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  • January 21, 2009 |

    Commentary: Looking back to 2008 says deal year will feel like 2003

    There is scant evidence of new year cheer for deal lawyers surveying the year ahead, even though figures from Legal Week's exclusive data provider Mergermarket illustrate that deal activity has fallen less than the business headlines of late would suggest.The broad picture for M&A in 2008 was clear: despite the credit squeeze paralysing activity from private equity bidders, overall M&A held up well in the first half of the year. This picture of resilience, however, did not survive the chaos unleashed by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. So while the total number of announced bids in Europe exceeded 1,500 in both the first and second quarter of 2008, by the fourth quarter, that number had dwindled to 786, according to Mergermarket. Overall that leaves 2008 roughly on par with a solid year like 2005. But expectations that the conditions we have seen in the fourth quarter will be repeated through the coming year suggests that M&A activity in 2009 in major regions will be in line with the deal drought of 2002 and 2003.

    1 minute read

  • January 21, 2009 |

    Nice work... if you can get it

    These are bleak times for corporate lawyers. But there is one ray of light in this storm - sovereign wealth funds. These funds, which are loosely defined as investment vehicles owned by foreign governments, have generated many headlines over the past 18 months. Their high-profile transactions range from the buyout of luxury retailer Barneys New York to multibillion-dollar investments in Wall Street banks. In 2007 alone, sovereign entities spent $92bn (£61.3bn) in publicly recorded equity transactions, according to Monitor Group.But the real moment for sovereign wealth funds is now. These powerhouse investors globally control about $2.3trn (£1.5trn), a pocketbook that exceeds both the private equity and hedge fund industries. And they could quadruple in size by the middle of the next decade, even with the global slowdown and the recent decline in oil prices, according to Morgan Stanley chief currency economist Stephen Jen. Funds in the Gulf region account for more than half of those sums.

    1 minute read

  • January 19, 2009 |

    Magic circle trio lead on new Govt banking bailout

    A trio of City firms have landed advisory roles as the Government unveils a second package of measures to bail out the UK banking system. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Slaughter and May and Linklaters have all secured roles advising on the new plans to stimulate lending, which come just three months after the previous £37bn bailout package was announced. Slaughters has been instructed by longstanding client the Treasury, with London corporate finance partner Charles Randell taking the lead role. The firm's team also includes partners Nilufer von Bismarck (corporate), Matthew Tobin (finance), Ben Kingsley (regulation), William Sibree (competition) and Graham Iversen and Tony Beare (tax).

    1 minute read

  • January 15, 2009 |

    Rival City firms decline repeat of CC job cuts

    The bulk of the City's top 10 law firms have stated that they will not be following Clifford Chance's (CC's) lead with formal redundancies in London in the immediate future. Magic circle firm Linklaters was the only firm that refused to comment, with all of the remaining firms saying they had no lawyer job cuts in the pipeline. Allen & Overy (A&O), the firm regarded by many as the most likely to make cuts after CC as a result of its large finance practice, said it had no imminent plans. The firm said in a statement: "Like any business we cannot rule out the possibility of having to make targeted redundancies in particular practice groups or offices if there is a sustained downturn or if there are exceptional business reasons."

    1 minute read

  • January 15, 2009 |

    Links, Slaughters lead on £1.6bn RBS sell-off

    Linklaters and Slaughter and May have won lead roles on Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS's) £1.6bn sale of its stake in Bank of China.Linklaters has picked up the main role for regular client RBS on the transaction, with London corporate partner Anne Drummond and Hong Kong corporate partner Betty Yap leading the team for the firm.Slaughters advised ABN Amro and Morgan Stanley on the transaction, fielding a team from its Asian practice led by Hong Kong corporate partner Benita Yu.

    1 minute read

  • January 15, 2009 |

    RPC signs exclusive agreement to send trainees to BPP

    City firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) has signed an exclusive deal with BPPlaw school. The agreement will see all of RPC's future trainees studying the Legal Practice Course (LPC) with BPP from September this year. The course will be specifically tailored to RPC's needs. The deal makes RPC the latest in a stream of firms to sign exclusive training agreements with individual law schools, with BPP running programmes for 12 firms. Last September, the City LPC consortium of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Lovells, Norton Rose, and Slaughter and May extended their relationship with BPP by agreeing to send all their Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) students to the school.

    1 minute read

  • January 14, 2009 |

    Herbert Smith joins insolvency rush with oil company mandate

    Herbert Smith has become the latest firm to benefit from the run of UK restructuring and insolvency mandates, winning a role on the collapse of London and Toronto-listed Oilexco. Finance head Jason Fox and restructuring partner Kevin Pullen are leading a five-partner team advising administrator Ernst & Young on the collapse, which sees Oilexco become the oil industry's first casualty of the crunch. McCarthy Tetrault is advising Oilexco, with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advising the banks involved in the deal. The administration is the latest in a stream of instructions for City firms in recent weeks, as well-known names ranging from Waterford Wedgwood to Zavvi have gone under.

    1 minute read

  • January 14, 2009 |

    CC secures best friends alliance with Indian firm

    Clifford Chance (CC) has formed a best friends relationship with Indian firm AZB, with the tie-up going live today (14 January). The two firms have agreed to refer work to each other on a non-exclusive basis, wherever possible, with the goal to intensify the relationship when local regulations permit them to do so.CC senior partner Stuart Popham told Legal Week: "We want to achieve an alliance to provide more efficient cross-border advice. AZB wants to offer clients access to the international network. They also want lawyers to be able to get international experience without leaving the firm."He added: "We would hope that as and when regulation allows, we could grow closer."

    1 minute read

  • January 13, 2009 |

    Northern Rock shares dispute kicks off in court

    The Northern Rock shareholder dispute hits the courts today (13 January), with a number of the legal profession's big hitters set to battle it out with the Government. The three-and-a-half day trial, at a specially convened Divisional Court at the Royal Courts of Justice, will see more than 150,000 private shareholders attempting to secure improved compensation following the nationalisation of the crisis-hit lender.The shareholders will not challenge the nationalisation itself but claim the statutory criteria established for the valuation process breach the European Convention on Human Rights.

    1 minute read

  • January 13, 2009 |

    Trio of firms take flight on E323m airline deal

    Debevoise & Plimpton, Legance and Bonelli Erede Pappalardo have taken lead roles on Air France-KLM's purchase of a stake in Alitalia. The French-Dutch airline beat Lufthansa to buy a 25% stake in the Italian carrier at a much reduced price of €323m (£293m), after last spring's failed €1.5bn (£1.4bn) bid to buy a minority stake.Italian independent Legance advised Air France-KLM with a team led by corporate finance partners Filippo Troisi and Andrea Fedi. US firm Debevoise & Plimpton's Paris office advised the airline on the French aspects of the deal, led by office co-managing partner Patrick Laporte and international counsel Severine Canarelli.

    1 minute read