Sarah Leiper-Jennings is an English qualified Of Counsel in the London office of Gibson Dunn. She is a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity and Capital Markets practice groups. She is currently on secondment.
Sarah has extensive experience advising corporates, private equity funds and investment banks on a broad range of corporate transactional matters, including public and private M&A, joint ventures, IPOs and secondary offerings.
She is recognised by The Legal 500 UK 2025 for M&A: Upper Mid-Market And Premium Deals, where she is described as “fantastic”, and The Legal 500 UK 2022 and 2025 for Equity Capital Markets. Sarah is also recognised by the 2025 edition of Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom as “One to Watch” for Capital Markets Law.
Sarah also spent 18 months working in Gibson Dunn’s New York Office during 2018 to 2020.
Sarah is an executive committee member of Gibson Dunn’s London Office Diversity, Talent and Inclusion Committee, where she co-chairs the gender and family sub-groups.
Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Sarah was an associate in the Corporate team at the London office of Ashurst LLP, where she also trained and completed secondments to their Dubai office and to GE Capital.
Selected M&A experience includes advising:
- Otro Capital and its partner RedBird Capital on their investment in Alpine Racing
- AO World plc on its take private of musicMagpie plc
- Elliott Investment Management L.P. and its affiliate, Evergreen Coast Capital Corporation on the acquisition of Nielsen Holdings plc
- OceanSound Partners on the acquisition of SMX
- Lupa Systems (James Murdoch’s family office) on the acquisition of majority control of the parent company of the Tribeca Film Festival
- THG on various pre-IPO issuances to BlackRock, Merian and Sofina
- Terra Firma on the disposal of Odeon and UCI Cinemas Group to AMC Entertainment Holdings
- Platinum Equity on its acquisition of Euro Parking Collection
- The Stars Group on its acquisition of Sky Betting and Gaming from CVC, Sky and management
- William Hill plc on its investment in NeoGames
Selected capital markets experience includes advising:
- the underwriters on THG’s £5.4 billion London listing and IPO
- AO World plc on its capital raise by way of cash box placing
- Forterra plc on its £400 million London listing and IPO
- the underwriters on J2 Acquisition’s $1.12 billion London listing and IPO
- the underwriters on Ocelot’s $425 million London listing and IPO
Capabilities
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Betting and Gaming
- Business Restructuring and Reorganization
- Capital Markets
- ESG: Risk, Litigation, and Reporting
- Private Equity
- Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance
Credentials
Education:
- University of Cambridge - 2013 Master of Arts
- University of Law, London Moorgate - 2011 Legal Practice Course
Admissions:
- England & Wales - Solicitor