If the shoe just about fits – Wragges in merger talks with Lawrence Graham

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Proposed merger promises Birmingham firm significant City presence.

The announcement last month that Wragge & Co and Lawrence Graham (LG) are in merger talks makes a lot of sense on many levels, although competitors have inevitably been quick to point out obvious pitfalls.

Both firms have been hunting for suitors for a long time and for Wragges, the talks could provide the serious London foothold that has so long eluded it, despite a series of high-profile Birmingham transfers and London hires.

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Gateway to Africa: Hogan Lovells ties-up with Routledge Modise

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The queue of international firms looking to enter the South African market became one shorter in November, as transatlantic giant Hogan Lovells announced it had tied up with Routledge Modise after ten months of talks.

The 40-partner South African firm, an ally of Eversheds until October last year, will operate under the Hogan Lovells banner, but will not share the same profit pool, as local regulations prohibit it.

Current Routledge chairman Lavery Modise will retain his title in South Africa, while the directors of the firm will now be referred to as partners. The new team is not expected to take up any positions on Hogan Lovells’ board. Continue reading “Gateway to Africa: Hogan Lovells ties-up with Routledge Modise”

Shearman settles controlling stake in Co-operative Bank for US hedge funds

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Behind the scenes of the first-ever creditor bail-in of a bank in the UK.

Last month The Co-operative Group’s £1.5bn recapitalisation plan for its beleaguered banking arm unravelled as subordinated bondholder activists advised by Shearman & Sterling negotiated hard and settled on a controlling stake of 70% of the shares of the bank.

Under the agreement, bondholders including US hedge funds led by Aurelius Capital Management and Silver Point Capital – dubbed the LT2 Group as they hold subordinated bonds – will receive 70% of the shares in The Co-operative Bank plus £100m in newly-issued securities. They will also inject £125m of fresh capital into the bank while parent company The Co-operative Group will retain a 30% stake. Continue reading “Shearman settles controlling stake in Co-operative Bank for US hedge funds”

Ashurst faces senior departures after key merger goes live

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It’s not been the ideal launch after the final phase of its high-stakes global merger. Within days of the union between Ashurst and its Australian ally going live on 1 November, the combined firm has seen a run of senior departures and barely concealed dismay in some quarters at the surprise leadership defeat of Charlie Geffen.

Global head of corporate Stephen Lloyd resigned at the start of November, within weeks of Ashurst voting with an overwhelming 97% majority in favour of full financial integration with Australian big six firm Blake Dawson, and shortly after litigator Ben Tidswell won the vote for the firm’s new chairman role.

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Half-year financial results point to relative revival at leading UK firms

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Cyclical departments increasing contribution to bottom line

As an analytical tool half-year figures may be superficial but as a litmus test of performance they show, on the basis of the figures released by LB100 firms so far, that 2013/14 will be a much improved and more benign year.

Firms including Allen & Overy (A&O), Clyde & Co and Simmons & Simmons have disclosed increases in revenue, with signs that cyclical departments such as finance and real estate are beginning to increase their contribution to the bottom line again.

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Consolidating pharma giants to drive global M&A as advisers secure major deals from Novartis and Shire

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The pharmaceutical industry is the driving force behind a number of recent high-value M&A transactions as drugs companies look for new ways to consolidate, and address patent expiration in a trend forecast to continue.

In November, Novartis sold off part of its operation, its blood transfusion diagnostics unit, to Barcelona-based Grifols for an estimated $1.68bn, as the Swiss pharma giant conducts a wholesale review of its business.

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Reed Smith set for record year in London thanks to lateral push and sector focus

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David Stevenson reports on Reed Smith’s evolution into credible global contender

For a 1,500-lawyer, top-30 Global 100 firm, Reed Smith has a habit of quietly getting on with its business. This is despite having conducted three mergers since 2001; grown by around one jurisdiction a year; and made a series of high-profile City hires as it builds out from its core shipping and litigation foundations in the UK – in so doing significantly boosting its 2013 London revenues.

The resignation in October of global managing partner Greg Jordan was a rare senior departure for the nearly 700-partner law firm, which in London this year hired Clifford Chance (CC) structured finance and derivatives partner Claude Brown (after hiring his former colleague Peter Zaman in 2012); McDermott Will & Emery City energy partner Rashpaul Bahia; and DLA Piper media partner Askandar Samad.

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Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi launches first EMEA panel

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Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) has announced its first-ever panel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), with eight leading City firms appointed after a process described as ‘extremely competitive’.

Allen & Overy (A&O), Linklaters and Ashurst won places, alongside Berwin Leighton Paisner, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright, Slaughter and May, and White & Case.

BTMU has also created a separate, confidential transactional panel on which the preferred firms have won a place, alongside ‘other market-leading firms in a range of different practice areas’, which the bank would not disclose.

Born of a merger between the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and UFJ Bank in 2006, BTMU approached a number of firms to apply for the panel, with an initial deadline of September.

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BG Group slims down legal roster to three

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For a FTSE 100 company operating in 20 countries, BG Group’s panel of four law firms was already slim, but it just got slimmer, with news last month that Allen & Overy (A&O) and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) have been dropped in favour of Clifford Chance (CC), which wins a place alongside incumbents CMS Cameron McKenna and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

The appointment of the firms – which will offer full-service advice to the energy giant – came into effect on 1 November and follows a relatively short pitch process, which began in September.

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Life During Law: Marco Compagnoni

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I’m a forward-looking type of guy. Looking back on your career is something you do when you’re retiring. At the bright chickeny age of 50 it’s not the right time to be looking back. In a traditional English law firm, when you come to 50 there’s this unspoken thing of ‘when are you going to go?’ It’s sort of like granny sitting in the corner. In a US firm nobody thinks you know anything until you’re at least 50.

Management is not my thing. I’m more interested in the clients and doing the work. Triangulating complicated personalities and mucking about in committees is not my thing. Continue reading “Life During Law: Marco Compagnoni”