Updated deal watch: Hogan Lovells wins £40bn Student Loans Company debt sell off

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Following a six-month tender process the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has appointed Hogan Lovells to advise on the sale of the £40bn Student Loans Company (SLC) debt portfolio.

In July BIS invited tenders for legal advice on the monetisation of the SLC’s loans portfolio, which is likely to take place either through a sale to the private sector or securitisation. Invited firms had until 23 August to submit their bids and BIS confirmed to Legal Business late on Friday 6 December that Hogan Lovells was ‘recently’ notified that it is the successful bidder. Continue reading “Updated deal watch: Hogan Lovells wins £40bn Student Loans Company debt sell off”

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi launches first EMEA panel

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Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) has announced its first-ever panel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), with eight leading City firms appointed after a process described as ‘extremely competitive’.

Allen & Overy (A&O), Linklaters and Ashurst won places, alongside Berwin Leighton Paisner, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright, Slaughter and May, and White & Case.

BTMU has also created a separate, confidential transactional panel on which the preferred firms have won a place, alongside ‘other market-leading firms in a range of different practice areas’, which the bank would not disclose.

Born of a merger between the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and UFJ Bank in 2006, BTMU approached a number of firms to apply for the panel, with an initial deadline of September.

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Hunting titans – the disputes outlook as watchdogs and claimants target banking giants

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As banks remain in the crosshairs of regulators and claimants, Legal Business teamed up with Stephenson Harwood to seek the views of the in-house banking community on attitudes to disputes and risk.

If you needed confirmation of just how challenging the litigation climate is for many of the world’s banks, then JPMorgan Chase’s results for the third quarter provided it, in all their billion-dollar detail. Announcing a $400m loss for Q3 in October, the bank revealed that it had set aside $23bn for litigation costs arising from a series of regulatory investigations, resulting litigation and economic crisis-related suits.

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Davis Polk bolsters English law practice with hire of Ashurst finance partner Nick Benham

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Davis Polk & Wardwell’s aggressive approach to building and developing an English law practice has seen the top 30 global 100 firm hire Ashurst finance partner Nick Benham into its City office.

Benham, who has been a partner in Ashurst’s credit group since 2010, focuses on complex finance transactions including domestic and international leveraged finance and financial restructurings, acting for debt providers and strategic debt investors. Continue reading “Davis Polk bolsters English law practice with hire of Ashurst finance partner Nick Benham”

Deal watch: Corporate activity in October

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Arrow Global IPO

Debevoise & Plimpton and Slaughter and May landed roles on Arrow Global’s initial public offering (IPO). Slaughters was the primary adviser to Arrow Global and its primary shareholder RBS Special Opportunities Fund (RBS), led by corporate partners David Johnson and Richard Smith. The London office of Debevoise, led by David Innes, advised members of the executive committee and other shareholders on its successful IPO last month, which valued the company at £357m. The successful IPO marks a partial exit for RBS, which acquired the company in 2009.

Cleary advises Inter Milan on equity sale

Inter Milan has turned to Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton on the sale of equity to International Sports Capital (ISC), which will give ISC a controlling 70% stake in the club. Cleary’s team was led by  Continue reading “Deal watch: Corporate activity in October”

Guest blog – Securities lawyers and sticky contracts: innovation and elite law

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I am sure you, like me, have been on the lookout for an elegant, readable, sophisticated and fairly short book about sovereign debt agreements. And one that happens to end as a critique of elite legal practice. And here it is, The Three and a Half Minute Transaction: boilerplate and the limits of contract design by Professors Gulati and Scott. It blends economic and behavioural theory, history and law, qualitative and quantitative data with solid and measured arguments. Continue reading “Guest blog – Securities lawyers and sticky contracts: innovation and elite law”

Deal watch: September sees significant rise in deal activity

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Lloyds privatisation

Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer led the line in September advising Lloyds Banking Group on the first stage of its privatisation after being taken over by the taxpayer during the financial crisis in 2008. Slaughters, led by capital markets partner Nilufer von Bismarck, is advising UK Financial Investments on HM Treasury’s disposal of a 6% stake in the banking group, worth £6bn. Freshfields, led by corporate partner Will Lawes, advised the joint bookrunners Bank of America Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan Cazenove and UBS on the sale.

Microsoft’s $7bn Nokia devices acquisition

One of the most talked-about deals of the month was Microsoft’s game-changing, $7bn acquisition of Nokia’s devices and services business along with a ten-year patent licensing agreement. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, led by corporate partner Ken King, is advising Nokia on the deal, which is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2014. Alan Klein of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York is advising Microsoft.

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Through the maze

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Complex and controversial, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive has finally emerged, with huge regulatory implications for global funds. Legal Business asks if offshore jurisdictions can chart their way through

In force since 22 July, the EU directive on alternative investment fund managers (AIFMD) marks a huge change to the European private equity and venture capital industry. Developed to regulate hedge funds and private equity and the promotion of alternative investment funds within the EU, the AIFMD is set on advancing the stability and transparency of investment vehicles.

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Outrageous fortune – how Ireland’s legal elite has stood up to five punishing years of austerity

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Bought by the Central Bank in 2012 from lender and toxic loans body the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) for an estimated €7m (having been valued at €250m in the boom years), plans to use the tower as the now defunct Anglo Irish’s headquarters were abandoned after the company’s collapse. The grey shell of a building standing idle on North Wall Quay is a fitting reminder of the five-year-long turmoil that has battered the Irish economy both in domestic business and international reputation.

It also symbolises what happened to countless properties nationwide, and resonates with the fear felt by many Irish people that the pre-bust Celtic Tiger years will never surface again. Continue reading “Outrageous fortune – how Ireland’s legal elite has stood up to five punishing years of austerity”

Regulatory work: Cadwalader and Cleary face off over Ryanair/Aer Lingus, while Links and HSF advise on PPI compensation pot

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In a move being watched with interest by M&A lawyers and competition experts throughout Europe, the Competition Commission (CC) has today (28 August) dealt another blow to Ryanair’s long-held ambitions to buy Aer Lingus by ordering the airline to sell the majority of its 30% stake held in its rival, ruling that the minority stake could allow it to materially influence Aer Lingus in a way that may be anti-competitive.

However, Ryanair has wasted no time in saying it will appeal against the decision, described by Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary to the BBC as ‘bizarre and manifestly wrong’. This will meaning more work for Ryanair’s seasoned advisors, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, led by competition partner Nicholas Levy.

Continue reading “Regulatory work: Cadwalader and Cleary face off over Ryanair/Aer Lingus, while Links and HSF advise on PPI compensation pot”