Legal Business

All bets are off: Magic Circle duo and Norton Rose act as William Hill rejects takeover bid

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Corporate Allen & OveryNorton Rose FulbrightSlaughter and May
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Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Norton Rose Fulbright have all taken key roles as William Hill has rejected a £3.6bn takeover bid from Rank Group and 888 Holdings.

Slaughter and May advised William Hill on the offer, while Allen & Overy corporate partners Ed Barnett and Annabelle Croker advised 888 Holdings. Rank Group was advised by Norton Rose Fulbright EMEA corporate head partners Raj Karia and partner Chris Randall.

The deal would have seen the creation of BidCo, merging Rank and 888 and acquiring William Hill for a cash offer and shares in the new company.

William Hill rejected the deal, which offered an 11% premium on the betting groups latest share price. A statement from William Hill chairman Gareth Davis said the deal ‘substantially undervalues William Hill’ and was ‘a very complex three-way combination at a low premium involving substantial risk for William Hill shareholders’.

A&O’s Barnett and Croker previously acted for 888 opposite Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in July 2015 in its bid to takeover FTSE 250 gambling firm Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment for £898m. 888’s bid was ultimately rejected in favour of a deal from GVC, advised by Addleshaw Goddard, for £1.1bn.

Gambling has been a lucrative sector for law firms in recent years after a spate of mergers and acquisitions. Last August Freshfields and Arthur Cox lined up on the merger between Paddy Power and Betfair for a £5bn deal. Freshfields partners Edward Braham and Oliver Lazenby led on the Betfair side, while Paddy Power turned to longstanding adviser Arthur Cox and corporate partner Maura McLaughin, as well as A&O’s Antonio Bavasso for antitrust advice.

In July 2015, Slaughters acted on Ladbrokes £2.3bn tie-up with bookmakers Gala Coral, advised by Ashurst. Slaughters corporate chief Andy Ryde led on the deal, alongside M&A partner Mark Zerdin and finance partner Ian Johnson.

matthew.field@legalease.co.uk

 

 

Legal Business

Travers Smith and Norton Rose face off in Lehman’s multimillion dispute with ExxonMobil

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Litigation Norton Rose FulbrightTravers Smith
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Commerical litigation heavyweights Travers Smith and Norton Rose Fulbright have been instructed by the administrators for Lehman Brothers International Europe and ExxonMobil Financial Services respectively as the parties battle it out at London’s High Court over a multimillion dollar loan.

Heard in the commercial court in mid-July by Justice Blair, the dispute between parties arose after the now-defunct Lehman Brothers went into administration in 2008, leaving an outstanding repo agreement to Exxon. Exxon is disputing the value of about $250m securities used in a repurchase agreement that went into default when Lehman filed for bankruptcy.

The broad issue is whether, when correctly valued under a standard global master repurchase agreement, the value of the collateral exceeded $250m for which Lehman argues Exxon owes it money, or whether the collateral was worth less than $250m, as Exxon argues.

Exxon argues that its owed $8.6m while PwC, the bank’s administrators, want $13.9m from Exxon. PwC estimates there will be a surplus of an estimated £7.8bn ($10.3bn) after the creditor claims are resolved.

The trial faced further contention last week when Exxon’s expert witness, David Ellis, had to admit making a price error in calculating the value of an equity portfolio that was part of a deal between the bank and the energy giant.

The trial is one of several ongoing cases that involve parties fighting over Lehman’s assets almost eight years after the bank collapsed, according to PwC’s latest liquidation progress report.

Rhodri Davies QC of One Essex Court has been instructed by Travers Smith while Exxon is represented by Daniel Toledano QC of One Essex Court and Norton Rose Fulbright.

Closing submissions are before Justice Blair this Thursday (28 July).

Other high-profile litigation on the books for Travers this year includes advising on the ongoing Vincent Tchenguiz case, where the firm is representing several defendants including failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing and Jóhannes Rúnar Jóhannsson which Tchenguiz accused of ‘conspiring to instigate’ the SFO probe into their business affairs that led to dawn raids on their premises in 2011.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘Immediate opportunities’: Norton Rose adds to Africa presence with Kenyan alliance

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Africa Norton Rose Fulbright
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Norton Rose Fulbright has expanded its Africa offering by entering an alliance with Kenyan law firm Walker Kontos.

Nairobi-based firm Walker Kontos has nine partners and 11 fee earners, specialising in banking and finance as well as M&A, project finance, energy, capital markets and real estate. The alliance will be formally launched in October.

Led by managing partner Michael Kontos, the firm is rated tier one in Kenya for banking and finance and tier two for commercial, corporate and M&A and projects and energy in the Legal 500.

Norton Rose global chief executive Peter Martyr (pictured) said: ‘We have ambitious growth plans for the African continent and east Africa is a key hub for our clients. We see immediate opportunities in Africa in particular across energy, infrastructure and commodities.’

The alliance adds to Norton Rose’s already significant presence in Africa, having sealed two new alliances last year with Ugandan firm Shonubi Musoke & Co Advocates and Zimbabwean firm Gill, Godlonton & Gerrans.

The firm has further alliances in Burundi as well as its own offices in Africa, comprising of Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Casablanca, having entered the market through a merger with leading South African firm Deneys Reitz in 2011.

Norton Rose South Africa managing director Donald Dinnie added the alliance brought ‘an unparalleled breadth of experience’ to the firm’s east Africa activities.

Norton Rose’s recent work in Kenya has included advising Norwegian investment fund Norfund on its $250m acquisition of a 12.25% stake in Equity Bank Kenya from Helios, led by London-based corporate partner Bayo Odubeko.

matthew.field@legalease.co.uk

To read more on the African market see: ‘A safe bet – charting the rise of private equity in Africa’

Legal Business

Energy boost: Norton Rose and A&O power £10bn Welsh nuclear joint venture

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Corporate Allen & OveryNorton Rose Fulbright
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Norton Rose Fulbright and Allen & Overy (A&O) have advised as Horizon Nuclear Power has announced its joint venture for a £10bn nuclear power plant in Wales.

British energy company Horizon principally used its in-house capability, with support from Allen & Overy for the new plant at Wylfa Newydd on the Isle of Anglesey. A&O global projects head Gareth Price led advice for Horizon. The firm has been advising Horizon and its owner Hitachi since the Japanese firm bought Horizon in 2012 and has been advising on its new build nuclear projects in the UK.

Norton Rose advised Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe, one of three joint venture partners for the 2,700MW nuclear plant. The other members of the joint venture, dubbed Menter Newydd, which means ‘new venture’ in Welsh, are US-firm Bechtel and Japanese company JGC Corporation. These companies were advised by their in-house counsel.

Leading Norton Rose’s advice on the deal, nuclear energy and water group head Peter Hall said: ‘It is clear from recent UK Government statements that nuclear new build has a key role to play in securing a low carbon and sustainable energy mix going forward. We are delighted to have played our part in meeting that objective by helping to build the growing momentum behind the Wylfa Newydd project.’

The Horizon project is set to come online around the same time as EDF’s Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, which is expected to start power output in 2026. Horizon, which was formed in 2009, is also planning another major nuclear power station at Oldbury in South Gloucestershire.

The new boost for nuclear power follows high-profile mandates for Magic Circle firms which have picked up major clean energy projects.

Last month, Linklaters advised on a £2.6bn Scottish wind farm project alongside Norton Rose, while in May the firm alongside Allen & Overy advised on the £1.3bn Dudgeon wind farm project, which is under construction off the Norfolk coast.

matthew.field@legalease.co.uk

 

Legal Business

Norton Rose opens in San Francisco with entire Sidley Austin public finance team

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US Norton Rose Fulbright
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Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) is to expand its public finance practice and open up a new office in San Francisco by taking on a team of lawyers from Sidley Austin.

The firm will expand its public finance practice by 17 lawyers, with six partners, located in New York, Washington DC and the new San Francisco office.

The hires see NRF take on the entire public finance team of Sidley Austin. Eight lawyers will join NRF’s New York Office and two will join in Washington DC. A further seven will take up residence in the San Francisco Office.

The six partners hired include Larry Bauer and Matt Hughey in New York, Peter Canazno in Washington DC and Jerry McGovern, Eric Tashman and Cliff Gerber in San Francisco.

NRF US finance head Bob Dransfield said the additions would boost the size of the public finance team to 50 lawyers. ‘Their experience in securitisations, healthcare, finance and municipal restructurings in particular will enhance our firm’s public finance capabilities.’

McGovern will join the firm after spending 32 years as a partner at Sidley Austin and predecessor firm Brown and Wood.

The move also brings in Bauer, who joins after serving as co-head of public finance at Sidley Austin. He said: ‘This marks the union of two great public finance teams under NRF.’

The San Francisco office will be the 1,200 partner firm’s second in California after Los Angeles.

NRF US managing partner Linda Addison said the expansion was in an ‘ideal location for our strategic growth’.

The firm recently announced plans to launch a global service centre in the Philippines, a move expected to impact on 170 roles, around 5% of its global workforce.

The firm said it had conducted a thorough review of its worldwide business services model, and NRF chief operating officer Mark Whitley described the move as a ‘tough decision’.

matthew.field@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘Tough decisions’: Norton Rose Fulbright to open low cost centre in Manilla with 170 roles affected

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Innovation Norton Rose Fulbright
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Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) is to launch a global service centre in The Philippines in a move that will affect 170 operational roles, an estimated 5% of its global workforce.

The 1,200-partner firm is set to kick off a consultation process with members its business support teams globally whose roles may be affected. The firm said in a statement this morning (19 May) that it anticipates roles will be transferred to a new centre in Manilla over a five-month period, while no fee-earning roles will be affected.

The Manila centre, which will launch in September, will provide business support services in marketing, HR, knowledge management and libraries, document production, finance, IT and compliance. The plan is part of the firm’s 2020 global efficiency drive to ‘standardise and improve the firm’s business operations processes and systems’.

NRF chief operating officer Mark Whitley said: ‘The decision to open a global service centre comes after a thorough review of the delivery of our world-wide business services model and is a key part of our overall 2020 business transformation strategy.

‘This change will mean that we will have to take some tough decisions regarding our people. We fully appreciate that this will be a difficult time for some of them. We will do everything we can to provide support to those affected, ensuring that they are treated in a sensitive and respectful way.’

Last week DLA Piper announced it is to slash 200 business support jobs in the UK in a move that will see the firm make one of the largest law firm redundancies since the aftermath of the financial crisis. Nearly a fifth of business support roles in the UK will be axed, with IT, finance, human resources, marketing, business development and secretary staff badly impacted by the cull. DLA expects to automate a number of jobs and shift roles to low-wage economy Poland.

A string of major UK law firms have launched low cost support centres both globally and in the UK regions since the 2008 banking crisis ushering in tougher trading conditions, including Allen & Overy, Herbert Smith Freehills and Ashurst. NRF has struggled for growth in recent years, last year posting a 3% fall in revenues to £1.19bn, while profit per equity partner fell by 6% to £394,000.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Dentons expands again, opening Munich office with Norton Rose team

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Strategic recruitment DentonsNorton Rose Fulbright
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Dentons will launch an office in Munich this summer in a bid to strengthen its corporate offering with the recruit of three partners from Norton Rose Fulbright.

Alexander von Bergwelt will serve as managing partner for the Munich office and will be responsible for building and leading the new team. He specialises in corporate M&A, joint ventures, private equity, business restructuring, and litigation.

He joins along with corporate M&A partner Michael Malterer, and corporate and tax partner Igsaan Varachia.

With more than 100 fee earners in Germany, the Munich office is the firm’s latest investment into the German market having hired 12 new partners in Berlin and Frankfurt since the start of 2015.

Dentons Europe chief executive Tomasz Dąbrowski said: ‘This reputable team will complement our strong capabilities across Germany to meet the growing needs of our clients. Our new office in Munich is an important milestone in our strategy for Germany and Europe and will provide a solid platform for future growth.’

Germany managing partner Andreas Ziegenhagen told Legal Business: ‘Our growth strategy for Germany meant Munich was the natural next step. We had no office in the south with links to Stuttgart’.

He added: ‘Where you’ve seen firms expand in the country or downsize isn’t so much an indication of the domestic legal market but depends on the strategy of the law firm – whether it has the full service approach. Germany is more centralised than France – you have some firms with only the strategic view to do corporate M&A or banking and finance work – they don’t need many offices.’

It follows the firm’s announcement on Monday (9 May) that it has established a free-to-use law firm referral network, dubbed ‘Nextlaw Global Referral Network’, which uses a technology-focused platform allowing member law firms to ‘easily connect and track referrals.’

Other firms making strategic investment in Germany include US firm Sidley Austin which is in the process of launching a Munich office, a move which will be the firm’s first base in Germany since axing its Frankfurt office in 2014 following a spate of partner exits.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Subscribers can read more about Dentons in the feature ‘The pitch – A new kind of global law firm emerges but can Dentons live up to the hype?’

Legal Business

Freshfields loses another Paris partner as Norton Rose Fulbright takes tax specialist

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Strategic recruitment Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerNorton Rose Fulbright
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Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) has made a key appointment with tax partner Antoine Colonna d’lstria from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer moving to its Paris office.

A member of the Paris Bar, Colonna d’lstria spent 16 years at the Magic Circle firm. He predominantly advises French and multinational groups as well as investment funds.

Recommended by The Legal 500, Colonna d’lstria has been involved in a number of transactions across Europe in recent years, particularly in the real estate, M&A, refinancing and restructuring sectors, as well as tax audits and litigation.

Colonna d’lstria’s departure follows a four-partner team exit from the firm’s Paris office to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe last month. Corporate partner Patrick Tardivy, finance partners Emmanuel Ringeval and Herve Touraine and Paris employment head Emmanuel Benard all exited the firm.

For NRF, it follows the April hire of corporate partner Christophe Asselineau in Paris from Shearman & Sterling where he headed the Africa Group.

NRF head of tax for Europe, Middle East, Asia and Brazil Dominic Stuttaford said: ‘Our European tax practice continues to grow with Antoine’s appointment, which is the fourth to our team in the last eighteen months. Tax is an increasingly important issue for multinational companies and is a key consideration in a business’ overall risk profile. Antoine will add further depth and capability to our practice.’

George Paterson, head of the NRF Paris office, added: ‘Antoine’s appointment is great news for our Parisian team. His practice spans a number of key industry strength areas for the firm that will build on our existing experience. Antoine will be a great asset to our corporate and real estate practice in particular.’

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Tough odds for City hopefuls as NRF and Camerons both make up only two London partners

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Partnership promotions CMS UKNorton Rose Fulbright
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Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) has promoted just two City lawyers to partner in a 39-strong promotions round that focused heavily on its US offering while CMS Cameron McKenna saw 12 make it to partner.

NRF announced today (29 April) that it has promoted 39 to partner – of which 12 are female – across seven of its global practice groups covering banking and finance, disputes, corporate, intellectual property, tax, real estate, and employment.

Only two made the grade in London – in finance and real estate respectively – while the US took the most appointments with 14, followed by Canada with seven, Europe with seven, Australia with six, Asia and South Africa with two respectively, and one in the Middle East. Banking and finance saw the most investment with 13 in the practice area appointed, followed by disputes with 12 and corporate with six.

The promotions constitute a marked drop on last year’s figures when 51 lawyers were made up to partner.

NRF chief executive Peter Martyr said it ‘underlines our global strategy across the firm and illustrates our continued dedication to the expansion of our core markets’.

CMS Cameron McKenna, meanwhile, made up 12 partners in a 31-strong round across the wider CMS grouping. This year in London only two were promoted alongside a further three in Scotland.

John Craske and Fiona Letham, who lead the Legal Services Unit at CMS, have also been promoted to the role of LSU director, with effect from 1 May. The unit currently comprises 30 paralegals, located in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and in the three years since its launch has more than tripled in size.

The promotions follow the election of Stephen Millar to managing partner of CMS Cameron McKenna earlier this year. Millar will officially succeed Duncan Weston on 1 May.

CMS senior partner Penelope Warne said: ‘It is very good to see the female representation of our global promotions remaining high a reflection of the inclusive culture we are proud of at CMS.’

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Norton Rose Fulbright partner promotions 2016:

Asia

Paul Coggins (banking and finance, Tokyo)*

Harold Tin (corporate, M&A and securities, Hong Kong)

Australia

Jeffery Black (banking and finance, Perth)

Ben Davis (dispute resolution, Melbourne)

Georgina Hey (intellectual property, Sydney)

John Moran (dispute resolution, Sydney)

Tim Mornane (banking and finance, Sydney)

Meriel Steadman (dispute resolution, Perth)

Canada

Demian Barbas (intellectual property, Montreal)

Catherine Biron (employment and labour, Montreal)

Andrea Brewer (corporate, M&A and securities, Toronto)

Horia Bundaru (dispute resolution, Montreal)

Evan Cobb (banking and finance, Toronto)

Michael Lieberman (real estate, Toronto)

Lara Mason (dispute resolution, Calgary)

Europe

Mark Craggs (banking and finance, London)

Sven Förster (dispute resolution, Munich)

Peter Holst (corporate, M&A and securities, Frankfurt)

Salvatore Iannitti (corporate, M&A and securities, Milan)

Floortje Nagelkerke (banking and finance, Amsterdam)

Charles Pinkerton (real estate, London)

Katrin Stieß (corporate, M&A and securities, Munich)

Middle East

Robin Balmer (banking and finance, Dubai)

South Africa

Zaida Kathrada (banking and finance, Johannesburg)

Brian Alade Shonubi (banking and finance, Johannesburg)

US

Jason Boland (banking and finance, Houston)

Alexander Clark (tax, Dallas)

Carter Dugan (dispute resolution, Houston)

Jessica Farley (dispute resolution, Houston)

Shea Haass (dispute resolution, Dallas)

Greg Moore (dispute resolution, Houston)

Spencer Persson (dispute resolution, Los Angeles)

Nathan Rees (intellectual property, Dallas)

Ann La Morena Rohlin (banking and finance, Los Angeles)

Peter Smith (tax, Austin)

Ronald Smith (dispute resolution, Dallas)

Jay Stiffler (corporate and securities, Houston)

Russell Trice (banking and finance, Los Angeles)

Alyssa Vazquez (banking and finance, New York)

 

CMS Cameron McKenna partner promotions 2016:

Banking and finance

Elitsa Ivanova (Sofia, Bulgaria)

Jenny Allan (Edinburgh)

Corporate and commercial

Darina Baltadjieva (Sofia, Bulgaria)

Jack Letson (Glasgow)

Marija Tesic (Belgrade, Serbia)

Nick Blair (London)

Olga Belyakova (Kyiv, Ukraine)

Competition and EU

Raško Radovanović (Belgrade, Serbia)

Energy, environment, projects and construction

Graeme Clubley (Aberdeen)

Jeremie Witt (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

Piotr Ciolkowski (Warsaw, Poland)

Sarah King (London)

Legal Business

LLP latest: NRF accounts show modest profit rise for international business as turnover stalls

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Financial results 2015/16 Norton Rose Fulbright
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In its third year post-merger, Norton Rose Fulbright‘s LLP has revealed flat turnover of £391.7m while overall pre-tax profit rose by 2% to £112m from £109m for the year to 30 April 2015.

With the accounts covering offices in areas including Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Morocco, Paris and Rio de Janeiro, operating profit was rose slightly to £113.1m from £111m.

Staff costs increased marginally to £177.23m from £177.16m. The average number of fee earners increased to 1,077 from 1,068 while wages and salaries remained nearly the same at £159.2m from £159.9m.

The firm paid out £1.373m to its highest earning member, up from £1.277m the year before. The figures in the LLP accounts do not necessarily equate to the highest paid equity member and can relate to ‘golden handshakes’ to retiring members.

It follows the firm’s full year financials last summer which according to the LB100, showed a 3% drop of revenue to £1.1bn, while profit per equity partner fell by 6% to £394,000.

Major investment by the firm last year included a strategic alliance with both Ugandan firm Shonubi Musoke & Co Advocates and Zimbabwean firm Gill, Godlonton & Gerrans, while in April it recruited a team of five lawyers from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson’s disputes practice in Hong Kong in the wake of the latter’s decision to pull out of Asia.

Earlier this afternoon (9 February) Dentons revealed more positive LLP accounts for its UK, Middle East and Africa (UKMEA) operations, with revenue rising 6% alongside overall profit before taxation climbing about 12%.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk