Elinor Owen

Elinor is a partner in Clarke Willmott’s Corporate and Commercial team. She has over a decade of experience advising on complex domestic and international corporate transactions, specialising in M&A and Venture Capital with a focus on digital innovation and technology.

She works closely with investors, management teams and startups to navigate complex transactions, providing clear and pragmatic advice throughout the deal lifecycle. She is particularly motivated by supporting ventures that are not only commercially successful but also deliver positive environmental and social impact.

Elinor has a strong interest in sustainable and growth investing, and in the transformative potential of climatetech and proptech. Her expertise lies in advising on strategic investments that drive innovation and promote sustainability across the technology and real estate sectors.

She also brings valuable in‑house experience, having been seconded to global telecoms and real estate businesses. These roles gave her first‑hand insight into the day‑to‑day pressures faced by clients and shaped her approach to delivering advice that is concise, commercial and aligned with broader business objectives.

Elinor advises on buy‑side and sell‑side M&A transactions and venture capital investments, acting for both investors and investee companies. Her experience covers transactions typically ranging from £2m to £300m.

A core focus of her practice is impact investing, supporting investors and businesses that seek to generate measurable social and environmental outcomes alongside sustainable financial performance.

How Elinor can help you

Elinor advises investors, management teams and high‑growth businesses on M&A and venture capital transactions focused on sustainable and impact‑driven growth, bringing a proven track record of leading high‑value cross‑border deals for multinational clients.

Her professional style combines technical precision with commercial pragmatism, ensuring her advice is not only legally robust but also strategically valuable. Clients value her clarity, responsiveness and composed approach, particularly when navigating complex or time‑critical transactions where sound judgement and creativity are essential.

She works closely with investors, founders and management teams on both M&A and venture capital transactions, with significant experience advising on sell‑side mandates. Elinor supports clients throughout the full transaction lifecycle, collaborating with corporate finance advisers, leading negotiations, coordinating multi‑party deal processes and successfully bringing transactions to completion. She regularly drafts and negotiates the full suite of transactional documentation involved in M&A processes, ensuring deals are executed efficiently and aligned with her clients’ commercial objectives.

Alongside her transactional work, Elinor advises innovative, high‑growth businesses on venture capital investments, where her ability to build trust and develop long‑term relationships with founders and investors plays a key role in delivering successful outcomes. This approach enables her to act as a genuine strategic partner to clients driving growth and change within their sectors.

She is also a trusted adviser to senior executive teams and boards, including those operating within regulated environments, providing ongoing support across a broad range of general corporate matters such as corporate governance.

Experience

Elinor’s experience includes drafting and negotiating investment documentation for both investors and investee companies, including term sheets, shareholder agreements, convertible loan notes and equity arrangements across Seed, Series A and later‑stage funding rounds.

• Advising the sellers of a South West headquartered EdTech business on it’s $57m disposal to a US private equity backed purchaser.
• Advised on a complex multi-jurisdictional €365m strategic acquisition by a listed distributor of a private equity backed UK headquartered group.
• Advising a leading global real estate investment manager on the disposal of a real estate SPV for £25m as part of a portfolio of disposals.
• Leading on a capital reduction demerger of a property development company with assets of £2.5m.
• Advising a leading global real estate investment manager on the disposal of a real estate SPV for £25m as part of a portfolio of disposals.
• Providing advice to a B2B FinTech focussed VC fund on its Series B investment in a digital payouts platform.
• Acting for an Impact Venture Fund on their participation in a Series D round of a UK headquartered financial wellbeing app.
• Acting for a major global systems supplier in the €12m Series A investment in a UK headquartered business with the option over the entire share capital of the business dependent on certain KPIs