James Williams

Significant Experience

• Regional and Local Government
• Advising Welsh Government in relation to a number of commercial projects such as proposed merger of seven Careers Wales companies and considering all options for the future delivery of careers services in Wales including the establishment of a company limited by guarantee wholly-owned by the Welsh Ministers.
• Advising a consortium of three Welsh local authorities (Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC, Bridgend CBC and Merthyr Tydfil CBC) on the corporate aspects of a collaborative joint venture to establish a jointly owned special purpose vehicle, to deliver engineering services to the three councils and also to grow the business and realise income. After following the Competitive Dialogue process, Capita was chosen as the private sector partner in a 10 to 15 year, c.£75 million deal. The project also involved a transfer of the business and assets (including a TUPE transfer of c.90 staff.) to the SPV and negotiating the joint venture agreement and articles of association with three bidders.
• Advising Welsh Government on the establishment of a wholly-owned subsidiary company owned by Welsh Ministers to take-over ownership of three manufacturing related fora in the aerospace, automotive and electronics/technology sectors.Advising Welsh Government in connection with the establishment of a Wales Life Sciences Hub Company designed to connect and concentrate Life Sciences in Wales and attract new opportunities and investment to Wales. This involved advising on structure, implementing the agreed structure, which was a company limited by guarantee wholly-owned by Welsh Ministers and preparing the constitutional and governance framework agreements.
• Private Sector
• Advising DHAIS plc in connection with a broad range of acquisitions in the mobility care and hearing aid sectors.Advising Personnel Hygiene Services Limited in connection with a number of acquisitions across the service industry sector, mainly washrooms and waste disposal.
• Acting for a social enterprise trading subsidiary of a charitable trust company in connection with various acquisitions of similar not for profit organisations offering education and training opportunities to young people in Wales.
• Acting for St. John Ambulance, the UK’s leading first aid charity, in relation to a group restructuring in South Wales.Acting for Reflex Holdings Limited in connection with a complex reorganisation of its subsidiary company, Integra Office Solutions Limited, a bulk purchasing group for stationery suppliers and retailers.
• Acting for The Alwaysbemobile Company N.V. in relation to establishing a joint venture business providing vehicle fleet management services to private fleet owners and vehicle leasing companies which included incorporating the joint venture company and preparing and finalising the constitutional agreements.
• Advising the Association of Electricity Producers on its merger with the Energy Retail Association and The UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy.
• Acting for the shareholders of Cardiff Bioanalytical Services Limited in connection with the sale of the entire issued share capital of the company to LGC Limited, an international life sciences measurement and testing company.  The business provided and operated PT schemes for monitoring drug assays in serum, toxicological investigations, drugs of abuse testing in urine and similar and associated activities.