Clifford Chance (CC), Kirkland & Ellis and Jones Day have all won mandates on FTSE 100 publishing company Informa’s $1.56bn bid for US trade publisher Penton Business Media.
The Magic Circle firm is advising UK-headquartered Informa on the proposed acquisition with a cross-border team of lawyers in New York and London. The deal is expected to close before the end of 2016.
Kirkland is acting as legal adviser to Penton and co-owner MidOcean Partners on the sale, while co-owner Wasserstein & Co is being advised by lawyers from Jones Day. The Jones Day deal team was led by private equity partner Andy Levine and corporate partner Ben Grossman.
CC’s team was led by corporate partners Benjamin Sibbett in New York and Steven Fox in London, while London-based partner Michael Bates advised on finance and John Connolly and Robert Trefny advised on capital markets aspects.
The firm previously advised Informa on the sale of its corporate training business in the US in 2013 and its re-domiciliation to and re-listing in London in 2014.
Kirkland’s team was based out of the UK and US, led by New York corporate partner Mark Director and London partner Christopher Field.
Multinational publishing company Informa has a presence in more than 40 countries and annual turnover exceeding £1.2bn. While the weeks since the Brexit vote have seen a number of takeovers of UK companies in M&A, the deal represents a high-profile acquisition for a UK-headquartered company.
Another recent media transaction saw Magic Circle firms Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy all advise on a £1bn deal, with US company General Atlantic taking majority stake in UK-based Argus Media.
Linklaters advised Argus Media, along with Travers Smith and Macfarlanes. Freshfields advised General Atlantic with support from US firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
matthew.field@legalease.co.uk
