Simon Allport is a partner in Bird & Bird's international corporate group and heads up the firm's international public securities practice.  Based in London, Simon advises on a wide range of public and private M&A transactions and equity capital markets transactions.  He is an expert on the UK's Takeover Code, having spent 2 years working at the Takeover Panel, the UK's regulator of public takeovers.  He is editor of the Takeovers chapters of Tolley's Company Law Handbook.

Simon acts for both corporates and financial advisers on a wide range of corporate, company law and regulatory matters.  He regularly advises clients in the financial services, life sciences and media sectors.

Simon is acknowledged as a leading individual for Corporate Finance work by Chambers & Partners.  He joined Bird & Bird in 2006.