Legal Business

Dealwatch: Magic Circle firms lead on major City broking merger

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Corporate Allen & OveryAshurstClifford ChanceSimmons & Simmons
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Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy (A&O) are orchestrating a tie-up between two of the City’s most storied brokers, Icap and Tullett Prebon, as the market consolidates in response to low trading volumes and tougher regulations.

Icap, which was founded by Michael Spencer in 1986, is in talks to sell its traditional voice-broking business to rival Tullett Prebon. If the deal completes, it would be the second major shakeup in the industry this year, with Howard Lutnick’s New York firm BGC Partners winning a bidding war to pay £519m for GFI Group earlier this year.

Icap, which remained the largest interdealer broker in the world after BGC’s takeover of GFI, is in talks to transfer its global broking business to Tullett Prebon in a deal which would see Tullett Prebon issue shares to Icap’s investors to pay for it. The deal, which would make Icap a minority shareholder in the new company, is understood to be worth over £1bn and would see around 1,500 brokers move to Tullett Prebon.

The brokers have instructed Magic Circle law firms, with Clifford Chance advising Icap and A&O advising Tullett Prebon. A&O corporate partner Richard Hough is leading the advice to Tullett Prebon, acting opposite Clifford Chance’s Steven Fox, who was instructed by Icap.

Simmons & Simmons corporate partner Colin Bole is acting for Icap’s team of advisers JP Morgan and Evercore, while Ashurst duo Jonathan Parry and Dominic Ross were instructed by Tullett Prebon’s adviser Rothschild.

Interdealer brokers, which match buyers and sellers in currency, bond, share and other trades, have struggled with stricter regulation forcing banks to cut back on trading. Tullett Prebon cut 200 jobs in March in response to difficult market conditions and falling profits.

If Icap’s deal to offload its traditional broker business to Tullett goes through, the FTSE 250 company will be left as a technology-focused business made up of electronic broking and risk management services. Tullett Prebon, meanwhile, would replace Icap as the world’s largest interdealer broker.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Life During Law – Edward Sparrow

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Life During Law Ashurst
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The legal market has become more competitive. One way of measuring yourself is profit share. For some partners, the size of this share is very important. When I started getting offers, I realised money wasn’t something that motivated me. Other factors were much stronger.

I started out with a managing clerk – he was a bad influence in terms of litigation because he was at a stage where he couldn’t be bothered with the detail, but he was fantastic. He was the firm’s troubleshooter. Whenever the client had a problem – if there was fraud in the factory or somebody was stealing – he was the guy that got called in. He was like something out of a 1970s police programme. He was my first influence.

Legal Business

Allen & Overy and Ashurst team up for Softcat listing

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Corporate Allen & OveryAshurst
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In another busy week for initial public offerings (IPO), Allen & Overy (A&O) and Ashurst have won key roles on the prospective IPO of UK IT infrastructure provider Softcat.

Ashurst is acting as English and US legal adviser to the fast growing company, thought to be valued at around £500m, ahead of its float on the stock exchange next month. Nicholas Holmes, head of Ashurst’s equity capital markets practice is leading, with US partner Jennifer Schneck acting on the US securities side.

A&O is advising joint sponsors, joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners Credit Suisse and Jefferies on the transaction. The team at A&O is jointly led by corporate partner James Roe and US securities partner Adam Wells.

Ernst & Young is also acting as reporting accountants for Softcat, which hopes to be eligible for inclusion in the FTSE UK index series by March 2016. The funds will be raised through the sale of shares currently held by the founders, senior members of the management team and some current and former employees.

Last week also saw A&O win a key role on retirement homebuilder McCarthy & Stone’s planned £1bn flotation.

An A&O team led by corporate partner Richard Browne with support from equity capital markets partner James Roe and US securities partner Adam Wells is advising McCarthy & Stone, which wants to return to the stock market almost a decade after it was taken private.

Underwriters Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies International are being advised by Freshfields, with partner Mark Austin leading the team.

Other recent IPO mandates for A&O includes work on the listings for Equinity, Worldpay, Ibstock and Funding Circle.

kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

DLA Piper boosts Italian offer with nine hires from Ashurst

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Strategic recruitment AshurstDLA Piper
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DLA Piper has hired a team of three partners and six other lawyers from Ashurst for its restructuring and litigation group in Italy, in a move which boosts its Italian partner count to 43.

Partner Francesco De Gennaro will lead the team which includes restructuring lawyer Luca Magrini and litigator Alessandro Lanzi who were counsel at Ashurst but join DLA as partners.

De Gennaro’s practice at Ashurst focused on large restructurings, distressed assets acquisitions and debt trading, acting for companies in financial difficulty as well as representing creditors and investors in distressed situations.

Others joining the team include restructuring specialists Francesco Manzari, Martino Liva and Anna Ferrari, and litigators Luisa Gatti, Andrea Bellenchi, and Flavia Volpi.

The additions boost the headcount at DLA’s Italian office to 169, including 43 partners.

DLA Italy’s managing partner Bruno Giuffre said: ‘the talent, the experience and the vision of the lawyers in this new team will enhance our already impressive range of services, globally and nationally, in the complex areas of financial restructurings and turnarounds and the resultant requirements in terms of finance, distressed M&A, insolvency and litigation.’

Going the other way, DLA lost a team of lawyers to Dentons last week including three partners which moved to Dentons’ new Milan office.

victoria.young@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

King & Wood Mallesons departures continue as Ashurst hires Hong Kong corporate heavyweight Joshua Cole

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Strategic recruitment AshurstKing & Wood Mallesons
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King Wood & Mallesons (KWM) is to lose senior corporate partner Joshua Cole from its Hong Kong office to Ashurst.

Cole has spent nearly his entire career at the KWM, where he joined from legacy firm Mallesons Stephens Jacques in 1996 and made partner in 2008.

Recommended by the Legal 500 for corporate M&A, he specialises in international acquisitions, disposals and joint ventures multiple industry sectors including energy and resources, telecommunications and financial services.

Major deals saw Cole play a key role advising on PetroChina International Investment (Australia) on its $1.6bn acquisition of an 8.3% interest in the East Browse gas joint venture and 20% interest in the West Browse gas joint venture, both from BHP Billiton. He also advised BG Group and QGC on the sale of interests Queensland LNG Project to CNOOC for $1.8bn; and Telstra on the $2.4bn sale of CSL New World Mobility to HKT.

It is not known when Cole is set to start at Ashurst. The firm has been making strategic hires of late to build its Asia presence, and recently strengthened its debt capital markets team with the appointment of Linklaters partner Jini Lee in its Hong Kong based securities and derivatives group. It does however follow the loss of four partners from its Tokyo office, after a team led by office managing partner John McClenahan moved to King & Spalding for its launch in the region.

For KWM, Cole is the latest heavyweight partner to defect in recent months, including fellow corporate partner Simon Milne, the firm’s relationship partner for some of its biggest clients including General Electric, Telstra and Westpac, who left in early summer for a post as executive director, mergers and acquisitions, at PwC Legal in Sydney. Arbitration veteran David Bateson also left his post in Hong Kong to join 39 Essex Chambers as an arbitrator.

The London office, meanwhile, has too seen the exit of big names, including longstanding tax partner Giles Bavister to K&L Gates, IP veteran Ray Black to Mishcon de Reya, financial markets partner Gregg Beechey to Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson and private equity partner Simon Fulbrook resigning to join Goodwin Procter.

Ashurst declined to comment.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving Doors: clutch of firms including Ashurst, Penningtons Manches and White & Case make key hires

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Strategic recruitment AshurstPenningtons ManchesWhite & Case
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A number of firms have made noteworthy appointments this month, including Ashurst, Squire Patton Boggs, Penningtons Manches, Dentons, White & Case and Eversheds who have all added to their teams.

Ashurst has strengthened its dispute resolution capability in Middle East by appointing Dyfan Owen to its Dubai office.

Managing partner of the Middle East, Joss Dare, said: ‘The disputes market in the Middle East has gone through a transformative period in the last few years. The level of mega-projects and infrastructure investments have been generating an increasing number of large, multi-jurisdictional disputes and we see this trend as continuing.’

White & Case has appointed Arlene Hahn as a partner in the firm’s global intellectual property practice, to work closely with the firm’s global mergers & acquisitions practice.

Meanwhile Eversheds has hired Nicholas Jew as a consultant in its employment team, from DLA Piper where he headed the Birmingham employment team.

Squire Patton Boggs has appointed Karim Maalioun as a partner in its Global Corporate Practice, to be based in Paris. Maalioun was the former general counsel (EMEA) for power business ContourGlobal. Christopher Wilde, managing partner of the Paris office said Maalioun adds major energy sector expertise to the firm’s established corporate team.

National firm Pennington Manches has added two new partners to its Cambridge office to strengthen its corporate and real estate teams. Ross McNaughton joins from Paul Hastings where he had been a partner since 2012 and Sarah Coates comes from Thomson Webb & Corfield where she had been a partner since 2013.

Herbert Smith Freehills has appointed former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey as a consultant to its top-tier global energy group. As of September, Davey will work closely with the co-heads of the firm’s Global Energy Group, John Balsdon, Anna Howell and Rob Merrick, advising on thought leadership development in the energy and climate change sectors, and providing a unique understanding of both past, present and future UK and EU energy policy.

Over at Dentons, new capital markets partner Nikolas Colbridge is being welcomed to the firm from Skadden Arps.

Jeremy Cohen, Dentons UKMEA chief executive officer, commented, ‘We are particularly impressed by the work Nik has done on complex listings in Europe, emerging and developing markets, and across the world. His exceptional skill and depth of knowledge will be a real asset to our global practice.’

Finally, US firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has added Jonathan Bunge to its ranks, to join the Chicago office as managing partner. Bunge is an experienced first chair trial lawyer who has tried more than 40 jury and bench trials who was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis.

victoria.young@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving doors: TLT and SPB expand in the regions while Ashurst bolsters its finance practice

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Strategic recruitment AshurstSquire Patton BoggsTLT
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The UK’s regional hubs saw a spree of hiring as TLT strengthened its corporate practice in Manchester after a law firm’s collapse and Squire Patton Boggs bulked up in Leeds. Meanwhile, Ashurst enlarged its finance practice in Europe with the addition of two new partners and Fladgate recruited an employment partner.

Squires expanded its office in Leeds with the appointment of Nabarro’s construction partner James Duckworth. Specialising in major projects such as PPP/PFI and energy deals, Duckworth focuses on renewables in particular wind, biomass, solar, carbon capture and energy-from-waste sectors, both in the UK and internationally.

He will be reunited with infrastructure partner Robin Baillie who joined Squires last year in London and is part of a wider construction push in the regions for the firm with Matthew Mulqueen joining as a partner in Leeds in June.

Meanwhile TLT benefitted from the closure of local outfit Milbank Edge in Manchester this September with the hire of corporate partner Ian Roberts; Andrew Needham, who had previously been a partner at Addleshaws and led DWF’s corporate and commercial team; and commercial partner Pauline Cowie. The trio was joined by two other lawyers and will help bulk up the firm’s north-west offering.

TLT’s head of commercial Bill Hull said: ‘We are ramping up the strength of our UK corporate and commercial offering and this team arrival from Millbank Edge in Manchester showcases that. This is a talented and experienced team; and a great fit strategically, deepening our expertise across the UK and in Manchester.’

Other partners at the firm left for Hill Dickinson and Member Land Law.

In London, Fladgate added on Howard Kennedy employment partner Taj Rehal. Advising listed companies, private businesses and individuals Rehal is listed as a leading individual in The Legal 500 for employment work.

Rehal said: ‘Given the synergies that exist with my own client base and that of Fladgate and their ambitious plans for future growth, this move presents a great platform for my existing clients and an exciting opportunity for me to further develop and grow my practice.’

Finally, Ashurst strengthened its European finance practice with the addition of partner Fernando Navarro from Cuatrecasas. Having also served as in-house counsel at Stanander Investment and Grupo Ahorro Corporación, Navarro specialises in syndicated and bi-lateral loans though also has experience of derivatives, debt restructuring, direct lending, alternative funding, purchase and sale of debt portfolios and debt trading.

Ashurst also hired Detmar Loff from Allen & Overy, bringing him in as a partner in its financial services regulatory group.

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Ashurst rebuilds in the City with Skadden’s former global private equity co-head Lascelles

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Strategic recruitment AshurstSkadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
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Having lost a string of London-based corporate stars in the last two years, Ashurst is making efforts to enhance its offering once more with the hire of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom’s former global private equity co-head Shaun Lascelles.

Cited by The Legal 500 as a key figure in the buyout industry, Lascelles specialises in cross-border M&A and private equity and advises a broad range of private equity firms, hedge funds, state-owned investment funds and other investment funds. Lascelles’ team was shortlisted for the Legal Business Private Equity Team of the Year in 2014 for advising BlackRock on the purchase of Credit Suisse’s exchange-traded funds division, giving the client an important footing in Europe.

For Ashurst the recruit counts as a major boost to its City corporate offering after the loss of heavyweights including former head Charlie Geffen, and partners Mark Sperotto, Nigel Stacey and Jonathan Earle for US rival Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in 2014.

Meanwhile, Skadden’s global private equity practice will continue to be headed by Allison Schneriov. Other changes to its private equity practice include leading City veteran Allan Murray-Jones stepping down from his role as a partner last year and changing to an of counsel role.

Other recent corporate departures from Skadden include, from its German operations, PE partner Matthias Jaletzke, who counts Apax Partners among his clients, and joined Hogan Lovells this summer alongside two other lawyers.

On the recruit of Lascelles, Ashurst’s global corporate head Simon Beddow said: ‘Shaun has first-rate credentials and will be a great addition to the team. He will play an important role in enhancing and consolidating our global private equity offering which remains a core part of our global corporate practice. Shaun’s recruitment follows the recent arrival of David Stammers in Australia and we will continue to add to this resource base to meet global client demand.’

Lascelles added: ‘I am very excited to further develop the firm’s private equity and M&A capability. With private equity firms looking to take advantage of an influx of capital across the industry, helping them to leverage and unlock global opportunities is a key priority for law firms.’

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

After 30 years of Appold Street, Ashurst set for new City location in 2019

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Ashurst
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Ashurst is set to move its entire London operation to a new location at 1-10 Brushfield Street in Spitalfields in 2019 after having shifted its Sydney-based operations last month.

On a 20-year lease, Ashurst will take up the entire office space, around 275,000 sq ft, in the London Fruit & Wool Exchange in Spitalfields when the building is completed. In what is one of the largest Central London letting deals this year, the new building will house all of the firm’s City-based lawyers and business support staff.

The City stalwart will leave its main office at Appold Street which, by the time it moves, it would have occupied for 30 years. Ashurst currently occupies just over 200,000 sq ft across its two buildings at Broadwalk House and Broadgate Quarter.

A spokesperson at Ashurst said: ‘The new office will offer modern, flexible and collaborative work spaces for our people and clients. It will also incorporate a number of architectural and technological initiatives designed to improve energy consumption and respect for the environment. This is a once in a generation opportunity and is an exciting move for the firm.’

Last month [July] the firm moved its Sydney-based operations from Grosvenor Place to the iconic heritage-listed ‘money-box’ building on Martin Place.

The new building, which consists of updated IT infrastructure and new technology, has undergone redevelopment to suit the needs of the firm and its clients. The new office opened its doors at the end of July, and at the time, head of Ashurst’s Sydney office James Marshall said: ‘For the first time our Sydney practice is moving into purpose-designed office space to create the best possible work environment for our people. It is a space that will encourage interaction and collaborative work, while providing our clients with the best possible facilities in which to meet and work closely with our lawyers.’

The moves come as Ashurst adopted a new operational strategy this year, which primarily concentrates on the financial services industry and resources and infrastructure clients and increases its focus on the Asia-Pacific region with better connections between its European, Asian, Australian, Middle Eastern and US office-network.

The firm saw revenues fall in the 2014/15 financial year, with turnover coming in at £561m, down 4% on the £568m generated in 2013/14. PEP fell faster with the firm down 7% to £747,000 on the previous year when PEP stood at £801,000.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

BLP, A&O and Ashurst get the gig on Lone Star’s £700m takeover of Wembley Arena owner

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Corporate Allen & OveryAshurstBerwin Leighton Paisner
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Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Allen & Overy (A&O) have taken the lead roles on US private equity firm Lone Star’s £700m acquisition of Wembley Arena-owner Quintain Estates and Development.

The agreement sees Lone Star’ bid company Bailey Acquisitions Limited, which is indirectly controlled by the firm’s Real Estate Fund IV, offer around £700m in cash for the property developer that has substantial land owning in Wembley Park and planning permission for 5,500 homes.

BLP advised Quintain having previously worked on its £186m disposal of interests in the Greenwich Peninsula. Its team was led corporate finance partners Nick Myatt and Alex Latner with support from Dylan Mackenzie and Cath Shirley while client relationship partner and BLP chairman Robert MacGregor gave real estate advice to the group that floated in 1996 and David Dennison covered incentives.

A&O’s team also built on its relationship with client Lone Star, having previously acted on its acquisition of Moorfield Funds I and II in December 2014 and on its Jury’s Inn buy in January this year. Its team was led by corporate partners George Knighton and Annabelle Croker, real estate finance partner Arthur Dyson and real estate partner Chris Woolf.

Knighton commented: ‘We are delighted to be working with Lone Star on another large transaction in the real estate sector. On this transaction we deployed a full team with expertise covering public takeovers, acquisition finance, real estate and tax issues.’

The bid company received financial advice from Morgan Stanley which saw Ashurst pick-up an additional role advising the bank. Its team was led by corporate partners Karen Davies and Tom Mercer with finance advice given by Mark Vickers and Tim Rennie.

Lone star’s bid for the £60m turnover company involves a cash offer of 131p per Quintain share – a 22.4% premium on the 28 July closing price. The deal is being partially financed by a £425m term facility with Wells Fargo.

michael.west@legalease.co.uk