Legal Business

Dealwatch: Freshfields and Mayer Brown win roles on Blackstone’s Centre Parcs sale

Posted on |
Corporate Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerMayer BrownTravers Smith
legal-business-default

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Mayer Brown have won key spots on Blackstone’s sale of a majority stake in Centre Parcs UK to Brookfield Property Partners after the holiday-village operator had looked at carrying out an initial public offering (IPO).

The deal, which is reportedly worth around £2.4bn, saw Freshfields act for the leisure company’s owners Blackstone with a team led by corporate partner David Higgins and including Alex Watt on real estate, tax specialist Jill Gatehouse, pensions and employment partner Nick Squire and competition partner Winfred Knibbeler.

The Magic Circle firm also advised on financing with US securities partner Simone Bono and structured finance specialist Marcus Mackenzie leading. The duo previously advised RBS on a whole business securitisation for Centre Parcs which refinanced the company’s existing debt and raised funding for its Woburn village. Centre Parcs currently operates five destinations around the UK and is separate from the European brand.

Mayer Brown took the role advising the buyers, Canadian funds manager Brookfield, with a team led by corporate and securities partner Jeremy Kenley and including corporate duo Tim Nosworthy and Kate Ball-Dodd, tax partner Sandy Bhogal, real estate partners Jeremy Clay and Andrew Hepner, and environment and planning partner Michael Hutchinson.

The sale saw management retain a stake in the business with Travers Smith advising led by senior partner Chris Hale with support from Travers’ head of tax Kathleen Russ while, on the company’s aborted IPO process, corporate finance partner Adrian West took the lead.

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Mayer Brown teams up with ULaw to launch first ‘direct to solicitor’ apprenticeship

Posted on |
Education Mayer Brown
legal-business-default

Mayer Brown has announced that it will be the first City law firm to offer the University of Law’s (ULaw) Articled Apprenticeship scheme, which enables candidates to obtain a degree, postgraduate qualification and the recognised training required for full solicitor status.

The scheme provides school leavers who want to pursue a career in law with an alternative route to qualification and sidesteps the need to commit to full-time study. The scheme is also targeted at promoting greater access to and diversity within the legal profession.

The six-year programme will comprise a four-year part-time degree in law followed by completion of the Legal Practice Course and Professional Skills Course. From the third year of the apprenticeship, work undertaken will count towards the compulsory period of recognised training required by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Candidates, which are currently being recruited for the scheme with the first apprentices to start in September 2015, will study part-time at ULaw while also being employed by Mayer Brown across a number of practice areas in the firm’s London office.

Commenting on the scheme, Annette Sheridan, global chief HR officer at Mayer Brown, said: ‘We have been working hard to introduce a programme that will nurture the talent of people who feel the traditional route to being a solicitor isn’t a viable option for them. We are therefore delighted to launch this apprenticeship with the University of Law and look forward to welcoming our first apprentice.’

John Latham, chief executive and president of ULaw, said: ‘We are delighted that Mayer Brown, one of the world’s major law firms, is embarking on this partnership with ULaw to provide Articled Apprenticeships for school leavers. This new six-year route to qualification as a solicitor gives employers a ground-breaking way to attract and nurture talent.’

Earlier this year, Reed Smith partnered with Queen Mary University on a four-year LLB which included a sandwich year spent at the US firm. Five students are initially being guaranteed a place for 2016-17 with that number expected to rise to 10 in 2017-18.

Michelle.warner@legalease.co.uk

This article first appeared on Legal Business’ sister website The Lex 100.

Legal Business

Competing moves: Mayer Brown hires BLP’s competition head as CMA recruits from Freshfields

Posted on |
Strategic recruitment Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerMayer Brown
legal-business-default

Mayer Brown has hired Berwin Leighton Paisner’s (BLP) head of EU and competition, David Harrison, ten years after he joined the firm from Allen & Overy (A&O) to help start the stand-alone group. Meanwhile, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer City antitrust partner Andrea Gomes da Silva is leaving the firm after 14 years to join the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Gomes da Silva will join the CMA as its senior legal director in July 2015. Having been seconded to the UK’s Office of Fair Trading, she was part of the team that set up the body in 2013/14 and led on creating guidance for business regarding its new legal powers. She was also part of Freshfields’ Brazil strategy group.

Gomes da Silva became a partner in Freshfields’ global antitrust, competition and trade group in 2008, after serving as an associate for seven years from 2001. Before this, she was an assistant at Slaughter and May for two years, having trained there from 1997 to 1999. At the CMA, she will report into general counsel Sarah Cardell.

Meanwhile, Mayer Brown has bolstered its antitrust and competition practice in London, hiring BLP’s head of EU and competition, David Harrison. He will co-lead the European antitrust and competition team at Mayer Brown, alongside Brussels-based Jens Peter Schmidt, as the firm aims to grow its antirust offering across Europe. Harrison will also become one of the group leaders of the wider global antitrust practice.

He had been a partner and head of BLP’s EU and competition team since 2005, after he was hired in to establish BLP’s antitrust offering as a stand-alone competition practice from A&O – Andrew Hockley has already been appointed to take over as head of the group at BLP from tomorrow (1 May). At A&O he had been a partner from 1998-2005 and spent ten years in the firm’s Brussels office.

Mayer Brown disputes leader David Allen said: ‘David is a considerably accomplished and experienced competition lawyer and his arrival will strengthen our ability to provide clients will the very best legal advice in this area. His appointment also signals an important step in our long term plans to further integrate our antitrust and competition capabilities across Europe.’

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Targeting Paris: Mayer Brown boosts its French corporate team with Davis Polk’s Pérès

Posted on |
Strategic recruitment Mayer Brown
legal-business-default

Mayer Brown has bolstered its European corporate team with the hire of two former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer lawyers, including one from Davis Polk & Wardwell, to its corporate and securities practice in Paris.

Both partners will officially join Mayer Brown on 1 April. Corporate partner Arnaud Pérès joins from Davis Polk having been a partner there for almost a decade. He joined the firm in August 2005, becoming its first French partner and first partner to practice the law of a country outside of the United States. Before Davis Polk, he worked at Magic Circle firm Freshfields for fifteen years having joined in 1990 as an associate and being made up to partner in 1999.

Alongside Pérès, corporate partner Jean-François Louit joins from French corporate boutique Scotto & Associés, where he was head of the corporate M&A practice. Like Pérès, Louit has also worked at both Davis Polk and Freshfields as a lawyer.

Pérès has a substantial client list having acted for Carrefour on the total sale of its operations in Greece in 2012, EDF on an over €3bn offer for the publicly held share capital of EDF Energies Nouvelles, and French multi-national Eramet on its €400m private placement of bonds and their listing on Euronext Paris in 2013. His main experience is advising clients in public and private M&A, equity capital markets and complex cross-border restructurings but has also worked on corporate governance and management incentive schemes. He is also a member of the Issuer Commission of the French Market Authority.

‘Arnaud and Jean-François are highly regarded in each of their fields of expertise and we are delighted to welcome them both,’ said Jean-Philippe Lambert, a member of Mayer Brown’s global management committee. ‘Their combined skill set in M&A and capital markets strategically complements our existing platform both in Paris and globally.’

In the City, Mayer Brown recently hired DLA Piper’s structured trade and receivables finance head Alex Dell as it eyed an increase in cross-border asset-based lending throughout Europe.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Launching in Mexico City: Mayer Brown plans new oil and gas outpost

Posted on |
Latin America Mayer Brown
legal-business-default

Mayer Brown is looking to become the latest law firm to try and capitalise on Mexico’s liberalising economy, chasing oil and gas work with a new office in Mexico City and the hire of ExxonMobil’s in-house counsel for Latin America.

The representative office, which will launch subject to Mexican legal and regulatory requirements, will focus on serving clients operating and investing in the oil, gas and power industries in the country. The decision to launch follows Mexico’s energy reforms, which include opening up the sector to foreign companies, as Mayer Brown looks to develop its energy capabilities across the region. The new base will complement the firm’s oil and gas practice group and work closely with its existing practice in Houston.

The firm has hired Francisco Mendez as a partner in its global energy practice in Houston to help lead the push into Mexico. Mendez was most recently in-house counsel for Latin America at ExxonMobil Corporation where he worked for the last 20 years and most recently advised the US oil and gas giant on the opening of the Mexican oil and gas sector to the private sector. He has also been involved in the formation of the Mexican Hydrocarbons Association, the first association for the industry in Mexico, and has provided counsel on upstream and downstream projects in Latin America.

‘For the first time in 75 years, Mexico’s oil and gas sector is open to private investment. Francisco will bolster Mayer Brown’s ability to advise oil and gas and energy services companies from around the world who are seeking guidance on how to invest in this new market,’ said Houston partner Dallas Parker, leader of Mayer Brown’s Mexico energy reform initiative. ‘If we are successful in securing regulatory approval to open a new office in Mexico City, we will look to Francisco to play a key role in our continued focus on Mexico as part of our established team of international energy lawyers who are knowledge leaders in Mexico oil, gas and power matters.’

Mexico has seen growing interest from Global 100 firms after President Nieto’s push to deregulate many of the countries industries and open up to greater foreign investment. Hogan Lovells tied up with leading Mexican firm Barrera, Siqueiros y Torres Landa in July last year while DLA Piper announced a combination with local firm Gallástegui y Lozano in October.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

World’s largest airport operator: Mayer Brown and Davis Polk help Spain’s €4.3bn AENA float take-off

Posted on |
Corporate Davis Polk & WardwellMayer Brown
legal-business-default

Mayer Brown and Davis Polk & Wardwell have won roles advising Spanish airport operator Aena (Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea) on its €4.3bn float on the Madrid Stock Exchange.

The Spanish government sold its 49% stake in Aena, the world’s largest airport operator with some 47 airports worldwide, to raise €4.3bn, giving the group a total equity value of up to €8.7bn.

Mayer Brown’s London based banking and finance partner Robert Flanigan advised Aena alongside partner George Baptista out of New York, while local firm Pérez-Llorca’s capital markets head Vicente Conde also advised the airports operator.

Madrid-based corporate partner Michael Willisch at Davis Polk advised the underwriters including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch while Uría Menéndez corporate partner Alfonso Ventoso also acted for the underwriters.

In what is the largest floatation on the Madrid stock market since the onset of the financial crisis, the initial public offering (IPO) has shown signs of a sustained economic recovery in Spain.

The group had originally intended to float in the fourth quarter of 2014, however the IPO was put on hold after the Spanish government decided to re-appoint an auditor through a public tender process. Following the procurement process the auditor was switched from PwC to Ernst & Young (EY) with the delay working well for the government which at the end of 2014 was expecting to raise around €3.8bn.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

US results round up: Cooley sees 19% turnover jump as Mayer Brown PEP grows 12.8%

Posted on |
Financial results 2014 Mayer Brown
legal-business-default

In the latest round of 2014 financial results for US firms, Cooley has revealed turnover growth of 19% with revenues of $802m while Mayer Brown recorded a 12.8% increase in profit per equity partner (PEP) after generating revenues of $1.223bn.

Cooley’s 19% jump in revenue to $802m from $674m in 2013 sees the firm’s five year performance showing turnover boosted by 55%. The increased revenues come off the back of a 12% increase in headcount in 2014 to just over 750 lawyers and which resulted in revenue per lawyer increasing 6% from $1m to $1.06m. Profit per partner came in at $1.74m, an 11% increase on 2013’s $1.57m.

The firm’s strong performance comes after it acquired Washington DC firm Dow Lohnes at the start of 2014 but does not include its recently launched London office which went live last month with the hire of teams from Morrison & Foerster and Edwards Wildman Palmer.

Meanwhile, Mayer Brown also saw a good year with turnover picking up 6.7% to $1.223bn in 2014, from $1.146bn generated the previous year. The boost saw revenue per lawyer also tick up by 5.7% from $780,000 to $824,000.

The revenue boost translated into a profit of $405.5m, up 17.4% from $345m in 2013, while PEP increased to $1.45m from $1.28m in 2013.

Speaking to Legal Business, Sean Connolly, Mayer Brown’s senior partner in London, said the increase in profitability was in part down to a ‘focus on deepening our relationships with clients, expanding our global services ability and I think that leads you to a wider and deeper relationship with them.’

Mayer Brown recently hired DLA Piper’s head of structured trade and receivables financing Alex Dell as it looks to capitalise on growing cross-border asset-based lending throughout Europe.

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

For more analysis on the current state of the US market see: The blessed – unheralded, Wall Street’s elite comes roaring back

Legal Business

Trainee retention: Slaughter and May keeps on 88% of its spring 2015 qualifiers

Posted on |
Trainee retention Addleshaw GoddardMayer BrownSlaughter and May
legal-business-default

Slaughter and May has become the third Magic Circle firm to announce the retention level of its spring 2015 qualifying group, with 37 of the 42-strong intake set to remain at the firm.

The figure of 88% is Slaughters’ lowest retention score since also achieving the same mark in August 2013. That said, it is still an impressive score, and in-keeping with the firm’s consistently high performance. In the past four years, Slaughters’ rate of retention has ranged between 85% and 100%.

Slaughters’ score slots in between its two Magic Circle peers to have published their figures in recent days. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer retained 85% (41 of 48) of its spring qualifiers, while Allen & Overy fared better with a figure of 93% (43 of 46).

Elsewhere, two other firms with considerably smaller intakes have announced their spring retentions. Mayer Brown has five trainees qualifying in March 2015. Four of those applied for positions in the firm, with three of them being retained. Meanwhile Addleshaw Goddard will keep on two of its four qualifying trainees.

Daniel.coyne@legalease.co.uk

This article first appeared on the website of Lex 100, Legal Business’s sister publication.

Legal Business

Growing the team: Mayer Brown hires DLA Piper’s head of structured trade finance

Posted on |
Strategic recruitment DLA PiperMayer Brown
legal-business-default

Mayer Brown, as it eyes an increase in cross-border asset-based lending (ABL) throughout Europe, has boosted its City banking and finance team with the hire of Alex Dell, DLA Piper’s structured trade and receivables finance head.

The senior ABL partner Dell will join Mayer Brown’s 50-lawyer banking group as it boosts its City loan offering. Dell particularly focuses on large, highly structured receivables financing and ABL transactions with a cross-border element. His client base covers banks, financial institutions, sponsors and corporates, and includes HSBC, Barclays and GE Capital.

Some of Dell’s key work includes acting for Barclays on the $1.5bn commodity and receivables financing arrangements provided to Essar Oil Limited; and representing an international borrowing group on the $1.5bn syndicated ABL facilities led by JP Morgan Chase in favour of Office Depot group.

Dominic Griffiths, who was appointed co-global head of Mayer Brown’s banking and finance team last September, said that Dell was the perfect fit having acted for sponsors and private equity funds, as the firm increasingly works with clients outside of the traditional ABL space like Grovepoint Capital. ‘The advent of alternative credit providers and funds moving into asset based lending has increased the opportunities for advisers like Mayer Brown,’ he added.

Both DLA Piper and Mayer Brown are ranked tier one in The Legal 500 for ABL, while Dell was previously named a leading individual for his work within trade finance. ‘We already have a substantial structured finance team, and built up the capital markets team last year, so building our loans practice was the next thing to build a stronger offering for our clients,’ said Griffiths.

Dell leaves DLA Piper after eight years, during which he also headed the ABL team London, and is expected to join Mayer Brown within the next three months. His addition will take the number of ABL partners to six, within the wider 20-partner banking team.

Griffiths said: ‘We work a lot on large loan facilities with our Paris and Frankfurt offices, but also across the region and in Asia. US lenders are showing a particular interest in expanding their reach across Europe and Asia and the established European banks are looking at consolidation of trade finance, receivables and asset based lending to provide an expanded offering to their corporate customers.

‘I have known Alex for a number of years. He has a strong and impressive practice, which mirrors our own focus on providing the best legal advice to financial institutions and companies in their European and global strategies.’

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Dealwatch: Mayer Brown, Macfarlanes and Gateley act on City Link administration

Posted on |
Corporate GateleyMacfarlanesMayer Brown
legal-business-default

Mayer Brown, Macfarlanes and Gateley are all acting on the administration of parcel delivery company City Link following its collapse on Christmas Eve.

Macfarlanes is acting for the administrators from EY, Hunter Kelly, Charles King and Tom Lukic, who were appointed on 24 December 2014 with M&A and private equity partner Simon Perry, restructuring and finance partner Jat Bains and senior counsel and head of insolvency Simon Beale leading. The firm also acted for Better Capital, which owns the Coventry-based company, on EY’s appointment.

Better Capital took the decision to place City Link into administration after having written down its £40m investment by 50% to £20m. City Link has been operating as a delivery company across the UK and Ireland for over 40 years, with an annual revenue of around £300m. According to its website, it has a fleet of 1,700 collection and delivery vehicles, with a national network of over 50 corporately owned depots.

Mayer Brown and Gateley advised City Link companies prior to the administration, with corporate restructuring partner Brendan McGeever leading for Gateley, along with insolvency and restructuring partner Daniel French. Meanwhile, Devi Shah, joint head of restructuring, bankruptcy and insolvency group in London led for Mayer Brown.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk