Freshfields leads on £1bn Chinese buyout of UK yacht maker and hotel
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, White & Case and Addleshaw Goddard have advised on Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group's acquisitions of UK luxury yacht company Sunseeker International and a hotel development site in London for a combined value of £1bn. The deals are among the largest UK acquisitions by Chinese private enterprises, and Dalian Wanda's first major investments in the country.
June 19, 2013 at 07:03 PM
2 minute read
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, White & Case and Addleshaw Goddard have advised on Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group's acquisitions of UK luxury yacht company Sunseeker International and a hotel development site in London for a combined value of £1bn.
The deals are among the largest UK acquisitions by Chinese private enterprises, and Dalian Wanda's first major investments in the country.
Dalian Wanda has purchased a 92% stake in Sunseeker worth £320m from FL Partners, a Dublin-based private equity firm, with the remaining 8% acquired by Sunseeker's management.
The group has also reached an agreement to develop a site on London's South Bank from Green Property Ventures (GPV) for £700m, with the intention of building one of the tallest luxury residential and five star hotel complexes in Western Europe. Dalian Wanda said the deal would create the first luxury hotel opened by a Chinese firm overseas.
Freshfields advised Dalian on both matters, with corporate partners Alan Wang in Beijing, Simon Weller in Hong Kong and Paddy Ko and Adrian Maguire in London leading on the Sunseeker deal. Additional advice was provided by London tax partner Murray Clayson and Hong Kong intellectual property partner Mark Parsons.
Wang said: "These deals highlight the increasing vigour and strength of the leading Chinese private enterprises on the global stage, and the support that they are able to receive from the Chinese regulators and banks in that process."
FL Partners and Sunseeker management turned to White & Case for the deal, with London corporate partner Gavin Weir leading a team that included corporate partner Philip Broke, employment partner Nicholas Greenacre and tax counsel Jeremy Reynolds.
On the hotel site acquisition, Freshfields advised Dalian fielding a team led by London real estate partner Emma Kendall and Beijing corporate partner Alan Wang, with Clayson also providing tax advice. Addleshaws real estate partner Mark Haywood advised GPV.
Other roles Freshfields has taken on acquisitions of European assets by Chinese corporates include advising China Guangdong Nuclear on its UK public takeover of Kalahari Minerals, and Zhejiang Geely on its $1.8bn (£1.2bn) agreement with Ford Motor Company to acquire 100% of Volvo Car Corporation.
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 AllLatham, Skadden Among Firms Acting on Mubadala's $3.4 B Acquisition of CI Financial
3 minute readLatham, Jones Day and Wachtell Lead on Anglo American's $3.8B Coal Business Sale
2 minute readTrending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
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