Latham & Watkins, Macfarlanes and Travers Smith have all landed key roles on the £200m sale of media database Gorkana to US rival Cision.
The deal marks one of the first heavyweight mandates undertaken by Latham & Watkins partner Tom Evans, who joined the US firm in April from Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance (CC). The firm’s corporate team, led by London partners David Walker alongside Evans and Chicago-based partner Bradley Faris, advised the buyer public relations software provider Cision.
Evans has previously been tipped as a rising star in the private equity field, and followed Walker, formerly CC’s global head of private equity, who left to join Latham in May 2013.
Sold by private equity house Exponent, the Gorkana Group was established when Exponent acquired cuttings business Durrants in 2006.
Macfarlanes also scored a leading role on the deal, advising its longstanding client Exponent and other selling shareholders, with corporate head Charles Meek leading a team including corporate partners Alex Edmondson and Emmie Jones, as well as tax group head Ashley Greenbank.
Travers Smith’s private equity head Paul Dolman, meanwhile, advised management alongside Kathleen Russ, head of the tax group, and senior associate Adam Orr.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
