Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer and Gibson Dunn have scored the lead roles in the latest take-private of a London-listed company, as US sponsor Veritas Capital agrees to acquire FTSE 250 industrials company Bodycote.
The board of Bodycote – which provides heat treatment and specialist metallurgical services, and which has been listed in London for more than 50 years – has agreed to a takeover offer from Veritas valued at around £1.85bn, including debt.
The deal is subject to shareholder approval, and comes as rival buyout shop CVC considers a possible counter-offer.
Bodycote is being advised by HSF Kramer, with London corporate partners Mark Bardell and Heidi Gallagher leading the team, and UK competition and antitrust head Veronica Roberts supporting.
Gibson Dunn is advising Veritas, with a London-based team led by Will McDonald, co-head of the firm’s cross-border M&A practice. Advising on the debt finance elements of the transaction were finance partner Kavita Davies and David Irvine, who co-chairs the firm’s finance practice.
The firm steered Veritas to a recommended acquisition after a competitive process with CVC. The Jersey-based asset manager announced today (1 September) that it has noted the firm intention offer, adding: ‘CVC is considering its position and a further announcement will be made when appropriate.’
CVC has been advised throughout the process by Freshfields, with London corporate partner Piers Prichard Jones, who also chairs the firm’s board, leading.
Gibson Dunn regularly acts for Veritas, which has over $50bn of assets under management. The US PE house has made 145 acquisitions since 1992, according to its statement on the deal, including 15 in the aerospace sector.
Bodycote is a leading provider to the sector, as one of the world’s largest providers of heat treatment and other specialist metallurgical technologies, which help strengthen critical metal components such as turbine blades.
The deal is the latest in a string of take-privates from the UK public market, with global sponsors snapping up assets at what they perceive to be discounted prices.
So far this year, EQT acquired Intertek for £10.9bn, US asset manager Nuveen acquired Schroders for £9.9bn, and Apollo acquired easyJet for £5.7bn.
Such deals can be lucrative for law firms, with Freshfields pocketing the lion’s share of the bidco’s legal fees on the EQT-Intertek deal – between £20.6m and £21.8m, according to the deal’s scheme document.
The total value of take-private deals struck so far this year stood at around £70bn at the start of last month, according to investment platform AJ Bell – more than double the cumulative total for 2025.
Gibson Dunn and Freshfields declined to comment.
