International investors have been keeping UK and US counsel busy this week, with Linklaters and Kirkland & Ellis winning roles on Nestlé’s proposed $10bn sale of its skincare business.
Eversheds Sutherland, Pinsent Masons and Ashurst, meanwhile, were all in action as Japan’s largest housebuilder, Sekisui House, entered the UK market, and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) advised Spanish company Cellnex in a multibillion-euro series of acquisitions on the continent.
Kirkland’s private equity partner Roger Johnson is advising longstanding client EQT as the private equity house confirmed it is partnering with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board to acquire Nestlé Skin Health for $10.1bn.
Linklaters’ corporate partners David Martin and Michael Honan are acting for Nestlé as the Swiss group enters exclusive negotiations for what could be one of the largest transactions in Europe this year.
Latham & Watkins is advising EQT on the financing, led by London partners Dominic Newcomb and Jennifer Engelhardt.
Founded in 1981 as Galderma and operating as a subsidiary of Nestlé since 2014, the Lausanne-headquartered skincare company employs more than 5,000 people across 40 countries. According to EQT’s plans, the company will take back its original name and keep its headquarters in Switzerland while focusing on international expansion, particularly in the US.
Elsewhere, Eversheds corporate partner Alistair Cree led a team advising regeneration company Urban Splash as it signed a £90m joint venture with Homes England and Sekisui House. The deal marks the entrance of the Japanese housebuilding giant into the UK with a view to deliver thousands of homes across the country. Pinsents partner Scot Morrison led the team advising the government body, while Ashurst’s Hiroyuki Iwamura acted for Sekisui.
‘Sekisui is the world’s largest housebuilder, it has the balance sheet of all the UK housebuilders combined,’ Cree told Legal Business. ‘The plan of the joint venture is to invest and develop the modular housing model, where houses are built off-site, and roll it out across England – in this way houses can be built much more quickly.’
He added: ‘It’s a real vindication of the Urban Splash business, because you’ve got someone with a real reputation investing into a business that is based in the North West of England.’
Outside the UK there were rich pickings for HSF, as a team led by Paris corporate partner Edouard Thomas advised Spanish telecom infrastructure company Cellnex on its €2.7bn acquisitions in France, Italy and Switzerland.
Cellnex agreed to acquire a series of mobile towers in France and Italy from telecom company Iliad, for €1.4bn and €600m respectively, while in Switzerland it acquired communication sites from Salt.
Alongside HSF, the deals involved Paul Hastings, which advised Salt in Switzerland led by London corporate partner Garrett Hayes, and a number of independent firms across the continent.
French champion Bredin Prat advised Iliad in France and Italy, Italian firm BonelliErede acted for Cellnex on Italian law aspects, and Bär & Karrer advised Cellnex in Switzerland.
