Deal announcements dropping into the Obiter inbox follow a pretty dry format: ‘Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel has advised widget-maker Acme Plc and its Colombian subsidiary Acme SA on the acquisition of Wodget KK of Japan.’

If you’re lucky, it will give a headline value of the deal (though not usually the legal costs) and name the lawyers involved. Some reward for weeks of going to the mattresses pursuing due diligence across half a dozen legal codes and time zones.   

So it was a pleasure last week to see Gateley’s press office sprinkle a little extra crackling on the announcement that it had advised on the sale of a controlling stake in the Peppa Pig brand. After the usual details there was space for enthusing about this ‘loveable, exuberant little piggy’.

Obiter especially enjoyed the nugget that Peppa’s favourite things include ‘playing games, dressing up, spending days outdoors, and jumping in muddy puddles’. Peppa’s adventures, it concludes, always end happily with loud snorts of laughter.

Do we detect a cry for help from a high-flying rainmaker who’d rather be at home with the kids?

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