Trio secures £668m British Vita buy-out
Manufacturer's take-private allows firms to bag latest US-backed deal
April 06, 2005 at 08:03 PM
2 minute read
Ashurst, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton have secured the lead roles on the £668m take-private of UK chemicals manufacturer British Vita, bagging the latest in a string of US-backed private equity deals.
The leveraged bid sees Texas Pacific acquire the UK company via a scheme of arrangement, with the US financier instructing Freshfields as lead corporate counsel and Cleary handling financing and antitrust issues.
British Vita's board recommended the offer after rejecting three previous bids. The company became a takeover target after profits suffered from soaring material costs.
Corporate partners Edward Braham and Patrick Gaynor led the Freshfields team, with assistance from senior corporate associates Bruce Embley and Hugo Canwell.
London-based corporate partners Simon Jay and Andrew Shutter spearheaded a team for Cleary that included senior associates Stuart Banks (corporate) and Raj Panasar (finance).
Ashurst acted for British Vita, the largest producer of foam rubber in the UK. The Manchester-based company has traditionally turned to the firm for its major corporate work.
The top 10 London practice fielded a heavyweight team under corporate head Adrian Clark and including corporate partner Robert Ogilvy Watson and solicitor Jonathan Earle. Competition head Nigel Parr provided extra advice.
The deal will be regarded as strategically important for Fresh-fields. It hands the London firm a second major instruction for the leading US buy-out house, after Braham in 2003 acted for a Texas Pacific-backed consortium on the £1.7bn acquisition of Debenhams.
The deal also underlines the inroads London advisers are making with US private equity houses. These are increasingly turning to London firms, over traditional US counsel, in response to surging levels of European deal activity.
Freshfields' Gaynor described Texas Pacific as a "growing force" in European private equity, while Ashurst's Clark added: "It has been a good period for us. There are not a huge number of deals being done at the moment but there is plenty of interest around."
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllSkadden to Close in Shanghai and Make Cuts to China Corporate Practice
DWF Group's Canadian Firm Set to Add Fourth Office With 16-Lawyer Montreal Team
UK Law Firms Face £75M Money Laundering Investigations Alongside Russia Scrutiny
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1The Law Firm Disrupted: Playing the Talent Game to Win
- 2A&O Shearman Adopts 3-Level Lockstep Pay Model Amid Shift to All-Equity Partnership
- 3Preparing Your Law Firm for 2025: Smart Ways to Embrace AI & Other Technologies
- 4BD Settles Thousands of Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuits
- 5A RICO Surge Is Underway: Here's How the Allstate Push Might Play Out
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250