Latham leads for Kingdom of Sweden, Ashurst for underwriters

Ashurst and Latham & Watkins have taken lead roles on the Kingdom of Sweden's sale of $2.9bn (£1.8bn) of its stake in Swedish bank Nordea.

Ashurst advised the underwriters on the deal, which included Nomura, Morgan Stanley and Swedish bank SEB Enskilda. The City firm fielded a London and Stockholm team led by City-based head of capital markets Nicholas Holmes.

The team also included London-based securities partner Eric Stuart, who advised the bank on US issues on the deal. Stockholm managing partner Jon Ericson was also closely involved in the transaction.

Morgan Stanley and SEB Enskilda acted as joint bookrunners alongside Nomura, which also acted as global co-ordinator on the sale. Danske Bank acted as co-lead manager.

The Kingdom of Sweden turned to US firm Latham and local leader Mannheimer Swartling as joint counsel on the sale, which represents around 34% of Sweden's shareholding in Nordea and reduces its stake in the bank to 13.5% from 19.8%.

Latham, which advised on US aspects of the deal, fielded a team led by London corporate partner Olof Clausson. Mannheimer Swartling's M&A and capital markets chief Eva Hagg led a team of Stockholm-based lawyers advising Sweden.

The sale, which was completed earlier this month (4 February), was directed at Swedish and international institutional investors.

Holmes commented: "The key pleasure in a deal such as this is being part of a smoothly run, successful and high-profile transaction. It was also a great platform for our Swedish practice, which was†closely involved in the deal.

"This deal builds on our longstanding relationship with Nomura, which was involved on the underwriting side. We hope to act on similarly large European deals in the coming months as a result of this transaction."