Linklaters, Ashurst and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher have all landed roles on Japanese electronics company Brother Industries’ acquisition of UK technology company Domino Printing Sciences for £1.03bn.
Under the terms of the offer, the FTSE 250 firm Domino will receive a total of 915 pence in cash for each Domino share held, giving it a total value of £1.03bn – a 26.9% premium to yesterday’s closing price. Citibank is providing a £1.07bn bridging facility to help the Japanese company finance the deal.
Brother Industries’ turned to long-standing advisor Linklaters with corporate partner David Holdsworth leading, while Domino – the developer of inkjet printing and laser printing products – turned to Ashurst’s corporate department, with partner Adrian Clark heading up a team which included competition partner Ross Mackenzie, tax partner Alex Cox and the firm’s head of employee benefits and incentives Paul Randall. Gibson Dunn corporate partner Jonathan Earle provided counsel to Citibank on the cash confirmation aspect of the deal.
The deal continued Linklaters run of success with large acquisitions by Japanese corporates, having also previously acted on the two other public bids made since 2010 which have been over the billion-pound mark in London.
Linklaters’ Holdsworth also led a team advising on Japanese ad giant Dentsu’s acquisition of marketing group Aegis for £3.2bn in 2012 while corporate partner Shane Griffin led on Japanese communications firm NTT’s takeover of Cisco powerhouse Dimension Data for £2.1bn in 2010.
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
