Latham & Watkins has had a busy November, picking up several multi-billion-dollar instructions across the sports, retail and telecoms sectors. Among the other firms securing lead roles are US peers Skadden, Paul Weiss and Orrick and Magic Circle competitors Linklaters and Allen & Overy (A&O).
Following Latham’s lead role in the £4.25bn acquisition of Chelsea FC earlier this year, the firm has been instructed by Manchester United as it pursues a potential sale.
A statement from the Premier League club on 22 November confirmed the US firm as its legal adviser as shareholders explore ‘strategic alternatives including new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions involving the company… designed to enhance the club’s future growth’.
The transatlantic Latham team is jointly led by Edward Barnett and Patrick Mitchell in London and New York-based Marc Jaffe, Ian Schuman, Justin Hamill and Ben Cohen.
‘UK sports teams and properties are being seen by investors as in a state where there’s potential and opportunities for commercial growth.’
Josh Charalambous, RPC
Barnett, who also led advice to the consortium led by Todd Boehly, chair and chief executive of Eldridge and Clearlake Capital Group, on the Chelsea FC transaction, said: ‘These deals are high profile, they are complicated from a financing, commercial and regulatory perspective and are invariably competitive situations, given the scarcity of opportunities to invest in international football clubs.’
Man Utd’s statement follows reports from earlier this month that Liverpool FC’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, is also looking for a buyer. This continues a trend of an increased appetite for investment in the sports sector.
Josh Charalambous (pictured), senior associate at RPC, notes: ‘We are seeing a significant uplift in deal activity in the sports space. Investment is coming from clients who are UK-based and who are set to weather the economic downturn well and have liquidity to invest, but more so from international investors, including private equity and family office funds with a lot of investment activity coming from the US.
‘This transaction continues to demonstrate the value that can be unlocked by carve-out transactions and builds on prior deals we have supported Emerson on.’
Jannan Crozier, Baker McKenzie
‘While not necessarily seen as a traditionally “safe” investment in terms of returns, UK sports teams and properties are being seen by investors as in a state where there’s potential and opportunities for commercial growth. Investors seem to be seeing opportunities to professionalise and commercialise sports properties in a way which existing owners and operators might struggle to do given the capital investment that is often required.’
Elsewhere, Paul Weiss, Skadden and Latham all landed roles in the $2.8bn acquisition of high-end fashion brand Tom Ford by US cosmetics company Estée Lauder.
The deal, which is expected to complete in the first half of 2023, will see Estée Lauder part with $2.3bn for the luxury retailer, plus a $300m deferred payment due in July 2025, and a $250m payment from Italian eyewear company Marcolin to the cosmetics giant for a long-term licence for Tom Ford eyewear.
Paul Weiss is representing The Estée Lauder Companies with a New York-based team led by corporate partners Krishna Veeraraghavan and Laura Turano and intellectual property partner Claudine Meredith-Goujon.
Tom Ford instructed Skadden with a team led from New York by corporate partner Ann Beth Stebbins, tax partner David Rievman, intellectual property and technology partner Bruce Goldner, and London-based counsel Sarah Knapp, which included critical input from the late M&A partner Scott Simpson in London.
Meanwhile, a multijurisdictional Latham team, led by Milan-based Stefano Sciolla and Todd Gleason and Sarah Gagan in Boston, assisted Marcolin with the negotiation of a licence for Tom Ford eyewear.
Linklaters, Latham, Hengeler Mueller, Orrick and A&O were all called upon to advise on Vodafone’s strategic co-control partnership with a consortium of infrastructure investors, led by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and KKR, to invest in leading European telecoms tower company Vantage Towers.
The deal, valued at €16bn, was confirmed by Vodafone on 9 November and will create a joint venture (JV) to hold Vodafone’s 81.7% stake in Vantage Towers. The JV also made a voluntary takeover offer for the outstanding Vantage Towers shares held by minority shareholders, funded through new debt in the JV and equity from GIP and KKR.
Linklaters represented Vodafone with a team led by Düsseldorf-based European head of corporate Kristina Klaaßen-Kaiser, Frankfurt-based corporate and M&A partner Stephan Oppenhoff and corporate counsel Dr Christoph van Lier, also in the Düsseldorf office.
Latham was instructed by GIP and KKR with a team led by London-based M&A partner John Guccione and finance partner Conrad Andersen alongside M&A partner Tobias Larisch in Düsseldorf. Also advising KKR was German law firm Hengeler Mueller with a team led by Christian Schwandtner.
For Vantage Towers, an Orrick team led by Düsseldorf-based partners Wilhelm Nolting-Hauff, Oliver Duys and Nikita Tkatchenko advised. Meanwhile on the financing, A&O assisted a syndicate of banks with a team led by London partners Annette Kurdian and Ed Moser alongside Frankfurt partner Dr Michiel Huizinga and counsel Dr Jan-Hendrik Bode.
Finally, Baker McKenzie and Simpson Thacher acted on the sale of Emerson Electric’s majority stake in its Climate Technologies business to private equity funds managed by Blackstone. The transaction is valued at $14bn and is expected to close in the first half of 2023. Simpson Thacher acted for Blackstone, with a team led by New York-based Elizabeth Cooper and William Allen.
A Baker McKenzie team led by London-based global M&A chair Jannan Crozier represented Emerson Electric. Of the deal, Crozier said: ‘This transaction continues to demonstrate the value that can be unlocked by carve-out transactions and builds on prior deals we have supported Emerson on including the merger of its software business with AspenTech and the carve-out the InSinkErator business to Whirlpool. This will allow Emerson to
become a pure-play automation company and position itself for higher growth.’