A&O, Linklaters and Latham among firms to land big mandates

Europe's leading deal finance teams are forecasting a revival in activity after advisers benefited from a recent flurry of debt-financed takeovers.

Firms to have secured large acquisition finance mandates in recent weeks include Allen & Overy (A&O), Linklaters, Latham & Watkins and Clifford Chance (CC).

Recent deals handing major roles to leverage finance lawyers include August's €1.2bn (£1bn) buyout of food and drink vending machine operator Autobar from Charterhouse by CVC Capital Partners, which saw Linklaters partner Adam Freeman lead a team advising the senior lenders.

Also last month, Candover finalised the €1.2bn sale of Belgian nappy-manufacturer Ontex to Goldman Sachs and TPG Capital. The deal saw A&O partner Stephen Kensell advise the debt providers.

A&O also advised the mezzanine lenders on Bain Capital and Advent International's acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotland payment processing unit WorldPay for $3.2bn (£2.1bn). Ashurst head of international finance Nigel Ward advised the senior lenders.

Linklaters also secured a role over the summer on the largest French leveraged finance buyout since 2008, when BC Partners sold its French frozen food business Picard Surgeles to Lion Capital for $1.9bn (£1.2bn). The magic circle firm advised on finance, deploying teams in London under Nick Syson and in Paris under Arnaud Fromion.

A notable deal in the much-touted high-yield sector saw Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) enter into a partnership with Investindustrial to buy into Spanish helicopter firm Grupo Inaer. The deal saw Simpson Thacher & Bartlett acting for regular client KKR while CC partner Alan Inglis led a team for the banks. Latham acted as underwriter counsel on high yield financing.

CC London finance co-head Michael Bates commented: "This year activity has picked up a lot in the acquisition finance market and there are also a few more players in the market, including the French and Scandinavian banks becoming more active."

Latham finance partner Chris Kandel (pictured) added: "The market picked up around the time the World Cup ended and August has been surprisingly busy in our shop. The private equity sponsors seem to be getting more active and the volume of M&A activity generally has boosted acquisition finance."

For more, see Europe's LBO outlook: up, down and up again