Global 100 leaders lined up on two billion-pound-plus European IPOs this week, as market confidence continues to return in 2017.
Latham & Watkins and Clifford Chance advised on the IPO of TI Fluid, a year after plans to float car parts maker were shelved due to the uncertainty following Britain’s decision to leave the EU, unrest in the Middle East and the fluctuation of oil prices.
Reportedly one of the largest IPOs in the London Stock Exchange of 2017, the Oxford-based company owned by private equity house Bain Capital floated 30% of its shares at 255p each.
Expected to raise £407m, the IPO values the company at £1.325bn. IPOs in 2017 have already outpaced 2016, when world events triggered a number of pulled listings.
Latham capital market partners James Inness, Richard Brown and David Boles advised TI Fluid alongside benefits and compensation partner Stephen Brown.
Inness told Legal Business that Latham winning the mandate was ‘an indication of the strength of our practice, its impact on the London market and the strong relationships that we have with a number of key institutions.’
CC capital markets partner Simon Thomas and US securities law specialist John Connolly acted for the underwriters. Goldman Sachs International and JP Morgan Cazenove were joint sponsors for the listing.
Bain Capital acquired TI Automotive in 2015 for $2.1bn . Ropes & Gray advised Bain at the time, while Weil, Gotshal & Manges represented TI Automotive. Latham was also involved in the deal, advising a group of TI shareholders.
Latham was also busy across of the Channel alongside White & Case, Linklaters and Bredin Prat on the IPO on Euronext Paris of apparel and accessories maker Sandro, Maje et Claudie Pierlot (SMCP) valuing the company at €1.7bn.
With price set at €22 per share, SMCP raised €127m in new shares and €414m through the sale of existing shares.
Latham advised majority shareholder Shandong Ruyi on the deal, as well as SMCP on the corporate structuring of the transaction and the banking and high yield refinancing aspects. Its team was led by partners Pierre-Louis Cléro and David M. Blumental.
A Bredin Prat team led by Florence Haas, Olivier Saba and Yves Rutschmann advised KKR, which put €148m into the company, while Linklaters advised the banks.
The White & Case team in Paris advised SMCP on the transaction, led by partners Thomas Le Vert and Séverin Robillard.
Elsewhere, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is acting for German construction company Hochtief on its €18.6bn (£16.8bn) counterbid for Spanish toll operator Abertis, in what the firm says is the first major competing takeover offer made in Spain for more than 10 years.
Freshfields is fielding a team led by Munich corporate and M&A partner Kai Hasselbach, Frankfurt finance partner Christoph Gleske and Madrid M&A partner Armando Albarran.
The bid is a challenge to Italian toll operator Atlantia’s €16.3bn (£13.8bn) offer made in May . DLA Piper is acting for Atlantia, alongside Italian firm Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners.