Legal Business

Licence to operate: HSF latest to enter Kuala Lumpur as market liberalises

Posted on |
Asia Herbert Smith Freehills

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) announced today (13 January) it will open in Kuala Lumpur as part of its South East Asia expansion strategy. The firm has obtained a Qualified Foreign Law Firm licence from the Malaysian Bar Council, allowing it to practice without an association.

Subject to regulators, the new office is expected to open in May 2017, and will include transactional, contentious and Islamic finance capabilities.

Kuala Lumpur will be HSF’s ninth outpost in Asia, alongside Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok and associated offices in Jakarta and Singapore. It will also be HSF’s 27th office globally.

The opening is in line with HSF’s expansion strategy in Southeast Asia. Alongside Singapore, Jakarta and Bangkok, the new office will handle matters for clients in all 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

HSF Asia & Australia managing partner Justin D’Agostino said: ‘Our Kuala Lumpur team is looking forward to contributing to the Malaysian legal, business and local communities as we grow our practice.’

D’Agostino (pictured) added: ‘Developing local talent is one of our key priorities, and we intend to continue working with Malaysian law firms, with whom we already have very strong relationships.’ he added.

Malaysia, which is a strong market for Islamic banking, construction and arbitration, has been popular with UK law firms in recent years since the introduction of the Legal Profession (Amendment) Act 2012, which has liberalised the market and encouraged foreign firms to join together in an international partnership or practise law as a qualified foreign law firm.

In April last year, Trowers & Hamlins became the first foreign law firm to secure a Qualified Foreign Law Firm (QFLF) licence in Malaysia, while in the same month DAC Beachcroft applied to the country’s Bar council for a joint venture (JV) licence with Kuala Lumpur-based association firm Gan Partnership.

georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk

Subscribers can read more in: ‘Consumed – Can burning ambition from Down Under recast Herbert Smith for the global stage?’

Legal Business

Freshfields, HSF and Skadden heavyweights among 113 new QCs in latest record round

Posted on |
The Bar Herbert Smith FreehillsKing & Spalding

Senior disputes partners from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), King & Spalding and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom have taken silk in the latest round of QC appointments, where 113 were selected out of a round of 254 candidates.

In the City, HSF’s Adam Johnson (pictured) has made silk. Johnson has been at the firm for 30 years, specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration, in particular cross-border litigation and cases involving the conflict of laws.

King & Spalding arbitrator John Savage has also taken silk, and is the third in the firm’s London office since 2015 when Tom Sprange was made a QC.

At Skadden, global co-head of litigation and arbitration David Kavanagh, who lead the US firm to win Legal Business Disputes Team Of The Year in 2012, has also made silk.

Based in Paris, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Ben Juratowitch has also been made a silk. Juratowitch   is head of the Magic Circle firm’s public international law practice.

This year’s appointments mark an increase in solicitor appointments to the bench. The number has doubled since last year’s figures, with six taking silk this year in comparison to last year’s three. Bird & Bird sports lawyer Jonathan Taylor will also be made a QC, alongside Allen & Overy’s Michael Young.

In this year’s appointments, the gender ratio is heavily slanted in favour of men, with 73% of all the new appointees being male. However, women tended to be successful on average, with 55% of female applicants succeeding in comparison to only 41% of males.

Despite the gender disparity, there was a slight incline in the total number of female QCs from the previous year. A growth of 2% was seen in the increase from 25 in 2015/16 to 31 in 16/17.

Ethnic minorities made up 14% of total appointments, a pronounced improvement on 2015/16’s figure of 8%. This hike in percentage was accompanied by a wider growth in the number of ethnic minority applications, a jump from 32 to 37.

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

The full list of appointments: (in alphabetical order)

Catherine Joanne Addy

Tana Marie Therese Adkin

Colin Christopher Aylott

Kate Bex

Gerard James Boyle

Phillip James Bradley

Richard Brent

Samantha Broadfoot

David Michael Graham Brooke

Hannah Beatrice Brown

Louis Bartholomew Anthony Browne

Edward Norman Burgess

Gideon Saul Cammerman

Alexis Anne Campbell

Caroline Rosemary Carberry

Matthew James Chapman

Serena Huey-Ning Cheng

Timothy Elwyn Clark

Sarah Anne Clarke

Simon David Colton

Ben Michael Cooper

Thomas James Cosgrove

Mark James Cotter

James Henry Counsell

Edward Davies

Edward Mark de Breteuil Devereux

Simon Christopger Dyer

David Elias

Martin Alan Langham Evans

Abiodun John Femi-Ola

Sarah Louise Ford

Caoilfhionn Anna Gallagher

Jeremy John Gauntlett

Karim Raouf George Ghaly

Orlando John Gledhill

William George Henry Godwin

Caroline Tracy Goodwin

Nina Soraya Goolamali

William Martin Philip Goudie

Katherine (Kate) Elizabeth Grange

Dakis Steven Hagen

Jacob William Hallam

Ivan Charles Hare

Christopher Mark Heather

Michelle Louise Heeley

Joshua Peter Frederick Holmes

Penelope Anne Macgregor Howe

Jane Allison Hunter

Matthew Howard Olsen Hutchings

Ben William Jaffey

Adam Martin Johnson

Schona Kaur Jolly

Gillian Hunter Jones

Benjamin Juratowitch

Sheikh Mohammed Samiul Karim

David Edward Kavanagh

Dominic Matthew Kay

Simon Thomas Kealey

Henry George John King

Geoffrey Llewelyn Woodward Kingscote

Marie Louise Kinsler

Sara Lucy Jane Lawson

Richard Thomas Leiper

Christopher David Lewis

Louis Asa Luke Alexis Dylan Mably

Alison Catherine Macdonald

Maxwell James Mallin

Anna Louise McKenna

David Robert McLachlan

Michael Joseph McParland

Naeem Majid Mian

Dianne Middleton

Stephen Brian Midwinter

Jonathan Keith Moffett

Brenton John Molineux

Sam Momtaz

Thomas Christopher Montagu-Smith

Andrew James Morgan

Akash Verdant Nawbatt

Stefanno Nuvoloni

Robert Peter O’Donoghue

Aidan Mark Sebastian O’Neill

Colin Yee Cheng Ong

Gareth Thomas Patterson

Matthew James Phillips

Debra Ann Powell

Mary Prior

Sadeqa Shaheen

Matthew Robert Reed

David Benjamin Rees

Deok Joo Rhee

Oliver Tschanz Sanders

Robert John Savage

Fiona Kate Scolding

Paul Shadarevian

Peter Maurice Shaw

Matthew John Sherratt

Dapinderpaul Singh

John Stevenson Snowden

Brian Lloyd St. Louis

Jason Ashley Sugarman

Andrew Daniel Tabachnik

Jonathan Peter Taylor

Robert-Jan Temmick

Alexander Lambert Thorpe

Mark James John Twomey

Edmund Benedict Blyth Vickers

Anna Lilian Vigars

Andrew George Wheeler

Alisdair George James Williamson

Natasha Wong

Michael James Young

Adam David Russell Zellick


Legal Business

Latham acts for Baxter on latest pharma acquisition as HSF picks up new client Claris

Posted on |
Corporate Herbert Smith FreehillsLatham & Watkins
legal-business-default

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Latham & Watkins won lead roles on Baxter International’s acquisition of Claris Injectables for $625m, in a bid by Baxter to expand its portfolio of essential generic injectable medicines. HSF represented Claris, while Latham acted for Baxter.

Baxter manufactures a broad range of essential generic injectable medications while Claris is based in India and has a 15 year history in the global injectables market. The acquisition is expected to deliver annual global revenues in excess of $100m.

The boards of both companies have approved the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2017 subject to regulatory approvals.

HSF led with London-based M&A partners Alan Montgomery and Nick Moore, while Latham was represented by M&A partners Ted Keim in Chicago and Robbie McLaren in London, alongside Chicago partner Diana Doyle and London partner Sean Finn advising on tax matters, intellectual property (IP) partner Steven Chinowsky in San Diego and Washington DC partner Ben Haas on healthcare regulatory matters, among others.

Among other big pharma deals of the year, Pinsent Masons and Linklaters advised on Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ sale of UK and Ireland business Activas Generics for £603m, whilst Slaughter and May, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Bowman Gilfillan advised GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on the sale of its remaining 6.2% stake in Aspen Pharmacare, both back in October.

Earlier in the year Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Kirkland & Ellis won mandates advising on the $5.8bn purchase of diagnostic testing company Alere by Abbott Laboratories.

georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Latham continues City hiring spree with HSF energy head Balsdon

Posted on |
Strategic recruitment Herbert Smith FreehillsLatham & Watkins
legal-business-default

Latham & Watkins announced today (13 December) that it has hired Herbert Smith Freehills’s (HSF) global energy co-head John Balsdon, who will join its finance team in the City.

A HSF partner since 2002, having joined from Clifford Chance, Basildon has 20 years’ experience and specialises in energy finance with an emphasis on the oil and gas sector, one of HSF’s signature practice areas globally. Recent work highlights for Balsdon include advising three financing banks for Blue Stream’s $3.2bn eastern European pipeline, and Vitol on the project finance aspects of its $7bn oil and gas project in Ghana.

A spokesperson for HSF said: ‘We can confirm that John Balsdon has decided to retire from the partnership. We thank him for his contribution over the past 14 years and wish him well for the future. Anna Howell and Rob Merrick will continue to lead our top-tier global energy practice.’

Commenting on Balsdon’s appointment, Latham’s vice-chair of the executive committee David Gordon said: ‘John’s arrival will bolster our standing as one of the elite global energy and power firms…He is a strong practice builder and he will play a key role in the continued expansion of our energy capability in London and globally.’

Latham’s City hiring spree in 2016 has shown little sign of abating, with the world’s largest firm by revenue taking on a number of high-profile partners from strong UK players, including Rob Moulton and Simon Baskerville from Ashurst; a rare lateral hire from Slaughter and May, taking its head of structured finance Sanjev Warna-kula-suriya; as well as Allen & Overy leadership contender and respected banking partner Stephen Kensell, among others.

Meanwhile, HSF has seen a number of exits this year, losing Ian Gatt QC to Stewarts Law, financial regulation partner Nick Bradbury, who is to join A&O and London head of private equity James MacArthur, who left for Weil, Gotshal & Manges back in May.

City figures reveal that Latham posted a 12% turnover rise in London for 2015, bringing in £183m, second only to White & Case for London revenue for a non-UK firm.

georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk

For more from another recent Latham high-profile recruit, read our interview with former Freshfields executive partner, Michael Lacovara

Legal Business

A&O and HSF take lead roles as 21st Century Fox tunes in on anticipated Sky takeover

Posted on |
Corporate Allen & OveryHerbert Smith Freehills
legal-business-default

Allen & Overy (A&O) and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) are lead advisers in 21st Century Fox’s takeover bid for Sky, as a ‘possible offer’ valuing the company at £18.5bn was agreed ‘in principle’ on Friday (9 December).

The cash offer values Sky shares at £10.75 each, £18.5bn in total, which is 36% more than its market close price on 8 December. 21st Century Fox already owns 39.1% of Sky, and according to reports it would pay approximately £11.25bn for full ownership.

The offer is subject to approval from Sky’s shareholders, excluding 21st Century Fox shareholders, as ‘certain material terms’ are still to be agreed, according to a release by the international media giant.

As lead advisers to 21st Century Fox, A&O’s team was led by co-head of antitrust Antonio Bavasso, corporate partner David Broadley and M&A partners Seth Jones and Simon Toms.

Also advising 21st Century Fox are M&A New York partners Howard Ellin from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett partners Patrick Ryan and Sinead O’Shea.

Meanwhile UK satellite broadcaster Sky is understood to be advised by HSF, with a team led by head of corporate Stephen Wilkinson.

News Corp made an £8bn takeover bid for Sky back in 2010, which was then retracted in 2011 while the hacking trial was conducted. Regulatory concerns regarding media ownership have also been raised regarding combining Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation media giant with Europe’s biggest pay television broadcaster.

HSF and A&O also led for Sky and 21st Century Fox respectively in 2014, when Sky (then called BskyB) concluded a deal worth up to £7.4bn to buy European sister companies Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia from 21st Century Fox.

Both HSF and A&O declined to comment.

georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Slater and Gordon, Eversheds and HSF take roles on Jay inquiry into child sexual abuse

Posted on |
Legal affairs Eversheds SutherlandHerbert Smith FreehillsSlater and Gordon
legal-business-default

Slater and Gordon, Eversheds, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), Kingsley Napley, BLM, Hill Dickinson, Farrer & Co and Weightmans are all among the firms acting on the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

The firms are representing ‘core participants’ in the investigation, led by Professor Alexis Jay (pictured), into decades of sexual exploitation and abuse by the UK establishment, according to IICSA documents seen by Legal Business.

Slater and Gordon principal lawyer for abuse Richard Scorer and head of abuse Liz Dux are representing a large number of the 152 initial claimants. The firm has previously stated it represents more than 800 victims of child abuse. Other victims are being advised by Brentford law firm Howe + Co, while Leeds firm Simpson Millar, Bindmans and Imran Khan are all representing core claimants.

A number of LB 100 firms are representing key organisations linked to the investigation. HSF partner Nusrat Zar, Eversheds key inquiries partner Peter Watkin Jones and Weightmans head of police Hannah Walsh are all acting on the investigation into the Anglican Church.

Farrer & Co partner David Smellie and Kingsley Napley partner Adam Chapman are both advising on the inquiry into the Roman Catholic Church.

Other firms are advising insurers on reparations, Hill Dickinson partner Alastair Gillespie is representing Royal Sun Alliance and Browne Jacobson partner Sarah Erwin-Jones is acting for Municipal Mutual Insurance, while Zurich insurance has retained HSF disputes partner Andrew Lidbetter.

The potential cost and scope of the inquiry has raised eyebrows within the legal profession, with IICSA set to run 13 separate investigations. IICSA has spent around £3.2m on legal costs during its first year for 2015/16 and the former chair of the inquiry, retired New Zealand judge Dame Lowell Goddard, was retained on an annual salary of £360,000, before her resignation this summer. New chair Jay, who is the fourth head of the inquiry takes home a salary of £185,000 per year.

One senior lawyer acting on the inquiry told Legal Business that although the inquiry would be a challenge to run successfully it was not impossible: ‘You would have to have a very imaginative approach and have hugely strong leadership and a really crack legal team. The chair is not a lawyer, I just don’t know if that could be a problem.’

Fieldfisher public and regulatory partner Martin Smith is acting as solicitor to the inquiry, while the inquiry’s lead counsel Ben Emmerson QC of Matrix Chambers was suspended from his role in September.

matthew.field@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Another exit for Herbert Smith Freehills as Stewarts Law takes advocacy head Gatt QC

Posted on |
Litigation Herbert Smith Freehills
legal-business-default

Stewarts Law has recruited veteran litigator Ian Gatt QC from Herbert Smith Freehills‘ (HSF) prized advocacy unit. The exit is the third high-profile partner departure in the past two weeks. 

Managing partner John Cahill confirmed that Gatt QC will join the litigation specialist as a partner but would not comment further until his arrival at the firm. It is expected he will officially join in the spring.

Gatt QC (pictured) joined the firm in 2005 from Littleton Chambers, and was one of the founding partners of its advocacy unit alongside Murray Rosen QC. He was called to the Bar in 1985 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2002.

He has advised clients in cross border litigation and arbitration, including Leighton Offshore in a commercial court action taken by Unaoil over $46m of payments allegedly due under a subcontract to provide services relating to the Iraqi Crude Oil Expansion project, and for Société Générale at trial and in the subsequent appeals to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court on a high profile multi-million pound City bonus dispute.

HSF’s London Advocacy Unit will now be led by Tom Leech QC and Adam Johnson.

In a statement, HSF said: ‘We can confirm that Ian Gatt QC is retiring from the partnership. We thank him for his contribution to the firm and wish him well for the future.’

The firm added that its advocacy capability forms an ‘integral part’ of its dispute practice and it ‘will continue to cultivate experienced advocates throughout our global network, who are able to provide round-the-clock, quality advice for clients.’

Last week it emerged that HSF had lost financial regulatory partner Nick Bradbury to Allen & Overy, who returns to the Magic Circle after moving to HSF from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in 2015. The firm also saw finance partner Malcolm Hitching quit for Ropes & Gray earlier this month.

Other HSF news of late includes management changes. In early October Legal Business revealed co-chief executive Mark Rigotti was set to take the helm as sole leader of the Anglo-Australian law firm with the firm phasing out its dual-CEO model. Rigotti was voted in last week in a move which saw the step down of co-CEO Sonya Leydecker.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Herbert Smith Freehills and Cravath act as BAT lights up $47bn Reynolds takeover

Posted on |
Corporate Cravath, Swaine & MooreHerbert Smith Freehills
legal-business-default

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Cravath, Swaine & Moore are advising British American Tobacco (BAT) on its offer to acquire the remaining 57.8 % stake in Reynolds American for $47bn. BAT had already owned 42.2% of Reynolds for the last 12 years.

The FTSE 100 company is offering approximately $20bn in cash and $27bn in BAT shares.

BAT said this represents a premium of 20% over the closing price of Reynolds stock on 20 October. This would create the world’s largest listed tobacco company by net turnover and operating profit.

BAT has not yet negotiated with Reynolds on the bid, and as such Reynolds has not declared a legal adviser.

The BAT team was led by director Bob Casey and head of legal M&A Craig Harris. The team at HSF was led by senior partner James Palmer and senior corporate M&A partner Alex Kay in London, along with Gillian Fairfield and Isaac ‎Zailer.

Cravath’s team advised on US aspects and was led by partnes Philip Gelston, David Perkins, Ting Chen and Alyssa Caples.

Kay said: ‘We are delighted to be working with BAT on this major proposed transaction which would consolidate BAT’s position as leading tobacco company.’

HSF is a long-standing adviser to the British tobacco giant and was instructed by BAT on the UK government’s plans to bring in plain cigarette packaging in March last year and the acquisition of Europe’s largest eCigarette CHIC Group in a bid to enter the e-cigarette market in September 2015.

The proposed merger is subject to Reynolds’s endorsement, and approval by BAT and Reynolds shareholders.

georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk

 

Legal Business

Allen & Overy fills finreg gap with Herbert Smith Freehills Bradbury

Posted on |
Finance Allen & OveryHerbert Smith Freehills
legal-business-default

Six months after financial regulatory head Bob Penn quit for Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Allen & Overy (A&O) has replenished the ranks with the hire of Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) partner Nick Bradbury. Bradbury returns to the Magic Circle after moving to HSF from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in 2015.

Bradbury was with Freshfields for more than a decade before making partner at HSF. Joining London financial regulatory partners Damian Carolan, Etay Katz and Kate Sumpter, he has extensive experience including acting for TSB on its separation from Lloyds Banking Group, ring-fencing and the senior managers regime, and the separation of Williams & Glyn from The Royal Bank of Scotland (known as Project Rainbow).

Carolan said: ‘Building on our regulatory practice is key to maintaining our ability to provide top-quality cross-border advice and expertise to our financial institution clients, particularly in light of the raft of regulation that has dominated the industry since the global financial crisis.’

Other recent high-profile finreg moves in the City include Ashurst finreg head Rob Moulton moving to Latham & Watkins. His departure was quickly followed by the exit of Nicola Higgs, who also moved to the US firm. A&O has suffered at the expense of Latham in recent months, as the US firm hired one of the City’s most high-profile banking lawyers, Stephen Kensell. Kensell had run for the senior partner post earlier in the year but missed out to former managing partner Wim Dejonghe.

Going the other way, A&O broke lockstep in July to bring in a major finance team to compete with the US elite. Joining the firm in Manhattan were Scott Zemser, Alan Rockwell and Judah Frogel from White & Case.

victoria.young@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘Seminal mandate’: HSF takes home £1.9m in seven months for Nortel settlement

Posted on |
Litigation Herbert Smith Freehills
legal-business-default

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) took home £1.9m for legal advice in the seven months between 14 January and 13 July 2016 before settling the Nortel Networks bankruptcy case. Legal adviser fees in the long-running administration had already reached more than £2bn earlier this year.

After seven years of administration, EY announced yesterday (12 October) that an agreement has been reached on how to split proceeds from the sale of Nortel’s assets. The case has involved five years of litigation and four significant rounds of mediation, EY said.

Three groups of creditors, including 33,000 UK pensioners, Canadian pensioners and US bondholders, had been unable to agree who gets what from the $7.3bn to be distributed since the company’s collapse back in 2009.

According to a new report, EY’s lead adviser in Europe, HSF earnt £1.9m in legal fees between 14 January and 13 July 2016, making it the largest recipient in the list of advisers for the period. Among other firms engaged were Debevoise & Plimpton who received £200,000 and US based Hughes Hubbard & Reed who collected around £2.4m.

The HSF team was led by John Whiteoak who has advised since the Canadian telecoms giant filed for bankruptcy, alongside partner Kevin Pullen.

Whiteoak said: ‘HSF is incredibly proud to have been able to work for EY in this important and seminal mandate. We are very pleased to have assisted the client in bringing about this very significant settlement which, if the conditions are satisfied, will result in significant returns to the creditors of the European Nortel companies and has led to ground-breaking developments in international insolvency and pensions law.’

The settlement is conditional on court approvals in the US, Canada, UK and France, and will bring to an end years of litigation proceeds formerly described as ‘one of the most complex trans-national legal proceedings in history’.

Read more in the comment piece: ‘Guest post: How to run up a $1.6bn legal bill – the Nortel bankruptcy should be a wake-up call for the insolvency industry’