Matthew Parker KC success in defeating a claim for corporate finance advisory fees

Matthew Parker KC acted for the AA in defending a claim for £4.8m brought by a firm of corporate finance advisers in respect of work done in connection with the potential M&A activity: Fenchurch Advisory Partners LLP v AA Ltd [2023] EWHC 108 (Comm).

The Deputy Judge, Sean O’Sullivan KC, dismissed the claim for a ‘success fee’ on the basis that there was no contract between the parties and, in any event, that the trigger for the payment of the fee had never arisen.  He awarded the Claimant £350,000 on the basis of unjust enrichment, which sum the AA had offered to pay prior to the commencement of the proceedings.  In doing so, the Deputy Judge considered the proper approach to valuing the benefit of services provided, in circumstances where the fee that would have been payable for such services would have been contingent upon a successful transaction taking place (which never, in fact, occurred).

Matthew was instructed by Charlotte Henschen of Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP.