HSF and CMS plug in for BP's acquisition of UK's biggest electric car charging network

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and CMS have advised BP on its acquisition of the UK’s biggest electric car charging network. Chargemaster, which was founded in 2008, manufactures and maintains electrical charging units, as well as operating 6,500 charging points at 1,200 petrol stations across the UK. BP said in a statement that it estimates there will be 12 million electric vehicles on UK roads by 2020, up from around 135,000 in 2017. Chargemaster will be rebranded as BP Chargemaster when the deal, which is reportedly worth around £130m, is completed. The HSF team, led by corporate partners Mark Bardell and Stephen Wilkinson, worked alongside a CMS team led by corporate partner Jonathan Woolf. Chargemaster was advised by City law firm McCarthy Denning, with a team led by corporate lawyer Richard Jordan. HSF's Bardell advised also recently advised Sky on the sale of its 20% stake in Sky Bet to Canadian betting company Stars Group, as well as joining forces with Wilkinson to advise Sky when it was bid for by US cable operator Comcast. HSF and CMS were among 18 law firms appointed by BP to its new panel last December, alongside Addleshaw Goddard, Ashurst, Baker McKenzie, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, HFW, Linklaters, Norton Rose Fulbright, Pinsent Masons, Simmons & Simmons and Three Crowns. Atma Partners, Dentons, Euclid, Hill Dickinson, Hogan Lovells and PwC Legal were added to the roster, which went live in January 2018 and will be in place for three years.