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International Edition

Links, Travers and DLA lead on David Lloyd Leisure sale

Linklaters, DLA Piper and Travers Smith have taken the lead roles on the sale of David Lloyd Leisure to private equity group TDR Capital for a reported value of £750m. Linklaters advised TDR on M&A aspects of the deal, with a team led by corporate partner David Holdsworth. DLA Piper took the lead role for David Lloyd Leisure Operations Holdings, with corporate partner Ed Griffiths heading up the firm's team. The company is jointly owned by private equity firm Caird Capital and London & Regional Holdings Limited. Travers private equity partner Paul Dolman advised David Lloyd's management.
2 minute read

International Edition

Profit margin split highlights stark disparities across UK top 50

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has emerged as the most profitable firm in the UK top 50, with 2012-13 financial results showing profit margins across the group have remained broadly static. Freshfields comes out top when ranking the top 50 firms by profit margin, with net profit as a percentage of revenue standing at 44.9%. Linklaters places second with a 43.7% margin, with Macfarlanes and Travers Smith – the 28th and 40th largest UK firms respectively by revenue – ranking third and fourth and Allen & Overy (A&O) completing the top five. Average profitability across the 42 top 50 firms that fully disclosed their financial results stands at 25.2% for 2012-13, flat on the previous year's figure of 25.8%.
4 minute read

International Edition

Hogan Lovells, Travers on board for £190m thetrainline.com refinancing

Hogan Lovells and Travers Smith have won the lead roles on a debt refinancing deal for thetrainline.com which has seen the UK ticketing website raise a £190m loan. Private equity group Exponent, which owns thetrainline.com, carried out a refinancing process which increases the company's debt to permit a payout, just over a year after shelving plans to sell the website.
2 minute read

International Edition

Eversheds and Clydes announce retention rates for autumn intakes

Eversheds and Clyde & Co have become the latest UK top 50 firms to confirm their autumn trainee retention rates for 2013, following a clutch of announcements in recent weeks. Eversheds is keeping on 84% of its newly qualified (NQ) lawyers this autumn after offering 40 of its 45 qualifiers a role at the firm, with 38 accepting. The percentage is flat on last autumn's round, when the firm retained the same proportion of NQs.
3 minute read

International Edition

Law firm optimism grows despite flat volumes in last quarter, CBI study reveals

Hopes for increased business volumes and profitability at law firms have reached their highest peak since 2007, according to a survey of senior industry professionals. The report, produced by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), found that although respondents from management, legal and other professional services reported that business volumes were flat over the last quarter, firms were confident that business volumes would pick up over the coming three months.
3 minute read

International Edition

An equitable life? Slightly larger pie, fewer slices

Whether you buy into Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Herzberg's two-factor theory or another of the many motivational schools of thought pushed out by numerous management improvement books, there is a clear consensus that recognition and promotion are two key factors to getting the best out of your workforce. In a law firm environment, of course, the clearest example of recognition comes in the form of making partner, with the zenith being the equity ranks. So Legal Week research this week, which shows that the number of partners climbing to the equity at the top 20 UK firms has fallen year-on-year since the onset of the recession, will not make happy reading.
3 minute read

International Edition

UK top 20 squeeze equity ranks as PEP pressure drives prudence

The proportion of equity partners across the UK top 20 is continuing to shrink as law firms tighten their grip on the equity amid ongoing pressure on profits. The UK's 20 largest law firms by revenue have seen the overall proportion of equity partners fall by 12% over the last seven years, with equity partners accounting for 59% of the total partner count in 2012-13, according to Legal Week research. While the number of partners across the top 20 has risen by 31% since 2005-06, the number of equity partners has grown by just 15% over the same period.
4 minute read

International Edition

Another dimension: 3D printing heralds new world of regulation for manufacturers

Additive manufacturing technologies, such as 3D printing, have the potential to radically change the way many industries work. This will have implications for business – and by extension for the law, most obviously in the field of intellectual property (IP). This isn't a theoretical science fiction concept. It is here now, and it is already causing radical shifts in manufacturing practices across a vast range of industries, overturning established economic models in the process. Using a materials printer, you effectively add thin layers of matter to build a real, three-dimensional object from a digital model. There are different forms of additive manufacturing, but they all have a similar basis. As long as you have the right digital design file to guide the process, there are few limits on what you can make.
5 minute read

International Edition

A&O advises on Nationwide plan to boost capital

Allen & Overy (A&O) has taken the lead role for Nationwide as it offers to buy back up to £715m in securities from investors in a bid to raise capital. The building society has launched the tender offer to holders of its permanent interest bearing shares (PIBS). The price offered on the securities has not been confirmed, but Nationwide has said it will be above current market price.
2 minute read

International Edition

CC seals hire of BLP contentious tax head as senior exits continue

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) contentious tax head Liesl Fichardt is leaving to join Clifford Chance (CC) in the latest senior departure from the firm. Fichardt, who has been at BLP since 2008, is understood to be negotiating her exit from the firm, which has seen a number of partners leave in recent weeks.
2 minute read

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