AA appoints KWM and Norton Rose Fulbright to its first corporate panel
Motoring business rejects ex-parent company's adviser, Clifford Chance, as it starts a fresh panel
March 31, 2015 at 06:32 AM
2 minute read
The AA has appointed King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) and Norton Rose Fulbright to its first corporate panel since it became a public company last year.
The company rejected using Clifford Chance (CC), the main corporate lawyer of its former parent company, as its principal adviser.
KWM is acting for the AA as its principal legal adviser while Norton Rose is 'back up' principal adviser. The appointments took effect on 10 December. Both firms have been recruited indefinitely to advise exclusively on corporate work.
For instance, earlier this month, KWM and Latham & Watkins acted for the AA on the £1.1bn refinancing of its existing debt package.
The corporate panel review process kicked off in September. It was led by AA general counsel Mark Millar, who was appointed in September.
Millar said: "We have a newly created corporate panel because of our change to a public company. We make the decisions now, whereas before these were made by our parent company."
Former AA parent company Acromas floated the roadside recovery business in June 2014. The deal also included a management buy-in by AA executive chair Bob Mackenzie, alongside institutional investors.
CC acted for Acromas on the IPO. The firm has advised Acromas since 2007 and continues to do so.
The AA also has a separate legal panel made up of 10 firms, which carries out the day-to-day legal work including insurance, regulation and litigation. It began a review of the panel shortly before Millar joined.
He said: "It has never really been properly communicated. We've been using panel firms for the last nine months. After I joined, I wanted to look at the panel [review] to make sure the AA is getting the best advice and value."
The final panel is expected to be announced by the end of April.
The AA was formed in 1905. It is valued at more than £2.3bn and represents 40% of the UK's roadside assistance market.
In addition, the company is in the process of hiring three lawyers to expand its legal team to 14 staff. It has already signed up one lawyer who is due to start in April and is still looking for two others.
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