Regular counsel Freshfields advises lead arrangers on £1bn IPO
Retirement home builder McCarthy & Stone has selected Allen & Overy (A&O) to advise on its £1bn initial public offering (IPO) as it prepares this month to return to public ownership almost a decade after the developer was taken private.
McCarthy & Stone’s appointment of A&O is a move away from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which was listed as the developer’s solicitor in its most recent annual report in 2014. However, Freshfields already has a lead role on the float, acting for underwriters Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies International, with partner Mark Austin leading the team.
A&O’s team for the listing, which would value the company at £1bn, is led by corporate partner Richard Browne with support from equity capital markets partner James Roe and US securities partner Adam Wells.
Freshfields advised the Bournemouth-based developer back in 2013 on its successful rights issue and refinancing of existing liabilities totalling £518.9m. Partner Richard Tett had led that deal with Farah Ispahani and Jeffrey Rubinoff. The company had been listed on the stock market for more than 20 years before being taken private in a £1.1bn deal with a consortium led by Halifax Bank of Scotland in 2006.
For A&O, the appointment is the latest instruction from a listing company for the firm, which last month picked up new client Ibstock, advising on the brickmaker’s planned £1bn listing. Other IPOs the firm has worked on this year include mandates for technology companies Worldpay, Equiniti, Funding Circle and Softcat.
victoria.young@legalease.co.uk