Experience of two bruising merger bids in private practice proved a useful primer for James Retallack when he joined the board of takeover target Aggregate Industries, finds Caroline Hill
Aggregate Industries’ (AI’s) former legal and compliance director James Retallack knows a thing or two about mergers. In the glare of the public eye he guided Birmingham and London law firm Edge Ellison through the rocky aftermath of dramatically collapsed merger talks with then Pinsent Curtis (now Pinsent Masons) in 1997 and, after an oft-challenging three years, into a union with legacy Hammond Suddards. Only four years later, at major heavy building materials company AI, he was part of the board guiding the FTSE 250 company through a £1.8bn merger with Swiss-founded aggregate and cement giant Holcim.
