Kirkland City arm wins trophy role on Somerfield/Co-op talks
Kirkland & Ellis has secured a trophy corporate mandate - taking the lead role in the ongoing takeover talks between the private equity owners of supermarket group Somerfield and Co-op. A team headed by Kirkland corporate partner Graham White is representing the consortium that owns Somerfield in its sale of the UK's fifth-largest supermarket chain.
April 16, 2008 at 11:21 PM
3 minute read
Kirkland & Ellis has secured a trophy corporate mandate – taking the lead role in the ongoing takeover talks between the private equity owners of supermarket group Somerfield and Co-op.
A team headed by Kirkland corporate partner Graham White is representing the consortium that owns Somerfield in its sale of the UK's fifth-largest supermarket chain.
The consortium, which is made up of Apax Partners, Barclays Capital, Robert Tchenguiz and Kaupthing Bank, initially rebuffed a £1.7bn offer from Co-op but it is thought that a revised offer of around £1.9bn has enabled talks to continue.
Tchenguiz and Apax are two of the key clients that Kirkland secured in London via the 2006 recruitment of high-profile Linklaters duo White and Raymond McKeeve.
The mandate will be seen as a welcome boost for the US law firm, which has been facing claims that its City private equity team has failed to build momentum through the hires.
Kirkland recently announced that McKeeve was leaving after just two years to take a senior investment role with Tchenguiz.
It is understood that Linklaters has not taken a role for the vendors, despite previously being established as a regular corporate adviser to Somerfield.
As yet, it is not known who is acting for Co-op, though Addleshaw Goddard was tipped as a likely contender as Legal Week went to press. Clifford Chance has advised the supermarket on corporate matters in the past but has denied being involved in the latest deal.
Kirkland and Addleshaws both declined to comment.
Co-op previously tried to buy Somerfield in 2005, when it was ultimately sold to private equity consortium for £1.1bn. The 2005 deal saw Olswang acting for the Tchenguiz family with McKeeve, then at Linklaters, acting for the consortium as a whole. Dickson Minto advised Somerfield while Eversheds advised the supermarket's management.
Somerfield runs 900 stores across the country, while the mutually owned Co-op runs more than 2,000 convenience stories and supermarkets nationwide.
The Co-op is now reported to be in exclusive talks with Somerfield, which has been up for auction since last year. Many rival supermarket chains were initially thought to have been interested in the Somerfield takeover when the auction was announced, with Asda, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose all touted as possible buyers.
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