Legal Business

Takeover potential – Linklaters & Simmons lead on Amec’s £700m bid for Kentz

Posted on |
Corporate LinklatersSimmons & Simmons
legal-business-default

Linklaters and
Simmons & Simmons‘ longstanding corporate relationships with Amec and Kentz have gifted them with a potentially lucrative takeover bid instruction as Kentz this week announced it had rejected a £700m offer from its larger engineering rival.

Linklaters corporate partners Shane Griffin and Aedamar Comiskey are leading the team for Amec, which it has advised on corporate matters for well over a decade. Simmons corporate partner Edward Baker is advising Kentz on the offer, which the FTSE 250 engineering company said it had rejected, together with an earlier offer in July from Germany’s M+W Group, on the basis that it undervalued the company.

Simmons previously advised Tipperary-based engineering contractor Kentz, which helps companies to develop oilfields, gasfields and mines, on its 2008 AIM listing and its move to the main market in 2011, on which Baker also led. Ogiers led by corporate partner Tim Morgan and William Fry is understood to have a secondary role on this latest deal.

While July and August typically represent a lull in corporate work, the bid by AMEC is the latest of a series of high profile bids for UK engineering companies during the summer months.

Earlier this month, British industrial manufacturer Edwards Group was bought out by Swedish engineering company Atlas Copco for $1.6m, with the London office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Davis Polk & Wardwell notably taking leading roles for Edwards. Last month, meanwhile, saw the £3.3bn takeover bid by France’s Schneider Electric for UK engineering firm Invensys. Magic Circle firms Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are advising the respective companies on the deal.

Amec has until 16 September to make a formal bid for Kentz, said in the financial press to be holding out for a better offer.

Speaking earlier to Legal Business, Simmons international head of corporate, Mark Curtis, said that the end of July and August have seen more deals as the market gears up for autumn.

david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Simmons sees marginal drop in turnover and PEP

Posted on |
Financial results 2013 Simmons & Simmons
legal-business-default

Simmons & Simmons has released its financial results for 2012-13, posting a slight dip in revenues from £251.7m to £250.3m while profit per equity partner (PEP) is down from £529,000 to £525,000 – a drop of about 0.6% – following a year of international expansion.

The financial results, which remain unaudited since their appearance in the Global 100 last week in which Simmons ranks in 93rd place, show that the firm’s net income has remained largely static, up from £66.2m in 2011-12 to £66.3m in 2012-13.

Meanwhile the firm’s top of equity has also dropped from £975,000 in 2011/12 to £950,000 in the latest financial year and the lowest paid equity partner now receives £270,000, down £5,000 on the year before.

Disputes and finance still make up the highest proportion of work for the firm; 33% and 38% respectively. Corporate work has dropped slightly on last year, accounting for 21% of total revenues while the firm’s employment practice generated 8% of the firm’s revenues over the past financial year.

The number of lawyers at the firm has grown from 782 to 813 in total and the number of equity partners has increased by one from 125 to 126, while the number of non-equity partners has also expanded from 78 partners to 85.

These results follow a strong financial performance from the firm in 2011-12, which saw Simmons post a 4% increase in revenues and an 18% increase in PEP. During the past financial year it has opened offices in Bristol, Munich and most recently Singapore, its fifth office in Asia, and in October last year secured an alliance with US hedge fund boutique Seward & Kissel.

However, this year’s Global 100 shows that the firm’s turnover has seen the greatest drop between 2007 and 2012 of all the top 100 firms, falling 31%, and the firm is perceived by many in the market as struggling to find its footing in absence of a full US merger.

david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

DLA and Simmons promote fewer partners as firms continue to favour Europe

Posted on |
Partnership promotions DLA PiperSimmons & Simmons
legal-business-default

DLA Piper and Simmons & Simmons are among the latest UK firms to announce a reduced number of partnership promotions, appointing 34 and seven lawyers respectively, down from 58 and 10 in 2012.

DLA’s appointments came largely across its US offices, where 19 lawyers were made up to the partnership, with a further seven in continental Europe, four in the UK and four in Australia.

Simmons & Simmons, meanwhile, continued the recent trend among the UKs international firms to favour European promotions, with four in London, compared with one each in the financial hubs of Paris, Milan and Brussels and none in the Middle East or Asia.

Simmons & Simmons senior partner Colin Passmore said: ‘The firm’s business plan envisages significant growth for the firm over the next few years and the promotion of our homegrown talent is integral to this.’

Elsewhere, international firm Kennedys made up five associates in the UK (one each in London, Sheffield and Chelmsford and two in Belfast) and one in Hong Kong. The firm’s six promotions represent a 50% increase on last year and half of this year’s promotions round were women.

Kennedys senior partner Nick Thomas added: ‘I’m proud that we continue to have one of the highest proportions of female partners amongst the top 30 law firms.’

Similarly, DAC Beachcroft has made up five new partners, the same number as last year, taking its total partner numbers to 247. The firm’s London, Birmingham and Manchester offices will take up one partner each while the remainder will be based in Madrid, which saw a number of departures to rival Clyde & Co last month.

Two of the firm’s promotions were within its claims solutions arm – representing around one third of the firm’s staff and approximately £64m in revenue.

The European promotions and nurturing of homegrown talent come as international firms are increasingly focusing their expansion efforts further afield, particularly in Asia.

Other firms to have liberally promoted in London include Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), which made up a total of nine lawyers – seven in the firm’s London headquarters and one each Frankfurt and Moscow.

Magic Circle firms Clifford Chance and Linklaters also promoted heavily across Europe this year, as did Pinsent Masons.

Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Banks could face backlash on legal panel reviews

Posted on |
Adviser reviews Mayer BrownSimmons & SimmonsSlaughter and May
legal-business-default

With the latest round of bank panel reviews in full swing, early indications show signs of a backlash from law firms as banks place increasing demands on panel candidates at the same time as driving down costs.

In October, The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced the results of its long-running panel review. By reducing its number of sub-panels from 13 to five, it has significantly lowered the number of law firms on the panel from around 100 previously to between 55 and 60 now. Meanwhile, former panel firms Slaughter and May, Olswang and Mayer Brown didn’t pitch to join the panel this time around.

Legal Business

A matter of time – Simmons & Simmons

Posted on |
Leadership Simmons & Simmons
legal-business-default

After a failed merger, a drop in both revenue and a profits, and a slew of partner departures, Simmons’ new managing partner Jeremy Hoyland certainly has his work cut out. Can his plans for change deliver?

Jeremy Hoyland’s timing has always been a little off. He qualified just before the 1990s’ recession, tried to launch a finance practice in Asia just as the Asian financial crisis hit in the late 1990s and has now taken over Simmons & Simmons at a time when the firm’s financials continue to struggle and it is being over-shadowed by several of its closest rivals.

Legal Business

A Matter of Time – Simmons & Simmons

Posted on |
Leadership Simmons & Simmons
legal-business-default

After a failed merger, a drop in both revenue and a profits, and a slew of partner departures, Simmons’ new managing partner Jeremy Hoyland certainly has his work cut out. Can his plans for change deliver?

Jeremy Hoyland’s timing has always been a little off. He qualified just before the 1990s’ recession, tried to launch a finance practice in Asia just as the Asian financial crisis hit in the late 1990s and has now taken over Simmons & Simmons at a time when the firm’s financials continue to struggle and it is being over-shadowed by several of its closest rivals. Failed merger talks with Mayer Brown have also hardly helped the firm’s market profile.

Legal Business

Stepping up

Posted on |
Finance Simmons & Simmons
legal-business-default

With the departure of high-profile practice head Jonathan Kelly, the Simmons financial services litigation team has lost a leader in investment banking disputes work. New chief Robert Turner will have a fight on his hands if the firm is to remain a Magic Circle rival

To say that Robert Turner has big boots to fill is to underestimate the size of the task ahead of him. Turner took over as head of financial services litigation at Simmons & Simmons on 1 April, with a background of acting in disputes on behalf of hedge fund managers. But for all his strengths, he enjoys nothing like the profile and reputation of his predecessor Jonathan Kelly – nor indeed his predecessor’s predecessor, now firmwide managing partner Mark Dawkins.