Top 15 UK firm advises clients Commerzbank and Morrisons
Ashurst is leading on two headline transactions announced in mid-May as Germany’s Commerzbank entered talks to sell £4bn of its UK property loans and supermarket Morrisons signed a long-term deal with online grocer Ocado.
The top 15 UK law firm is advising longstanding client Commerzbank on the proposed sale of its Eurohypo UK operation to US bank Wells Fargo and private equity group Lone Star.
The work was awarded to Ashurst following a competitive pitch in November 2012. For Ashurst, which had an existing relationship with Commerzbank through its German operations, this will be the first corporate M&A deal it has advised Germany’s second-largest bank on, having undertaken largely finance mandates in the past.
The deal is being led by finance partner Lee Doyle, working alongside corporate partners Nick Cheshire and Rob Aird.
If the deal goes ahead, it will be one of the largest disposals of real estate debt by a European bank since the start of the financial crisis.
Allen & Overy is co-ordinating the joint bid for the acquirers, while Dechert has a role advising Wells Fargo on the deal, which is expected to complete by the end of the summer.
Elsewhere, Ashurst is also advising Wm Morrison on a long-term agreement with Ocado, led by global head of corporate Stephen Lloyd alongside corporate partners Adrian Clark and Karan Dinamani.
The firm, which has advised Morrisons since its 2003 takeover of Safeway, is advising on a technology and services arrangement and a sale and leaseback of property and equipment at Ocado’s Dordon customer fulfilment centre, which will enable Morrisons to start grocery deliveries to customers in January 2014. Slaughter and May’s Robert Stern is leading the team for Ocado.
Lloyd said: ‘This deal is transformational for both Morrisons and Ocado. As a 25-year deal with the potential for extension and with a complex sale and leaseback component, it needs to cater for a number of different potential outcomes while in all circumstances preserving the value in the respective businesses.’