Despite corporate partners attesting to a summer lull (if only by their absence from the office), the past month brought with it a number of headline European M&A deals, including a €17bn (including €9.8bn of net debt) bid for Dutch telecoms company Koninklijke KPN (KPN), which turned to Allen & Overy (A&O)’s Netherlands office on the deal.
The bid by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim’s telecoms company América Móvil for the remaining 70% in KPN saw longstanding adviser A&O field a team led by Dutch corporate partner Jan Louis Burggraaf.
Clifford Chance, led by Amsterdam M&A partner Hans Beerlage, advised América Móvil alongside Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, led by New York capital markets partner Nicolas Grabar and corporate partners Neil Whoriskey and Amy Shapiro.
It is the second multi-billion deal Burggraaf has acted on for KPN over the summer, after the telecoms company sold its German mobile telecoms subsidiary E-Plus to Telefónica Deutschland for €8.1bn at the end of July.
Burggraaf was assisted on that deal by A&O Frankfurt corporate partner Hartmut Krause, Amsterdam competition partner Kees Schillemans and Frankfurt tax partner Asmus Mihm. CMS Hasche Sigle advised Telefónica led by Munich M&A partner Oliver Thurn, Frankfurt partner Hildegard Ziemons and Munich partners Martin Kolbinger and Martin Kuhn.
Mark Curtis, head of corporate at Simmons & Simmons, observed: ‘I think the summer season is traditionally slower but what we have seen is people starting to do deals during August and gearing up for the autumn.’
Top European Deals: July and August 2013
| Date | Target and adviser | Seller and adviser | Value |
| 9 Aug 2013 | Koninklijke KPN: Allen & Overy | América Móvil: Clifford Chance; Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton | €17bn |
| 23 July 2013 | E-Plus: Allen & Overy | Telefónica Deutschland Holding: CMS; De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek; McDermott Will & Emery | €8.1bn |
| 29 July 2013 | Elan Corporation: A&L Goodbody; Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher | Perrigo Company: Dillon Eustace; Sullivan & Cromwell | €6.4bn |
| 31 July 2013 | Invensys: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | Schneider Electric: Linklaters | €3.46bn |
| 13 Aug 2013 | Domestic & General Group: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | Advent International Corporation: Clifford Chance; Macfarlanes | €872m |