Magic Circle firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters have won lead roles advising on the sale of Alstom’s thermal power division to German private equity firm Triton in a deal worth around $1bn.
Linklaters is advising Triton, led out of Germany by the head of private equity in the jurisdiction, Rainer Traugott, alongside Paris-based Vincent Ponsonnaille and Florian Harder in Munich. The large multi-disciplinary team includes partners from the firm’s corporate, tax, banking, TMT, competition and employment practice areas.
Freshfields’ corporate, tax and finance team is representing Alstom, led by corporate partners Alan Mason and Olivier Rogivue, working closely alongside Alstom’s Doris Speer and Alessandra Zingone-Audouin.
The deal comes as French turbine and train maker Alstom plans to divest its non-core assets to pay off some debt and re-focus on fast-growing markets, Reuters reported. The transaction was approved by Alstom’s board on March 31 and is expected to close by September 2014.
Meanwhile, Triton is largely focussed on investing in medium-sized businesses in Northern Europe, and is currently invested in 25 companies, with combined sales of around €13bn and over 52,000 employees.
While Freshfields is advising Alstom this time round, the firm previously represented Triton Partners in June 2013 on its acquisition of leading European recycling specialist Befesa from the Spanish listed energy and environment technology company Abengoa worth €1,075bn, led by corporate partners Anselm Raddatz and Christoph Nawroth in Düsseldorf.
Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
