Archive for category: Mergers

Malaysian law firm Adnan Sundra & Low (ASL) is merging with three-partner boutique Putri Norlisa Chair (PNC). The merged firm will retain the name of Adnan Sundra & Low.

Following the merger, which comes into effect on Oct. 1, the firm will have 90 lawyers, including 22 partners. PNC was established in 2015.

The firm’s practice areas include corporate/M&A, projects and infrastructure, and banking and finance. PNC won awards in consecutive years at the ALB Malaysia Law Awards; it was named as the Rising Law Firm of the Year in 2017, and the Boutique Law Firm of the Year the following year.

ASL, which was founded in 1975, specialises in banking and finance, capital markets, civil aviation, corporate/M&A, dispute resolution, Islamic finance and real estate. It is among the ten largest law firms in Malaysia, according to the 2017 ALB Top 50 list. In 2016, ASL won the Law Firm of the Year award at the ALB Malaysia Law Awards.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May are advising on the merger of energy giants Npower and SSE’s domestic retail operations.

The deal will create a new independent British retail energy company, listed on the London Stock Exchange. Npower parent company Innogy will own 34.4%, with SSE shareholders holding the other 65.6%.

Freshfields, which was appointed to SSE’s inaugural legal panel in 2014, is advising the Scotland-based company with a team led by London corporate partner Simon Marchant, alongside fellow corporate partners Julian Pritchard and Andrew Craig, and competition partners Deidre Trapp and  James Aitken.

Slaughters and Hengeler Mueller are advising Innogy, working with the Germany company’s in-house legal team.

Slaughters corporate partners Richard Smith and Tim Boxell are leading the magic circle firm’s team alongside competition partner Lisa Wright, financing partner Ed Fife and pensions and employment partners Charles Cameron, Padraig Cronin and Daniel Schaffer.

The Slaughters team also includes intellectual property partner Rob Sumroy, tax partner Gareth Miles and financial regulation partner Nick Bonsall, while the Hengeler team is being led by corporate partners Andreas Austmann and Thomas Meurer.

Innogy’s in-house team includes Innogy GC Claudia Mayfeld, head of legal M&A Tobias Bage and head of legal antitrust and energy Malte Abel.

Other firms appointed to SSE’s panel in 2014 alongside Freshfields included Addleshaw Goddard, Osborne Clarke, CMS and Kennedys.

In 2015, Freshfields’ Trapp advised SSE over market reforms following a damning report by the Competition and Markets Authority, which found that energy companies were overcharging customers who failed to switch suppliers.

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Allen & Overy (A&O) have led on the ongoing negotiations in Vantiv’s £9.3bn merger with alternative payment platform Worldpay.

Ohio-based payment company Vantiv’s bid was formally accepted by Worldpay’s board and looks set to go through subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, creating a group with a combined value of more than £22bn.

Skadden advised the US tech company on the deal with a team, led by M&A partner Scott Hopkins in London with M&A partners Peter Atkins and David Ingles in New York.

A&O M&A partner Seth Jones led the firm’s team advising Worldpay in the deal.

Ashurst acted for Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse on the deal with corporate partners Karen Davies, Tim Rennie and finance partner Mark Vickers.

It is understood that Sidley Austin and Latham & Watkins supported with financial and regulatory advice in the United States.

If completed, the deal will see Vantiv purchase shares in Worldpay for 379p each but retain the name of the English company.

For Ashurst, is the second major online payment deal, pending shareholder approval, that the firm has advised on in the last week totaling more than £12bn following Paysafe’s proposed £3bn acquisition by Blackstone and CVC.

Davies and Rennie were also involved in that deal and Rennie said this shows an “awakening in the sector”.

Rennie told The Lawyer: “It’s difficult to know the exact reasons behind these deals with Brexit and everything else going on in the world. However, I do think that it’s the future of the tech business and follows the global spread.”

The merged company will house offices in both the US and UK with its global headquarters sitting in Ohio and its international headquarters located in London.

Worldpay first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2015 and more than doubled its value, growing to upwards of £8bn.

Eversheds management is hoping for a resounding endorsement from partners today (16 December) on the vote to tie up with US firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan.

The voting process to join the two firms will conclude at 2PM today. In order for the merger to be approved, two-thirds of Eversheds partners and over half of Sutherland partners have to vote in favour.

The combined firm will be called Eversheds Sutherland, and it is understood that it will operate as a company limited by guarantee, as used by the Big Four accountancies and Gowling WLG.

The cohort negotiating the deal included Eversheds chief executive Bryan Hughes, chief executive elect Lee Ranson, chairman Paul Smith, international managing partner Ian Gray and incoming managing partner Keith Froud.

It is understood that the talks between the two firms commenced at the start of 2016, although the merger talks were revealed later this year.

The board lineup for the merged firm is expected to be announced in January 2017, while the company is expected to be operational by February 2017.

The two firms combined will create a transatlantic business with a turnover of £600m. Eversheds would be the dominant firm in the merger after posting revenues of £405m last year. According to data in The Lawyer’s Global 200, Sutherland’s 2015 turnover was £196.9m.

The tie-up will create the 39th largest firm by revenue globally, and push Eversheds into the top 10 law firms in the UK, where it will rank tenth largest.

The merger with Sutherland will add an additional 178 partners to Eversheds’ 358-strong partnership and offices in Atlanta, Austin, Geneva, Houston, New York, Sacramento, and Washington DC.

Sutherland specialises in corporate, energy, financial services, intellectual property, litigation, tax, and real estate work.

Eversheds has been vocal about its plans to pull off a US merger in the last two years. The firm held merger talks with Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner at the end of 2015. Discussions between the two firms broke down after details of the deal were leaked to the press.

If the latest talks are successful they will mark a successful end to Bryan Hughes’ tenure as Eversheds’ CEO. During his time leading the firm Hughes announced a strategy to turn Eversheds into a global leader by 2020. As part of the strategy the firm appointed Ian Gray as its first international managing partner.

Eversheds managing partner Lee Ranson was recently elected as the firm’s new CEO and will take over from Hughes in May 2017. Corporate partner Keith Froud has been appointed to replace Ranson as managing partner.

Sutherland opened a small office in the UK in 2014 when it merged with London commodities boutique Arbis. The deal also gave Sutherland its first office in Geneva. The London office focuses on oil and metals trading.