Slaughter and May, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom are all advising on Michael Kors’ £900m offer for luxury British fashion company Jimmy Choo.
Under the agreement, the shoemaker would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Michael Kors. Its shareholders will receive £2.3 in cash for each of their Jimmy Choo shares, 36p above the £1.68 share price the day before Jimmy Choo’s parent JAB Luxury announced it would launch a formal sale process in April.
Slaughter and May acted for Michael Kors in the UK, while Paul Weiss advised the company on US corporate and financing aspects. The Slaughters team is comprised of London-based corporate and commercial partner Jeffrey Twentyman, competition partner Lisa Wright and tax partner Sara Luder.
Paul Weiss team’s team was led by New York-based corporate partners Justin Hamill and Tom de la Bastide, alongside co-head of North America capital markets and securities John Kennedy.
Freshfields acted for Jimmy Choo via corporate partner Christopher Mort, with support from corporate partner Alison Smith, employment partner Nick Squire and antitrust partner Alex Potter.
Skadden represented Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as financial advisers. The Skadden team included M&A New York-based partner Paul Schnell and Washington-based partner Jeremy London, as well as London-based corporate partner Scott Hopkins and banking partner Clive Wells.
The boards of directors of both companies have approved the transaction but has yet to be voted in by Jimmy Choo’s shareholders.
The deal will be subject to regulatory approvals in the EU, US and Russia and is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2017.
When Jimmy Choo floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2014, the issuer, private investment firm JAB Holdings owned by the German billionaire Reimann family, instructed Freshfields with Mort as leading partner. Hogan Lovells acted for Jimmy Choo at the time on its long-term incentive plans, while Linklaters advised on refinancing matters.
The Michael Kors offer is part of a string of foreign takeovers generating work in the city this year as foreign buyers take advantage of the drop in the value of the pound since Britain voted to leave the EU.