Intense speculation over Vodafone’s $130bn disposal of its US group, whose principal asset is its 45% interest in Verizon Wireless, to Verizon Communications this evening (2 September) came to an end after the deal announced, with Macfarlanes revealed as acting for Verizon and Slaughter and May for Vodafone. Slaughter and May corporate partner Roland Turnill led for the telecoms giant on one of the largest corporate deals in history, along with Simpson Thacher in the US. Continue reading “The guessing game is over as Vodafone’s $130bn Verizon sell off sees Slaughters acting opposite Macfarlanes and Wachtell”
Private equity: CVC gifts Clifford Chance and Cleary with two major European mandates
Followers of the tussle between UK and US private equity practices for European mandates were last month rewarded with an instruction to both camps by leading buyout house CVC Capital Partners in its acquisitions of Domestic & General (D&G) and Campbell Soup.
Advent International agreed to sell extended warranty provider D&G to CVC in a deal thought to be worth about $1.2bn, according to The New York Times, although this sum has not been officially disclosed.
Clifford Chance (CC) advised CVC, with a team led by Kem Ihenacho, co-head of the firm’s Africa practice and one of its private equity stars. He was assisted by M&A partner Brendan Moylan and insurance partner Hilary Evenett.
Continue reading “Private equity: CVC gifts Clifford Chance and Cleary with two major European mandates”
European M&A: Big ticket summer mandates scooped by Allen & Overy; Clifford Chance; Freshfields and Macfarlanes
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.
Takeover potential – Linklaters & Simmons lead on Amec’s £700m bid for Kentz
Linklaters and
Simmons & Simmons‘ longstanding corporate relationships with Amec and Kentz have gifted them with a potentially lucrative takeover bid instruction as Kentz this week announced it had rejected a £700m offer from its larger engineering rival.
Linklaters corporate partners Shane Griffin and Aedamar Comiskey are leading the team for Amec, which it has advised on corporate matters for well over a decade. Simmons corporate partner Edward Baker is advising Kentz on the offer, which the FTSE 250 engineering company said it had rejected, together with an earlier offer in July from Germany’s M+W Group, on the basis that it undervalued the company.
Continue reading “Takeover potential – Linklaters & Simmons lead on Amec’s £700m bid for Kentz”
Wall Street in London: Weil Gotshal and Davis Polk lead on $1.6bn takeover of UK’s Edwards Group
As British industrial technology firm Edwards Group is today (19 August) bought out for $1.6bn by Swedish engineering group Atlas Copco, it is notably being advised by the London office of Wall Street firms Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Davis Polk & Wardwell.
The Weil Gotshal team, which represented Edwards Group on its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange last May, is being led by London-based corporate partner Peter King, assisted by New York corporate partners David Blittner and Jackie Cohen. Continue reading “Wall Street in London: Weil Gotshal and Davis Polk lead on $1.6bn takeover of UK’s Edwards Group”
Private equity: CVC gifts Clifford Chance and Cleary Gottlieb with two major European mandates
Followers of the tussle between UK and US private equity practices for European mandates were this week rewarded with an instruction to both camps by leading buyout house CVC in its acquisitions of Domestic & General and Campbell Soup.
Advent International agreed earlier this week to sell extended warranty company Domestic & General (D&G) to CVC in a deal thought to be worth about $1.2bn, according to The New York Times, although this sum has not been officially disclosed.
Clifford Chance (CC) advised CVC, with a team led by Kem Ihenacho, co-head of the firm’s Africa practice and one of its private equity stars. He was assisted by M&A partner Brendan Moylan and insurance partner Hilary Evenett. Continue reading “Private equity: CVC gifts Clifford Chance and Cleary Gottlieb with two major European mandates”
Deal Watch: Dentons & King & Spalding act on HR Owen hostile takeover bid as Freshfields and Skadden secure Asian M&A roles
While the traditional August lull in corporate work may have seen Asia relax, the giant is far from asleep and has gifted a number of transatlantic and Magic Circle firms with eye-catching international M&A deals.
Dentons led by corporate partner Jeremy Cohen is advising luxury car dealer HR Owen on the £32.5m hostile takeover bid by Malaysian billionaire Vincent Tan’s Berjaya Philippines, which HR Owen last week rejected as ‘derisory’. Continue reading “Deal Watch: Dentons & King & Spalding act on HR Owen hostile takeover bid as Freshfields and Skadden secure Asian M&A roles”
Deal watch: Latham and Wachtell lead on largest public deal of the year
In what remains a gloomy cross-border deal market, US leaders Latham & Watkins and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz have secured lead roles on the largest public merger of the year so far – the tie-up of Omnicom and Publicis Groupe. The Franco-US union creates a company with a combined market capitalisation of €26.5bn, forging the largest advertising group in the world. The combined company, which will be listed in New York and Paris, will have more than 130,000 staff.
The deal is likely to attract the attention of antitrust regulators in the US and Europe, uniting the second and third largest advertising groups in the world to overtake the UK-based WPP. Continue reading “Deal watch: Latham and Wachtell lead on largest public deal of the year”
Deal watch: M&A activity picks up as A&O, Linklaters and Hogan Lovells secure key roles
With Q1 2013 reported as one of the slowest starts to the year M&A-wise for a decade, the deal market appears to be gaining momentum with a handful of Global 100 firms in action in high-profile and high-value transactions recently.
Linklaters is advising the recently formed Glencore Xstrata on the disposal of its Las Bambas copper mine in Peru for around $5bn – a condition of the $64bn union between Glencore and Xstrata that was imposed by Chinese regulators. Continue reading “Deal watch: M&A activity picks up as A&O, Linklaters and Hogan Lovells secure key roles”
Deal Watch: sporting metaphor alert as Dechert, HSF and DLA Piper score high-profile football roles
The balance sheets of most English clubs may be shakier than Villa’s back four, but when it comes to raising your deal-doers’ profile there’s still nothing like acting for major football teams.
Among the advisers getting off the bench (sorry) are Dechert, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Squire Sanders on the sale of Fulham Football Club while DLA Piper is working on the £260m regeneration of Liverpool’s Anfield ground. Continue reading “Deal Watch: sporting metaphor alert as Dechert, HSF and DLA Piper score high-profile football roles”