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  • October 9, 2008 |

    Magic circle duo lead on €750m Sappi deal

    Linklaters and Slaughter and May have taken the lead roles on Sappi's €750m (£583m) acquisition of Finnish graphic paper business M-real.The deal includes the purchase of four graphic paper mills in Finland, Germany and Switzerland.The deal represents Link-laters' first major M&A instruction for Sappi, although the firm has advised the South African company on other matters in the past.London corporate partners Charlie Jacobs and John Lane led the Linklaters team, with the firm also working with local counsel in Finland, Switzerland and Austria. Bowman Gilfillan acted as lead South African adviser to Sappi, with Cravath Swaine & Moore providing US advice. M-real turned to Slaughters where London M&A partner Craig Cleaver headed the team.South African firm Werksmans, Germany's Hengeler Mueller, Finland's Roschier and Switzerland's Barr & Karrer all provided local advice to M-real, while Latham & Watkins advised the banks.

    1 minute read

  • October 8, 2008 |

    Bank turmoil helps elite firms to tighten grip on M&A market

    Top UK and US law firms dominate the latest European M&A rankings for Q3 2008 - a period in which global deal volume fell by 36% compared with the same quarter the previous year. The latest research from Legal Week's data provider, Mergermarket, shows the magic circle taking the top positions by value and volume for European M&A, with New York leaders also featuring highly.

    1 minute read

  • October 8, 2008 |

    Commentary: Tough M&A markets provide flight to Square Mile's finest

    If the M&A world is proving unsurprisingly turbulent right now, a very select band of law firms have become highly adept at riding the hurricanes of international deal markets. Bids may be collapsing on funding problems, and the UK's deal market plainly slumped over the summer, but banking turmoil and the global run of consolidation in energy and commodities have proved a boon to a small group of leading firms.And none more so than Linklaters, which was already riding high in the rankings on the back of its lead role on the E144bn BHP Billiton/Rio Tinto bid and Q2's largest deal: InBev's takeover of rival drinks firm Anheuser-Busch.

    1 minute read

  • October 8, 2008 |

    Freshfields, Slaughters land £50bn banking bailout roles

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May are among a raft of top City firms to win roles on the Government's £50bn bailout of the UK banking system.Freshfields is understood to have reprised its role for longstanding client the Bank of England on the rescue plan, with corporate partner Michael Raffan leading.

    1 minute read

  • October 8, 2008 | International Edition

    Freshfields, Slaughters land £50bn banking bailout roles

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May are among a raft of top City firms to win roles on the Government's £50bn bailout of the UK banking system.Freshfields is understood to have reprised its role for longstanding client the Bank of England on the rescue plan, with corporate partner Michael Raffan leading.

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2008 |

    Beiten's festival friends

    A couple of Chinese tourists thought they’d struck gold at the Munich beer festival the other day. For there, kitted out in lederhosen, was none…

    1 minute read

  • October 6, 2008 |

    BLP to lose out following Legal & General review

    Legal & General is putting the final touches to its property panel with long-term adviser Berwin Leighton Paisner looking set to lose work to rival firms.It is understood that existing advisers including Eversheds and LG will pick up much of the insurer's property work, alongside Olswang, which is thought to have been added to the roster.

    1 minute read

  • October 2, 2008 |

    Law firms land B&B, Dexia and Fortis roles

    A raft of leading law firms have landed roles on the latest bank bailouts with Bradford & Bingley (B&B), Dexia and Fortis all agreeing rescue deals this week.Herbert Smith, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Slaughter and May and Ashurst all won major roles on the £40bn nationalisation of B&B. Herbert Smith advised longstanding client B&B, fielding a team under London corporate chief Michael Walter. Slaughters, fielding a team under London corporate partner Charles Randell, acted for the UK Government, which nationalised the bank on Monday (29 September). Freshfields advised Bank of England on its role overseeing B&B, with partner Michael Raffan leading the team.Ashurst advised Banco Santander-owned Abbey on its acquisition of B&B's £20bn deposit business, which includes 200 branches. As the banking crisis spread to continental Europe, Herbert Smith ally Stibbe won lead roles advising on the state bailouts of Belgian banking leader Fortis and Dexia. The firm is advising the Belgian Government, which has taken minority stakes in both of the troubled banks. The firm is acting opposite Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton for Dexia, which is to receive a E6.4bn (£5.1bn) injection from the governments of Belgium, France and Luxembourg and shareholders. Linklaters took the lead for Fortis on its E11.2bn (£8.9bn) cash injection from the governments of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

    1 minute read

  • October 2, 2008 |

    Redundancy programmes prompt reputational fears among partners

    Almost half of partners believe lawyer redundancy programmes have a major negative impact on law firms' reputations, according to new research. The latest Legal Week/Big Question survey findings follow several City firms - including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and LG - announcing job losses as a result of the credit crisis, following in the wake of a stream of redundancies at national and regional firms. Despite the number of firms announcing redundancies to date, results from the survey show that 39% of respondents think publicly laying off lawyers has a negative impact on firms' reputations, with a further 6% arguing that the effect is 'very bad' and hard to shake off.

    1 minute read

  • September 29, 2008 |

    Top UK quartet line up on £40bn B&B nationalisation

    Herbert Smith, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Slaughter and May and Ashurst have all landed top roles on the £40bn nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley (B&B). Herbert Smith advised longstanding client B&B, fielding a team under London corporate chief Michael Walter, with corporate partners Will Pearce and Adam Lovitz assisting. Restructuring advice was provided by London restructuring partners Kevin Pullen and Laurence Elliott.

    1 minute read