Watson Farley & Williams has advised a group of 27 international and local banks acting as financiers on a $14bn merger between shipping giants Hapag-Lloyd and United Arab Shipping Company (UASC).
The tie-up will create one of the five largest container shipping lines in the world, with 230 vessels and a combined turnover of around $12bn.
Dubai finance partner Andrew Baird led for Watson Farley with Neale Downes, Hamburg partner Maren Brandes, London partner Kavita Shah and Singapore partners Mehraab Nazir and Mei Lin Goh.
Allen & Overy (A&O) and Ince & Co acted for Hapag-Lloyd, led by A&O Frankfurt partner Bianca Engelmann and Ince & Co Hamburg partner Jan Hungar.
White & Case advised UASC, with an M&A team co-led by Frankfurt-based partner Roger Kiem and Doha and Dubai-based partner Michiel Vissier.
The White & Case finance team was co-led by New York-based Christopher Frampton and Alison Weal in London. Both were supported by an international legal team.
Baird told Legal Business that Watson Farley began working on the deal around eight months ago: ‘It was a hugely complicated transaction, as you can imagine.’
‘We co-ordinated a team across our Dubai, Hamburg, London and Singapore offices, so a lot of people played their part in bringing their expertise to bear,’ he said.
‘We currently have a lot of mandates of this type, but obviously this transaction is huge in its own right.’
The deal is the largest Watson Farley has worked on since landing a role on Shell’s $3.8bn sale of North Sea oil and gas assets in January this year.
Joe Levin led Watson Farley in advising third-party banks, as British investment firm Chrysaor Holdings bought out an initial consideration of $3bn, with an additional potential payment of up to $600m, subject to commodity prices and $180m for future oil and gas finds.
White & Case partners Ian Bagshaw and Richard Jones advised Harbour Energy, an investment vehicle managed by EIG Global Energy Partners, on its agreement to lead for Chrysaor on the acquisition of the oil and gas portfolio.
tom.baker@legalease.co.uk