Karishma Naravane (nee Kakkar)

Karishma has several years’ experience in advising companies, partnerships and financial institutions on a range of transactions like acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures, capital raising, corporate structuring and in providing general corporate advice.

Prior to joining Ignition in 2022, Karishma worked at Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy’s corporate practice for many years in London. She has also undertaken a couple of secondments to Nationwide Building Society and spent time at A&O’s Dubai office on secondment.

Karishma acts for both buyers and sellers on domestic and cross-border M&A transactions and has experience of advising entrepreneurs, investors and companies on fund-raising rounds. Her experience ranges across various sectors – technology, healthcare, travel, financial services and retail.

She has a keen interest in mentorship and diversity & inclusion, and is currently on the board of governors at Caterham High School.

Relevant experience includes:

• Advising a unicorn investor into one of UK’s largest crowdfunding platform during a fund-raising round.
• Advising a scale-up Fintech company on its series B round of capital raising in preparation for a potential acquisition.
• Representing a large number of entities on their acquisitions or disposals by way of share, business or asset transfers (or a combination of these).
• Advising on the international aspects of M&A transactions and co-ordinating their implementation into a large number of jurisdictions.
• Advising a large multi-national company on its three-way merger to form a new company to lead on its UK and European operations.
• Representing a consortium of lenders in the restructuring of a large retail company to form a new group owned by the lenders.
• Advising a number of UK and non-UK companies on UK law requirements in relation to setting up, internal transfers or dissolution of their UK subsidiaries, as well as matters related to their share capital and distributable reserves (e.g., implementing reduction of capital processes).
• Advising a number of companies and banks on their cross-border mergers under the EU cross-border merger regime.
• General corporate advice to a number of companies on corporate, governance and company law and secretarial matters.