United Kingdom > London > Corporate and commercial > M&A: lower mid-market, £50m-£250m
M&A: lower mid-market, £50m-£250m
The 44-partner team at Eversheds LLP had another busy year in 2010, acting on 47 UK M&A deals, and seeing an increase in work on multi-jurisdictional reorganisations for the likes of Heinz. Its highlight was advising Dimension Data on its £2.1bn takeover by NTT Corporation. The team is praised for its ability to ‘exercise judgement on what is important’; Robert Pitcher is valued for his ‘advice and commercial acumen’, and Chris Halliday, Neil Matthews and Mark Spinner are also singled out for praise.
Nabarro LLP’s ‘practical’, ‘cogent’ and ‘commercial’ practice, headed by Iain Newman, has an enviable roster of AIM-listed clients. The ‘practical’ Warren Taylor led a team advising Caledon Resources on successive takeover approaches, with the final one, from Guangdong Rising Minerals for £252m, still ongoing. Clients praise the ‘authoritative’ Andrew Inkster and Patrick Speller.
Olswang had a remarkable 2010, handling 35 UK M&A deals with an average deal size of £108m. The firm is ‘well informed on a global basis, and has a great network’. Its traditional strengths in media, technology and leisure came to the fore with a strong deal sheet, including the sale of Shine to News Corporation for £415m. David Roberts ‘is amongst the best there is’.
Pinsent Masons LLP ‘pulls out all the stops when the need arises’, and is one of the leading advisers to FTSE clients in the mid-market, completing over £3bn-worth of deals in 2010. The team advised a group of Chinese investors on a $185m investment into AIM-listed company Oxus Gold. The nine-partner team in London includes leading names Gareth Edwards, who heads the practice, and Jon Harris, who is ‘knowledgeable and pragmatic, and gets the job done’.
SNR Denton’s TMT and energy expertise makes for a good flow of work for the likes of EDF, Total and Virgin Group, and the team has had some significant client wins in the sports sector, in Watford Leisure and Group Lotus. Co-head of the practice Jeremy Cohen is ‘very knowledgeable and cool under pressure’, and Richard Macklin is also highly rated. The team advised Virgin Money on the takeover of Church House Trust and the acquisition of Intelligent Managed Services.
Squire Sanders Hammonds handled 27 corporate finance deals in 2010 totalling £1.9bn, for an impressive breadth of clients. A highlight was advising BSS on its takeover by Travis Perkins for £583m, and Care UK on its buyout by Bridgepoint. Trevor Ingle ‘has exactly what you need to be a successful M&A lawyer’. Tim Hewens and James McKay are praised for their ‘exceptional level of service’, and Giles Distin for his ‘knowledge of listed markets’.
Wragge & Co LLP ‘provides an extremely high calibre of service’, with ‘excellent response times’. Headed by Richard Haywood, the 13-partner team handled 10 deals over the £50m mark in 2010, and won its first corporate deal from Premier Foods, the £182m sale of its tinned grocery business to Princes. Andy Stylianou ‘creates an excellent relationship with his clients’.
Dechert LLP’s private equity driven practice enjoyed another fruitful year. It handled a string of matters for the likes of Altima Partners, and its standout deal was advising the Bank of New York Mellon on its £235m acquisition of Insight Investment from Lloyds Banking Group. Sean Geraghty is recommended.
Clients are quick to acclaim Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP’s ‘top-quality commercial advice’, its strength in emerging markets contributing to a good flow of M&A work through London. Practice head Stephen Horvath led a team advising Raiffeisen Bank International on its €490m acquisition of a 70% share in Polbank.
‘Excellent across the board’, McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP made the significant lateral hire of Mats Sacklén from White & Case LLP to head up its European M&A team. The team draws on the wider firm’s experience in energy and commodities, recently advising on the $640m disposal of Shell’s downstream business to ST1 Group. Nicholas Azis is ‘able to straddle a variety of roles simultaneously’; and Hugh Nineham is also picked out by clients.
Led by Adrian Bott, Osborne Clarke’s M&A team chalked up some impressive client wins in 2010, among them Cable & Wireless, French Connection and Topps Tiles, along with a panel appointment by Investec. The team garners plaudits for its ‘responsive, practical advice’, and Ray Berg ‘is an excellent partner who leads transactions in a sensible, practical way’. Indicative of its ability to handle work beyond its mid-market comfort zone, the team recently advised on the £2bn demerger of Carphone Warehouse’s fixed-line telecoms and retail distribution businesses.
Reed Smith advised one of the largest forex brokers in the world in 2010, acting for Forex Capital Markets on its strategic acquisition of ODL Group for $75m. The 20-partner corporate team is praised for its ‘strong subject-matter expertise’, with Philip Taylor attracting high praise. James Wilkinson and David Boutcher are also recommended.
Stephenson Harwood’s M&A capabilities were given a boost in 2010 with the lateral hire of Andrew Edge and Duncan Stiles, both from Ashurst LLP. The team, headed by Sharon White, acted on a number of deals above the £500m mark, most notably advising Abbott Healthcare on its $3.7bn purchase of Indian healthcare company Piramal’s domestic formulations business.
Taylor Wessing LLP bulked up its corporate team with the double hire of Tandeep Minhas from SJ Berwin LLP and Emma Danks from Clifford Chance. Alongside sports and private equity mandates, the team advised esure on its MBO from Lloyds Banking Group, and was instructed by Emap on its acquisition of The Energy Event and related stable of publications. Peter Kempe is ‘an excellent corporate lawyer’, and Martin Winter is also singled out.
Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP completed 10 M&A deals in its London office in 2010, including one over the £1bn mark. It counts the likes of Tesco and UPS among its regular clients, and was recently instructed by US renewables giant Sunpower Corporation’s UK and international operations. Simon Gamblin is ‘very efficient, very quick, always willing and always to the point’.
Bird & Bird’s cross-border strength in communications and media came to the fore in 2010. Simon Fielder led the advice to Fluid Music on its €160m acquisition of Mood Media, while Simon Allport headed a team that advised Viacom on the £63.5m takeover of AIM-listed The Indian Film Company.
Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP completed 21 M&A deals with an aggregate value of £2.6bn in 2010, including advising all of the UK’s public service broadcasters and a number of broadband companies on the YouView venture. Andrew Blankfield is ‘one of the top corporate partners in London’.
K&L Gates’s M&A team has seen a fair amount of lateral activity in the last 18 months; in 2010, Carl Liederman and Keith Snedden joined from Arnold & Porter (UK) LLP and Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP respectively; and Paul Tetlow and James Green joined in mid 2011, both from Hunton & Williams. Liederman acted for new client CapGemini on the acquisition of Thesys Technologies, and the team also won mandates from CBRE and Halliburton.
Christopher Tite’s team at Lawrence Graham LLP acts for a broad mix of insurance brokers, and energy, leisure, renewables and natural resources companies. It advised Clipper Windpower on its takeover by United Technologies, which valued the company at £139.5m.
Lewis Silkin LLP is one of the leading lights when it comes to media work, and has ‘an excellent approach to commercial work’. Jo Evans is the standout partner, and has the ‘superb combination of knowledge with commerciality’. Philip Lamb acted for Solomon Capital on its £35.76m cash bid for the AIM-listed Metals Exploration.
Mishcon de Reya significantly bolstered its corporate team, hiring Dean Poster and Saul Sender from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (Europe) LLP and Reed Smith respectively. Nick Davis’ team is ‘excellent at finding solutions and handling negotiations’. It advised Helical Bar on a joint venture with Thameling Group.
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP’s James Mee attracts particularly high praise as an ‘excellent commercial lawyer and overall client liaison’. He led a team that advised Saffron Digital on its sale to HTC Corporation.
The ‘exceptionally professional’ and ‘very commercial’ team at Trowers & Hamlins LLP saw a good line in work from existing clients in 2010. Richard Hildebrand and James Lyons advised Western Coal on its takeover of AIM-listed Energybuild, which valued the company at £56m. Practice head Michael Pattinson is the key figure.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s emerging markets capabilities earned it a place on some of the most significant transactions of 2010, including VimpelCom’s combination with Weather Investments. Headed by Steve Blakeley, the team also advised on a 50:50 joint venture between Bridas Energy and CNOOC on its acquisition of a 60% stake in Pan American Energy worth $7.1bn.
Charles Russell LLP’s total deal value exceeded £1.5bn in 2010, with many deals over the £50m mark. Simon Gilbert’s team continues to advise ITV on corporate matters, while other notable clients include Actis, Zeus Private Equity, the government of the Bahamas, and Exillion Energy.
Clyde & Co LLP hired a staggering seven new partners into its corporate practice in 2010, from the likes of Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, Addleshaw Goddard LLP and Hill Dickinson LLP. On the deal front, much of its work came from its continued drive to win foreign mandates; highlights included advising New Age Africa in taking a 25% stake in an oil production and sharing contract in the republic of Congo.
Dundas & Wilson LLP ‘seems to offer a more personal service’. The team weathered a difficult year for transactions, with increased deal flow across the board. Simon Sale has been appointed as practice head, and Colin Fergusson is ‘experienced and tenacious’. The team completed its first deal for chemicals company BASF on the sale of its Network Bird business to P&L Systems.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is regularly involved on high-end cross-border deals, and beefed up its English law capability with the addition of Jeffery Roberts from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. Roberts advised the Expro Group on its $120m acquisition of the Production Testers International business, a leading well services business based in Asia.
Holman Fenwick Willan LLP has been handling an increasing flow of foreign and cross-border deals under English law in the shipping, insurance, trade, energy and logistics sectors. The highly rated Alistair Mackie advised French marine services company Bourbon and Rothschild on the $545m sale of 16 supermax vessels.
Salans ‘strikes the right balance between big City firm and a personal service’, and Paul Salmon is ‘a safe pair of hands’. On the deal front, the eight-partner team is active in mid-cap cross-border deals; at the top end of that scale, it advised Sahaviriya Steel on its $468m acquisition of Tata Steel’s steelmaking business in Redcar, Teeside.
The ‘excellent’ Watson, Farley & Williams LLP gives ‘very high partner attention’. Its continued push on the recruitment front saw the arrival of Mark Evans from Constellation Energy, and David Cooke from Maclay Murray & Spens LLP. Jan Mellmann heads the practice, which has a premier shipping and natural resources focus. Christina Howard has a ‘refreshingly common-sense approach to negotiations and drafting’.
Arnold & Porter (UK) LLP capitalised on its strength in retail and life sciences, acting for Urban Outfitters on a string of deals as well as advising on Beeline’s potential joint venture with Old Navy. Paula Levitan is praised for her ‘flexible thinking’. Carl Liederman has moved to K&L Gates.
Baker Botts (UK) LLP delivers an ‘outstanding quality of service’, and advised on 15 deals with a total value of $4bn in 2010. Derek Jones heads the team, which advised Sinochem in relation to its $3bn stake in the Statoil offshore Peregrino oilfield. Other representative clients include GDF Suez and Renaissance Capital. Hamish McArdle is recommended.
Chadbourne & Parke (London) LLP’s English law capability received a boost in 2011, with highly rated corporate partners Martin Thomas and Dearbhla Quigley joining from Hunton & Williams. The firm’s emerging markets expertise generated a number of impressive mandates led out of London, including advising a Kazakh oil and gas family business on a joint venture investment in an oil project in the state. Charez Golvala is a key figure.
Morrison & Foerster (UK) LLP’s life sciences and technology expertise is highly valued by clients, and has translated into instructions on deals such as NTT Data’s acquisition of Keane for around $1.4bn. The London team suffered a blow in 2011, with four corporate partners leaving for Covington & Burling LLP, including corporate head Paul Claydon.
Hilary Winter’s six-partner team at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (Europe) LLP represented Carluccio’s in relation to the £90.3m offer for the company by a Landmark Group company, C1 Acquisitions.
Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker (Europe) LLP’s London team is praised for its ‘intense work ethic’, and practice head and newly appointed office head Ronan O’Sullivan has ‘a great style’ and ‘a quick, analytical mind’. The firm represented Jacobs Engineering on its $913m acquisition of Oslo-listed Aker Solutions. The group was strengthened recently by the arrival of Garrett Hayes from Macfarlanes LLP.
Steptoe & Johnson advised on M&A transactions that totalled more than $2bn in 2010. The three-partner team attracts high praise; Michael Thompson is ‘not just a good lawyer but also commercially realistic’, and Andrew Bloom is also recommended. Oakley Capital and Smithfield Consultants are regular clients.
Bingham McCutchen (London) LLP acted on transactions totalling $2.25bn in 2010, including advising the bid vehicle controlled by a hedge fund consortium in relation to the €750m acquisition of Wind Hellas, the Greek telecoms company. Vance Chapman and John Clark are the partners of note.
Dickson Minto WS is well known for its credentials in private equity, advising clients such as BC Partners.
Dorsey & Whitney moved once again to boost its London corporate team, hiring Roger Gregory and Chris McFadzean from Brown Rudnick LLP and Latham & Watkins LLP respectively. A strong mid-market performance included advising Shed Media on its £100m takeover by WB Bidco, with a team led by practice head Mark Taylor.
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (London) LLP’s practice head Jerry Walter is highly regarded by clients. Richard May joined the corporate team from Simmons & Simmons, bringing a wealth of financial services expertise. The team regularly advises Virgin Media and Goldman Sachs on a range of global matters.
Led by Stuart Harray, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP’s English law practice dovetails well with the firm’s global US law capability, leading to a string of mandates for financial services clients and an increasing amount of work driven out of the emerging markets.
Keith Black heads the three-partner team at Morgan Lewis, which sets its stall out on complex, cross-border transactions. The team acted on the UK piece of BP’s $1.9bn disposal of assets in Colombia, and also advised the California’s Public Employees Retirement System on taking a 12.7% stake in Gatwick Airport for £100m.
O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s expertise in private equity and funds work feeds into the transactional practice. Justin Stock is the partner of note.
WilmerHale advised BioVex on its $1bn acquisition by Amgen. Michael Holter is an ‘excellent, very thorough and thoughtful’ lawyer, and Tim Corbett is also highly rated.
Winston & Strawn London’s ‘non-ego driven’ practice is notable for its cross-border expertise. Impressive recent mandates included acting for Nigerian oil and gas company SEPLAT Petroleum Development on a major $375m acquisition. Zoe Ashcroft is ‘exceptional’.