Martin is a leading Silk for company law litigation and advice, corporate finance, financial services, and insolvency.
He has particular expertise in large-scale, complex corporate transactions and reorganisations (including takeovers and mergers), schemes of arrangement, and schemes for the transfer of insurance and banking business (Part VII transfers).
020 7242 5532
Martin is immensely clever and very incisive. He gets to the heart of the matter and delivers commercial advice. Legal 500 UK Bar 2025
Martin is a pragmatic, highly commercial barrister, who is able to assimilate things quickly. He is a man with an illustrious name, who is pragmatic and great at divining the right way forward. Chambers & Partners UK Bar 2025 - Company
Martin is highly intelligent and can process at frightening speeds. He is also excellent at articulating this in court. Chambers & Partners UK Bar 2025 - Insurance
Martin has acted for the following:
Sky on its acquisition by ComCast.
SAB Miller on its acquisition by AB InBev.
Liberty Global as bidder for Cable and Wireless.
Home Retail Group on its acquisition by Sainsbury’s.
In the matter of Dee Valley Group Plc – Martin acted for Severn Trent Water Limited, the bidder in a take-over scheme of arrangement.
SAB Miller on its proposed takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Friends Life’s acquisition by Aviva plc.
Bid for Songbird Estates.
Cross-border merger of International Game Technology Inc and GTech S.p.A.
Invensys plc on its acquisition by Schneider Electric Ltd.
A significant shareholder in Bumi Resources plc.
Verizon Inc on its $130bn transaction with Vodafone.
Glencore International plc on its controversial acquisition of Xstrata plc.
William Hill plc on its acquisition of Sportingbet plc.
Dentsu on its acquisition of Aegis plc.
Cookson Group plc on its demerger.
Britvic plc on its aborted reverse takeover by AG Barr plc.
VT Group plc on its acquisition by Babcock International plc.
Liberty International plc on its demerger.
Prudential plc in connection with the attempted acquisition of AIA Asia.
Kraft Foods Inc on its acquisition of Cadbury plc.
BA plc on its merger with Iberia.
Martin has been instructed by nearly all the major UK banks in relation to the ring-fencing requirements introduced by the Banking Reform Act 2013.
Having successfully completed ring-fencing, he is now advising many major banks on executing their Brexit strategies, including Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citibank, HSBC, JP Morgan and UBS. He is also advising major insurance companies on similar issues including AIG Europe and Hiscox Insurance.
Martin is considered the go-to Silk for Part VII transfers. He has advised and appeared on:
The managed separation of the Old Mutual Group, through two schemes of arrangement, a demerger and an IPO.
The demutualisation of Reliance Mutual Insurance.
The rationalisation of the Phoenix Group.
The integration by Royal London of the long-term business of Co-operative Insurance Society.
The domestication of the Hong Kong branch of the Prudential.
The acquisition by Barclays Bank plc of ING Direct.
The rationalisation of the European businesses of Met Life following its acquisition of AIG.
The sale of Egg Bank to the Yorkshire Building Society.
The rationalization of the Royal & Sun Alliance’s general insurance carriers.
Internal reorganisations for Zurich.
The innovative reattribution of the £1.2bn of its inherited estate undertaken by the Aviva group of companies.
The transfer to Santander UK plc of the deposit taking and mortgage lending business of Alliance & Leicester plc.
The transfer to Banco Halifax Hispania of the Spanish branch of Lloyds TSB Bank.
The transfer of the with-profit and non-profit annuity businesses of the Equitable Life Assurance Society to, respectively, the Prudential and Canada Life.
The transfer of the deposit taking and mortgage lending business of Cheltenham & Gloucester plc to Lloyds TSB plc.
The transfer out of Society of Lloyds of the business of Highway Insurance.
The transfer of all Swiss Re’s United Kingdom business to a Luxembourg entity and the creation of a UK registered Societas Europaea, believed to be a first.
The transfer of all the United Kingdom custodian and corporate trust business of J.P. Morgan to the Bank of New York.
The Resolution Life group of companies’ reorganisation of their long-term insurance business.
Martin has written two opinions for the Financial Reporting Council which are publicly available. The first entitled The True and Fair Requirement Revisited which considered the impact of European legislation and international accounting standards on the true and fair requirements. The second entitled International Accounting Standards and Its True and Fair View. Martin advises the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales on technical issues arising from the interaction of accounting matters and company law. He advised on TECH 02/10 on realised profits and continues to advise on other guidance issued to the accountancy profession.
Martin has been involved in advising on numerous issues arising from the near collapse of the banking system in 2008 including advising the Royal Bank of Scotland plc in relation to the adjustment of the pension arrangements for its former chief executive.
COMBAR
Chancery Bar Association
South Eastern Circuit
Ranked in Chambers and Partners (Company and Insurance) and Legal 500 (Company & Partnership, Banking & Finance, Insurance & Reinsurance and Insolvency)
“An adviser of the highest quality on company matters, who is regularly instructed on some of the largest and most complicated takeovers and transactions.”
“Accessible, direct and creative.”
“The only QC I would trust to recommend to my clients when it comes to complex part VII business transfers, his experience and pragmatism on such transfers is invaluable.”
“He has a deep understanding of both the insurance sector and wider financial services regulation that few, if any, of his peers can match.”
“He is thoughtful; a very effective advocate.”
“He is highly dependable, innovative, responsive and always willing to provide a route through difficult answers.”
“The guru of Part VII transfers.” “Martin has a great combination of technical expertise, encyclopedic knowledge and commercial pragmatism.”
“He is a go-to silk for complicated insurance and reinsurance transactions.”
“He is accessible, willing to make himself available, direct when required and creative when appropriate.”
“He’s very sharp-witted and knowledgeable, and the clarity of his advice is excellent. He understands clients and what they are looking to achieve.”
“Fabulous to work with. He’s the first call for Part VII and insurance regulatory advice. Clients trust in him and he always provides excellent service.” “A very smooth operator who is very impressive in court. He is bright and commercial.”
“Offers a great combination of technical expertise, encyclopaedic knowledge and commercial pragmatism. He is also extremely approachable.”
“Highly dependable, incredibly responsive and always willing to provide a route through difficult problems.”
“He provides robust support and is willing to engage on matters raised by the regulator in a firm but sensible manner.”
“He is responsive, commercial and a pleasure to deal with.”
“He’s very good at putting complicated advice in context and packaging it for clients in ways that they can follow.”
“He combines a pragmatic approach with great analytical skills.”
“Particularly recommended for advice on takeover schemes.”
“He provides clear and well-reasoned advice, and is a pleasure to deal with.”
“Pragmatic, service oriented, brilliantly analytical and flexible.”
Martin Moore QC is seen to be “very user-friendly” and to have “a market-leading reputation which is more than justified” and praised for being “polite and where occasion demands it, firm.”
“He is good at managing expectations and gives extremely clear explanations.”
Legal 500 UK Bar 2025 –
Company, Banking & Finance,Insurance & Reinsurance
Chambers & Partners UK Bar 2025 –
Company, Insurance
Who's Who Legal 2024 –
UK Bar - Banking & Finance , UK Bar - Company & Partnership, UK Bar - Insurance & Reinsurance
IsZo Capital LP v Nam Tai Property Inc BVIHC (COM) 2020/0165
Read article
“LOYALTY SHARES” AND WEIGHTED VOTING RIGHTS IN COMPANIES FORMED AND REGISTERED UNDER THE COMPANIES ACTS
Read article
DEE VALLEY GROUP PLC
Read article
