Tom Hartwright

Partner

Tom is a partner in the Private Equity & Financial Sponsors Group.

Tom is a corporate partner, specialising in complex cross-border and domestic private equity and M&A transactions. His clients include international institutional investors, alternative asset managers, senior management teams, founders, corporates and investee companies.

Tom advises on a full range of transactions including leveraged buyouts, consortium deals, bolt-on acquisitions, carve-outs, co-investments, minority deals, recapitalisations, divestments, distressed M&A, public-to-privates, joint ventures, reorganisations and restructurings together with advising on general corporate matters.

Tom also advises the firm's global asset management clients on GP-stake transactions, GP succession planning (including restructuring ownership and governance arrangements) and structured secondary market liquidity solutions (including GP-led and LP-led secondary transactions).

Industry Recognition

Tom is ranked for Private Equity by Chambers and Partners 2026 and was previously ranked as an "Up and Coming" lawyer from 2023 - 2025.
Tom has been recognised as one of "Europe's Best Up-and-Coming Lawyers" and a Private Equity "Rising Star" by Law.com.

Other roles and background

Tom is a member of Travers Smith's Technology Sector Group with a focus on technology M&A and also devotes part of his time to Travers Smith's pioneering Legal Technology team, working alongside its software engineers to design more agile and efficient ways to deliver legal services.
Tom is a member of Travers Smith's NextGen International Board, responsible for developing its international network of law firms.

Selected deals

Delancey on the launch of AlbionArc Capital, a new specialist real estate credit strategy.

AEQUITA on the acquisition of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation's European petrochemicals business.

Merlin Entertainments on the sale of its LEGO and LEGOLAND Discovery Centres to the LEGO Group.

Mitsubishi Estate on its acquisition of a majority interest in Patron Capital.

Inflexion and 65 Equity Partners on their joint investment in Kee Safety.

Delancey on its partnership with long-income specialists to create Evermill Capital, a new investment manager specialising in asset-backed financing solutions.

ETC Group on its acquisition by Bitwise Asset Management, the largest crypto index fund manager in America.

Long Ridge Equity Partners on its investment in QX Global Group.

Inflexion and other shareholders on the sale of the Atcore group to Travelsoft.

Inflexion on its care-out investment in GlobalData plc's £1.1bn Healthcare data division.

Inflexion on its carve-out investment in Allen & Overy's legal and compliance data subscription platform, aosphere.

Inflexion on its acquisition of European treasury and cash management fintech Nomentia from PSG and Verdane.

Equistone Partners Europe on the sale of OneOcean.

The management team of Tes Global on the sale to Onex Partners.

Inflexion and other shareholders on the sale of Medivet to CVC Capital Partners.

TA Associates and management shareholders on the sale of a majority stake in ITRS Group.

Livingbridge and management shareholders on sale and reinvestment in Exclaimer.

Equistone and senior management shareholders on the sale of Winterbotham Darby to PAI Partners.

IK Investment Partners on the acquisition of Forthglade Foods.

Kester Capital and its portfolio company, Frontier Medical, on the sale of its Infection Prevention business in a carve-out to Vernacare, backed by H.I.G Capital.

Livingbridge and management shareholders on the sale of Sykes Holiday Cottages, the online holiday cottage rental agency, to Vitruvian Partners and the subsequent co-investment by Livingbridge.

Tom is truly exceptional. He is incredibly smart, hard-working and solution-oriented. He has loads of energy and an ability to make things happen in very compressed timelines.

Tom is very much a key trusted adviser. He is always on hand to support and guide when needed, and his advice is highly commercial.

Tom is quick-witted and charming, but don't let that distract you from his keen understanding of deal negotiations and the finer points of M&A.