Cleary and Davis Polk win roles on $4.2bn sale of Reckitt Benckiser's food business
Davis Polk wins second multi-billion mandate this year for Reckitt Benckiser on disposal of its food business
July 20, 2017 at 05:22 AM
2 minute read
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Davis Polk & Wardwell are advising on US herb and spice company McCormick's $4.2bn (£3.2bn) purchase of FTSE 100 consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser's food business.
Reckitt Benckiser's food unit owns brands such as French's Mustard and Frank's Red Hot Sauce.
The sale comes after Reckitt Benckiser announced in April that it had started a "strategic review" of its non-core food business. The acquisition is intended to lift McCormick's net sales to about $5bn (£3.8bn) a year in 2017.
Cleary is acting for McCormick with a team in New York led by M&A partners David Leinwand and Glenn McGroy, finance partner Margaret Peponis, intellectual property partner Daniel Ilan, capital markets partner Sung Kang, compensation and benefits partner Michael Albano, tax partner Corey Goodman, antitrust partner Brian Byrne, real estate partner Daniel Reynolds and litigation partner David Herrington.
London-based partner Simon Jay is advising on UK corporate matters.
Davis Polk is acting for Reckitt Benckiser, with a New York team led by M&A partners John Amorosi and Daniel Brass, compensation and benefits partner Edmond FitzGerald, tax partner Michael Mollerus and intellectual property partner Frank Azzopardi.
In February, Davis Polk advised Reckitt Benckiser on a $17.9bn (£13.7bn) takeover of baby milk manufacturer Mead Johnson. New York partner Amorosi was also on Davis Polk's team for that deal.
Linklaters acted for Reckitt Benckiser on finance aspects of that deal, while Kirkland & Ellis advised Mead Johnson and Cleary acted for Mead Johnson's financial advisers.
Last year, ex-BP group general counsel (GC) Rupert Bondy left the oil giant to join Reckitt Benckiser as GC.
Picture credit: Mike Mozart
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