Ashurst, Kirkland and Bonelli lead on PE trio's E1bn share purchase

Ashurst, Kirkland & Ellis and Bonelli Erede Pappalardo have advised a consortium of private equity houses on their acquisition of a E1.1bn (£869m) stake in a telecoms company. The firms advised Apax, TA Associates and Madison Dearborn Partners on the deal, which saw the three houses come together to buy a 10% stake in holding company Weather Investments.

June 18, 2008 at 10:40 PM

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Ashurst, Kirkland & Ellis and Bonelli Erede Pappalardo have advised a consortium of private equity houses on their acquisition of a E1.1bn (£869m) stake in a telecoms company.

The firms advised Apax, TA Associates and Madison Dearborn Partners on the deal, which saw the three houses come together to buy a 10% stake in holding company Weather Investments.

Apax has taken a 5% stake in Weather, which is a holding company for Italian and Greek mobile phone operators Wind and Wind Hellas, as well as Orascom Telecom – a mobile company operating in emerging markets including the Middle East and Africa.

TA Associates and Madison Dearborn have collectively taken a 5% share.

Ashurst, a regular adviser to Apax, fielded a team led by London private equity partner Charlie Geffen and Milan corporate partner Mark Sperotto, with additional advice coming from Brussels-based competition partner Efthymios Bourtzalas, international finance partner Richard Kendall and litigation partner Chris Vigrass.

Sperotto said: "The nationality and individual requirements of the funds involved resulted in the transaction being complex and highly structured, with one of the challenges being the need to replicate certain share mechanisms commonly adopted in the UK and the US while working within the bounds of Italian law."

Kirkland's London team was led by corporate partner and office head Jim Learner, while M&A partner Umberto Nicodano took the lead role for Bonelli.

Weather turned to White & Case and Dewey & LeBoeuf for advice. London corporate partner Mats Sacklen (pictured right) took the lead for White & Case, working alongside the managing partner of Dewey's Rome office, Stefano Speroni.

Sacklen told Legal Week: "With private equity coffers overflowing and leveraged debt markets in the doldrums, it comes as no surprise that many private equity funds have turned to minority investments as a means of deploying their capital.

"The number of global deals involving private equity funds taking minority positions in larger companies has risen significantly over the past year. This transaction is consistent with that trend, which is likely to continue until the leveraged debt markets resurrect."