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International Edition

A&O takes top role on €1bn leveraged finance deal

Allen & Overy (A&O) has advised on the €1.025bn (£955m) financing of the acquisition of a majority stake in Italian natural gas distributor Enel Rete Gas (ERG). The magic circle firm drafted in a team from its City headquarters to advise a consortium of 11 banks financing the deal, led by longstanding clients JP Morgan and Banca IMI. London projects partner Conrad Andersen took the lead for A&O, with leveraged finance chief Tim Polglase assisting.
2 minute read

International Edition

Debevoise and Simpson Thacher lead on $2.15bn AIG sell-off

Debevoise & Plimpton and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett have picked up lead roles on AIG's sale of its life insurance business in Taiwan to a Hong Kong-based investment company. Primus Financial will pay $2.15bn (£1.35bn) to acquire AIG's Nan Shan unit, Taiwan's third-largest life insurance company by total premiums.
2 minute read

International Edition

US trio win lead roles on £678m Eastern European telecoms deals

A trio of US firms have taken lead roles on a series of deals in Central and Eastern Europe which will give buyout house Mid Europa Partners a controlling stake in Hungarian telecoms company Invitel. Shearman & Sterling, White & Case and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett were instructed on the deals, which involved both debt and equity acquisitions and have been valued by Mergermarket at a total of £678m.
2 minute read

International Edition

Commentary: (Here's hoping) things can only get better on the M&A front

M&A activity has picked in recent weeks but, as the latest statistics show, it couldn't have come off a much lower base, in Europe at least. The plain fact is that the third quarter M&A figures from Legal Week's exclusive data provider Mergermarket make for depressing reading...
3 minute read

International Edition

Bond Pearce and Blake Lapthorn land roles on £100m defence financing

Bond Pearce and Blake Lapthorn have won roles advising on the £100m financing of an acquisition by defence company Chemring. Bond Pearce picked up a mandate to advise its longstanding client Chemring on the financing aspects of its acquisition of the US defence manufacturer Hi-Shear for a price tag of $132m (£80m).
2 minute read

Legal Week

Commentary: (Here's hoping) things can only get better on the M&A front

M&A activity has picked in recent weeks but, as the latest statistics show, it couldn't have come off a much lower base, in Europe at least. The plain fact is that the third quarter M&A figures from Legal Week's exclusive data provider Mergermarket make for depressing reading...
16 minute read

International Edition

Dewey takes top role on Aviva's US listing

Dewey & LeBoeuf has won a lead role advising insurance giant Aviva on its New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listing. The world's fifth-largest insurance group, formerly known as Norwich Union in the UK, will make a secondary listing on the NYSE on 20 October and trade under the symbol AV.
2 minute read

International Edition

Links and Freshfields dominate Euro M&A but activity hits six-year low

Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have dominated the battered European M&A markets over the first three quarters of 2009. Research from Mergermarket exclusively provided to Legal Week shows Freshfields topping the European rankings by value after working on 105 deals worth $127.9bn (£80bn). Linklaters tops the volume rankings and comes second by value, with roles on 116 deals worth $111.4bn (£70bn) in Europe.
3 minute read

International Edition

Care home operator debt restructure hands roles to Macfarlanes and A&O

Macfarlanes and Allen & Overy (A&O) have scored roles as care home operator Four Seasons Healthcare restructured its £1.5bn debt pile after more than a year of negotiations with lenders. The deal, which signed last week (28 October), saw some 30 lenders agreeing a debt-for-equity swap that effectively halves Four Seasons' debt to around £780m and leaves primary lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) with a 40% stake in the company.
2 minute read

International Edition

High-yield debt in Europe - let's take this from the top

Here we go again. Nearly a decade since making abortive first attempts to break into the high-yield market, a handful of UK law firms are making a renewed effort with a product line that many are predicting - once again - will go mainstream in Europe. Most notably, Allen & Overy (A&O) has recruited Kevin Muzilla, a former Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy partner as a rare appointment to its London partnership. The attraction for UK lawyers is obvious, with high-yield debt more complex, bespoke and document-intensive than general capital markets work. But breaking into the area has proved harder than imagined.
3 minute read

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