HSF AND BLP ADVISE ON £1.1BN CHEESEGRATER SALE
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Mayer Brown led as the owners of London’s tallest tower, known as the Cheesegrater, agreed to its sale for £1.1bn. HSF and Mayer Brown advised joint owners British Land and Oxford Properties Group, while BLP assisted buyer CC Land Holdings.
MAGIC CIRCLE TAKE SPOTS ON ALLFUNDS SALE
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Ropes & Gray, Linklaters and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett all won roles advising on the €1.8bn sale of Allfunds Bank to private equity house Hellman & Friedman and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC. Hellman and GIC assume Allfunds’ global assets of €265bn, with shareholders Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo selling their stakes.
K&E ACTS ON MISYS MERGER
UK software company Misys merged with Canadian fintech DH Corp with Kirkland & Ellis and Cravath, Swaine & Moore advising private equity backers on the deal. Kirkland assisted Misys owner Vista Equity Partners and Canadian firm Goodmans in the $4.8bn DH Corp acquisition with Cravath supplying M&A defence work to DH Corp alongside Stikeman Elliott.
NEW UK CLEARING BANK ENLISTS HSF
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), White & Case and Pinsent Masons picked up mandates advising on the establishment of ClearBank, the first new UK clearing bank to be approved in 250 years. HSF acted for the bank, with White & Case and Pinsents representing investors PPF Investments and CFFI Ventures respectively.