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International Edition

Addleshaws and A&O land Sky merger roles

Addleshaw Goddard has secured a role alongside Allen & Overy (A&O) as media companies British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and Tiscali move towards a tie-up. Addleshaws has been brought in to advise regular client Tiscali, which confirmed last week it is in exclusive talks with BSkyB to offload its UK assets in a deal that could be worth £450m. The national law firm is fielding a team under London-based relationship partner James Dawson to advise the struggling Italian group.
2 minute read

International Edition

Eversheds advises on development of UK's first healthcare mall project

Eversheds has won a role advising new client Grangefield Estates on the development of the first 'healthcare' mall in the UK. The top 10 UK law firm is advising the Dublin-based developer on a £750m regeneration project to create the first multi-purpose healthcare complex - 'Chancellor Place' - fielding a team led by development and regeneration partner Peter Winnard.Eversheds successfully pitched against regional rivals Halliwells, Brabners Chaffe Street and Hill Dickinson for the work last year, after being introduced by long-term client, local urban regeneration company New East Manchester.
2 minute read

International Edition

Freshfields, Linklaters act on £2.2bn Centrica rights issue

City rivals Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters have landed lead roles advising on Centrica's £2.2bn rights issue.Linklaters has been instructed by long-time client Centrica on the fund raising, which will back a potential acquisition of a 25% stake in British Energy (BE). Corporate partners Owen Clay and John Lane are acting alongside Centrica general counsel Grant Dawson.Meanwhile, Freshfields was brought in to advise the underwriters, which comprised a consortium of seven banks - Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, UBS, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays Capital. The magic circle firm fielded a team under City corporate partners Simon Witty and Monica McConville.
2 minute read

International Edition

Freshfields, Ashurst take flight on Lufthansa's €400m BMI bid

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Ashurst have landed lead roles in Lufthansa's bid to take a controlling stake in UK airline BMI, in a deal valued at a reported €400m (£314m).Freshfields won an instruction from the German national airline, which announced last week that it is to take a further 50% stake in BMI. London-based corporate partner Sundeep Kapila led the team for the magic circle firm.The firm has advised Lufthansa regularly in the past, including on the establishment of a freight airline with DHL Express in 2007.
2 minute read

International Edition

Milbank Tweed and Slaughters pick up £2bn sale of Abbey train leasing arm

Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and Slaughter and May have taken lead roles on the estimated £2bn sale of Abbey's train leasing arm Porterbrook to a Deutsche Bank-led consortium, in one of the largest leveraged acquisitions of the year in the London market. Milbank scored the lead role for the acquiring consortium, including Deutsche bank, Lloyds TSB and Antin Infrastructure Partners - a BNP Paribas-sponsored infrastructure fund. The US firm fielded a team out of its London office under corporate partner Stuart Harray, along with finance partner Suhrud Mehta and tax partner Russell Jacobs.
2 minute read

International Edition

Macfarlanes takes lead on CompAir sale

Pinsent Masons and Macfarlanes have bagged lead roles on CompAir's £197.5m sale to industrial manufacturer Gardner Denver. The deal saw Macfarlanes instructed for regular client Alchemy Partners, as the majority shareholder in air and gas compressor business (CompAir). The City firm fielded a team led by corporate partner Ian Martin, and including partners Paul Davies, Marc Israel and Elizabeth Sherwood.Meanwhile, Pinsents was brought in to advise CompAir's management with a team led by technology head Andrew Hornigold, assisted by corporate associate James Willmott.
2 minute read

International Edition

Commentary: A timely moment to give more love to the bean-counters

As insolvency lawyers' hopes that they would ever see a major revival in demand for their services began to fade, there was a palpable sense within law firms that the big accountancy firms had lost some of their status as clients. The big four of KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) remained important clients in their own right and good sources of referrals but, as the boom stretched on, accountants fell down lawyers' pecking order - while banks rose upwards.
3 minute read

International Edition

Dealmaker: Mark Hyde

Clifford Chance head of restructuring and insolvency Mark Hyde on winding up Charlton Athletic, becoming a dad in Hong Kong airport and go-karting shame
5 minute read

International Edition

BLP and Hammonds head up new National Grid panel

National Grid has appointed a new panel of seven firms to deal with its groupwide property, planning and parliamentary agency work. The international electricity and gas company will use Berwin Leighton Paisner, Dundas & Wilson and Hammonds for complex project, environmental and property work and BrookStreet des Roches, Davies & Partners and Needham & James for volume property, easement work and less complex property matters. Bircham Dyson Bell has been appointed for general property easement work and to act as the group's parliamentary agent.
2 minute read

International Edition

CC and Latham line up for £7bn Barclays financing

Clifford Chance (CC) is leading a quartet of legal advisers to secure principal roles on the £7bn cash injection into Barclays from the Middle East. CC fielded a team under corporate partners Guy Norman and Patrick Sarch. The instruction extends a growing list of mandates CC has handled this year for Barclays - one of its core clients - including acting on its high-stakes purchase of Lehman Brothers' US business.Norman also advised Barclays on its opt-out of receiving a capital boost from the UK Government after planning to raise more than £6.5bn of tier one capital without state help. Barclays had to obtained the opt-out after the Government this month unveiled its plan to recapitalise a group of the UK's largest banks, which introduced tougher standards on bank financing.
2 minute read

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