and Open Offers

  • Aston Martin, Whitbread, Shaftesbury, Cineworld, Laird, Informa, BBA Aviation, Serco, LSE, Barclays, Lloyds, Wolseley, D S Smith, Lamprell, Balfour Beatty, National Express, and Centrica on rights issues*
  • Amec on a proposed rights issue*
  • AA, Barclays, and Kenmare Resources on open offers*

Placings

  • Aston Martin, Compass, National Express, SSP, and Auto Trader on undocumented placings*
  • Ultra Electronics, NMC Health, Investec, Phoenix, Pennon, Workspace, Hammerson, Serco, Shaftesbury, G4S, Perform Group, and BTG on placings*
  • On sell-downs in Network International, Trainline, Poundland, Spire Healthcare, MicroFocus, and Virgin Money*
  • BIS on the ABB sell-downs in Royal Mail*
  • UKFI on:
    • HMT’s trading plan in relation to Lloyds*
    • HMT’s ABB sale of 7% of Lloyds*
  • The bookrunners on HMT’s ABB sale 6% of Lloyds*

M&A

  • Spire Healthcare on its takeover approach from Ramsay Healthcare*
  • Northgate on its merger with Redde to form ReddeNorthgate*
  • ZPG on its take-private by Silver Lake*
  • Laird on its take-private by Advent*
  • Partnership on its merger with Just Retirement*
  • The London Stock Exchange on its proposed merger with Deutsche Börse*
  • Perform Group on its take-private by Access Industries*
  • BAE on its proposed merger with EADS using a dual-listed company structure*
  • CPPIB and Onex on their bid for Tomkins*
  • GMG on its bid with Apax for Emap*
  • Eircom on its take-private by Babcock and Brown*
  • Bank of America, as sponsor, on Just Eat Takeaway’s acquisition of Grubhub*
  • Barclays, as sponsor, on Informa’s takeover of UBM*
  • Deutsche Bank, as sponsor, on:
    • Reckitt Benckiser’s acquisition of Mead Johnson*
    • GoCompare.com’s demerger from esure*
  • Morgan Stanley and Evercore, as joint sponsors, on Shire’s acquisition of Baxalta*
  • Morgan Stanley, as sponsor, on Afren’s restructuring and refinancing*
  • Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, as joint sponsors, on Indivior’s demerger from Reckitt Benckiser*
  • Morgan Stanley on:
    • ENRC’s buy-out of the Camrose Group*
    • WPP’s re-domicile to the UK*
    • Entertainment One’s step-up to premium listing*
    • C&C Group step-up to premium listing*

*Matter handled prior to joining the firm

Bar Qualification

  • England and Wales (Solicitor)

Education

  • LPC, College of Law
  • CPE, College of Law
  • BA, University of East Anglia
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August 25, 2025 Recognition

Latham Leads H1 2025 Capital Markets League Tables

Firm’s Capital Markets Practice once again earns top legal advisor league table rankings across debt and equity products and industries globally in Bloomberg, Dealogic, Deal Point Data, and LSEG.