Annual review 2020: London lockdown

In the past year, partner Jakob Hans Johansen — head of Kromann Reumert’s UK office — has only rarely stepped into the elevator at the office adjoining London’s majestic St. Paul’s Cathedral. These days a homemade platter of (imported) Danish rye bread topped with salami and the on-screen presence of a colleague or business associate have replaced the once frequent lunch and afternoon tea meetings.

The close contact previously so important to Jakob’s and our other UK lawyers’ normal interaction with clients and contacts is now missing.

"The lockdown is felt even more here than in Denmark, simply because the personal meeting is such a vital part of our culture, especially working in a world city like London. This makes the contrast that much bigger — the London of today is a ghost town compared to how it was before,” says Jakob.

Business, almost, as usual

Despite expectations of a downturn in the level of activities, after a period adjusting to new physical surroundings and virtual meetings Jakob and his team of four-to-five lawyers have had their hands full.

“People quickly shifted to conducting their business online. M&A has been flourishing, and we’ve been every bit as busy this year as we were the year before helping Danish and foreign clients with their investment plans in Denmark and abroad,” says Jakob. He believes the activity in 2020 was fuelled by other factors, though:

“After the initial—understandable—hesitation when the lockdown was first announced, we’re now seeing, particularly in the private equity area, a built-up urge to put investment capital to work. Investments are crucial to that industry. Also, many corporates have used the fact that prices have stayed high in certain industries to successfully divest non-core activities.”

The UK media, long totally dominated by news and speculations about Brexit, are now predominantly concerned with the coronavirus. When the whole COVID-19 situation is behind us, Jakob believes we will be seeing something similar to a return to normal in London:

"I expect there will be a sort of ketchup effect of people eager to resume relations when, hopefully, society begins to open up again sometime in 2021. Also, we mustn’t forget that Brexit has left the UK with a new reality that everyone—in the UK and outside—will have to get used to, and where rules and regulations have yet to fully emerge and may ultimately prove to be suddenly quite different,” he says, adding that:

"No one can say what will happen, and that leaves Danish export businesses and many UK enterprises, too, facing an uncertain future. 2021 will be marked by this, for private and professional purposes alike. Still, we believe there will be good reason to stay close to international investors in London with an interest in Denmark for some time to come. I am not seeing any obvious contenders for London’s position as a centre of international business," says Jakob.

The article was first published in our 2020 annual review. Read the whole publication.