Unlikely legal duo book places on airline takeover
Budget airline Flybe will be bought by a consortium including Virgin Atlantic and Stobart Group
January 11, 2019 at 07:16 AM
2 minute read
Morgan Lewis & Bockius and Hill Dickinson have lined up alongside Herbert Smith Freehills and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner to advise on a consortium's acquisition of struggling budget UK airline Flybe.
The pair have sealed roles acting for a takeover consortium made up of airline Virgin Atlantic, investment firm Cyrus Capital and transportation company Stobart Group. The deal will see Flybe operate under a new joint venture with Stobart, named Connect Airways.
Morgan Lewis & Bockius is advising Cyrus, which will own 40% of the new company, as well as advising Connect Airways on the transaction. Hill Dickinson is also acting as legal adviser to Connect Airways and to Stobart Aviation, which will hold 30% in the new company.
Morgan Lewis finance partner Georgia Quenby led the team for the US firm, with competition partner Omar Shah, corporate partner Iain Wright, employment and pensions partner Lee Harding and corporate and investment management partner Mark Geday also advising.
Leading for Hill Dickinson, meanwhile, were the firm's chairman and corporate lawyer Jonathan Brown and head of the Manchester corporate team Ian Gillis, with assistance from Liverpool-based corporate partner Michael Murphy.
Virgin Atlantic, which will take the remaining 30% stake in the company, is being advised by HSF. The firm is fielding a team that includes corporate partners Robert Moore, Ben Ward and Mark Bardell, competition and regulatory partners Kim Dietzel and Veronica Roberts, pensions partner Alison Brown and finance partner Kristen Roberts.
The consortium will purchase Flybe for £2.2m, and the three firms will make a £20m bridge loan available to Flybe, as well as a further £80m of funding following the deal's completion.
BCLP, meanwhile, is advising Flybe on the transaction. Flybe will now operate under the Virgin Atlantic brand.
The airline industry has provided a steady stream of work to legal advisers in recent years. In 2014, Bird & Bird, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Dentons picked up roles on Virgin Atlantic's sale and leaseback of 11 new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, each valued at $100m (£62m).
Elsewhere, Shoosmiths recently picked up a mandate for the administration of now-defunct airline Monarch's engineering arm. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Kirkland & Ellis and Stephenson Harwood all took roles on the administration of Monarch in 2017.
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