Legal Business

‘Natural choice’: long relationships see Freshfields and Linklaters bag roles on Poundland bid

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Both Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer scored lead roles on an attempt by South Africa’s Steinhoff International Holdings to take over British retailer Poundland. Steinhoff, a $22bn homeware and clothing conglomerate, made a bid to take over Poundland, which it already had a 23.26% stake in. At press time, Poundland had rejected Steinhoff’s initial bid, but Steinhoff upped its holding in the UK discount retailer to 23.52%.

Steinhoff already owns PEP, which sells discount clothing, footwear and homeware across 1,800 stores in Africa, as well as UK chain Harveys Furniture.