Navigating International M&A Disputes: Insights and Strategies for 2025

On 4 June 2025, Charles Russell Speechlys welcomed the return of London International Disputes Week by hosting an insightful seminar: Navigating International M&A Disputes: Insights and Strategies for 2025.

Senior dispute practitioners from Charles Russell Speechlys, Stephen Burns, Gareth Mills and Stephen Chan were joined by Susan Blower of Ankura and Alastair Tomson of 4 Stone Buildings. Collectively, they shared their insights and strategies for approaching international M&A disputes.

Following opening remarks by Stephens Burns, Commercial Litigation Partner at Charles Russell Speechlys, the panel delved into a discussion of geopolitical factors and trends that are contributing to the growing risks of disputes.

• Susan Blower, a Senior Managing Director at Ankura and forensic accountant, began by sharing her experiences on the optimal timing for introducing and instructing legal experts in upcoming deals. She emphasised the importance of engaging legal experts early in the process to assist with reviewing agreements, examining financial clauses and definitions, and ensuring clarity in the terms. She noted that having experts involved during the pleadings, disclosure and trial preparation phases of a dispute can be highly beneficial. In international disputes, it is crucial for legal advisors to ensure that all experts adopt a unified approach. Susan also emphasised that when quantifying the counterfactual, it is crucial for experts to understand the complete narrative and to consider financial disclosure at an early stage, particularly in less tangible claims such as for loss of reputation. 
• Stephen Chan, a partner at Charles Russell Speechlys based in Hong Kong, offered valuable insights into managing client expectations in his jurisdiction. He focused on the efficiency of domestic courts and arbitration in China, where disputes are typically resolved within 6 to 12 months - a stark contrast to the timing uncertainties experienced in the Hong Kong forum, which leads clients to prioritise financial certainty over duration demands. Interestingly, he highlighted a shift in client preferences towards fixed fees rather than hourly rates, prompting changes in the Hong Kong insurance market.  A recent trend is that clients are opting for insurance policies such as WIP insurance, which share risk among all parties rather than solely the client or a private funder.
• Gareth Mills, a partner at Charles Russell Speechlys in London, elaborated on his experiences with M&A disputes in the Middle East. He discussed the increasing diversification of economies and business structures in the region, noting a shift from traditional oil and gas to growing investments in areas such as cryptocurrency. The choice of law and forum is becoming increasingly significant. He emphasised the importance of closer collaboration between contentious and non-contentious teams throughout the M&A process, rather than waiting for a dispute to arise.
• Alastair Tomson, a barrister with a wealth of experience in the banking and finance sector and working in the Middle East, commented on key developments in the increasing use of arbitration across different sectors. While specialist arbitral bodies were originally more prevalent for sports disputes, he explained that in the last five years more international arbitration centres have been established, including the Singapore International Arbitration Centre specialising in insolvency disputes and Prime Finance, a specialist arbitration body for banking and financial markets disputes. Attending the seminar remotely from Dubai, Alastair emphasised the DIFC’s importance as an international centre for arbitration and as a global hub for the digital economy.

In the Q&A that followed, a question was raised on what is the most suitable and protective jurisdiction to include in M&A contracts. The panel acknowledged that relying solely on standard boilerplate clauses may not always serve the best interests of the parties involved. Instead, they emphasised the importance of tailoring M&A contracts to reflect the specific circumstances and geographical locations of the parties, thereby ensuring a more robust and effective legal framework.

The event was very well attended, with a packed room of practitioners across various specialisms, as well as many others joining from around the world online, and feedback was extremely positive. Thank you to all involved in organising such a successful event.