Dealwatch: the Magic Circle players kicking off 2018
Legal Business
Clifford Chance (CC) and Linklaters advised as media company Informa entered talks to acquire events organiser UBM. Corporate partners Katherine Moir and Steven Fox led the CC team advising Informa on the deal, which would create a company worth £9bn. Linklaters corporate partners Michael Honan and Iain Fenn acted for UBM.
Linklaters also joined Kirkland & Ellis on the restructuring of South African retail holding company Steinhoff International reported to have €2.7bn in convertible bonds and debts of €10.7bn. Restructuring partners Sean Lacey and Kon Asimacopoulos led the Kirkland team advising the convertible bonds alongside Munich restructuring partner Sacha Lürken, while Linklaters’ Richard Bussell advised Steinhoff.
Slaughter and May acted alongside best-friend Italian firm BonelliErede as Swiss luxury group Richemont launched a €2.7bn offer to take full control of Italian online fashion retailer YOOX NET-A-PORTER (YNAP). Corporate partners Oliver Wareham and Rob Innes led the Slaughters team advising Richemont, which looked to increase its 49% share in YNAP and acquire the remaining ordinary shares it did not already own. BonelliErede fielded a team headed by corporate partners Umberto Nicodano, Vittoria Giustiniani and Stefano Micheli. Fellow Italian firm Gatti Pavesi Bianchi advised YNAP.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Macfarlanes acted as private equity house Cinven sold property software provider Northgate Public Services (NPS) to NEC Corporation for £475m. Partners Adrian Maguire, Victoria Sigeti, Christopher Davis and Helen Lethaby led the Freshfields team advising Cinven, while A&O’s Tokyo corporate partners Nick Wall and Osamu Ito, and London corporate partner Stephen Lloyd, led the team acting for NEC. Macfarlanes M&A partner Stephen Drewitt advised NPS’s management.
Macfarlanes also advised private equity house Alchemy on the raising of its £900m, fourth special opportunities fund. Investment management group partner Christopher Good led the team acting for the firm, which invests in distressed and underperforming businesses. Nixon Peabody partner Dan McAvoy advised on US law aspects, while Carey Olsen’s Tom Carey handled Guernsey law.
A&O, Travers Smith and Ashurst acted on the £600m sale of Old Mutual Wealth (OMW)’s Single Strategy asset-management business to funds managed by TA Associates. A&O’s corporate partner Stephen Mathews advised investment firm OMW along with corporate partners Alun Eynon-Evans and Karan Dinamani. Travers advised TA, led by head of private equity Paul Dolman. Private equity partner David Carter led the Ashurst team advising the management of Single Strategy.