City firm Travers Smith has lost heavyweight private equity partner Phil Sanderson who is set to join US firm Ropes & Gray.
Sidley Austin and Linklaters lead on Bank of Cyprus €1bn capital raise
The London teams of both US firm Sidley Austin and Magic Circle firm Linklaters have scored heavyweight roles advising on a €1bn capital raise for the beleaguered Bank of Cyprus, in a landmark deal completed just one year after it was saved from collapse by an international rescue package.
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Taylor Wessing and Macfarlanes advise on £350m RBS credit facility deal
Anglo-German firm Taylor Wessing and City-firm Macfarlanes have both landed leading roles on a major refinancing deal as the real estate market continues to see an upturn.
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Weil Gotshal heads H1 global private equity table as DLA Piper enters top 20
Weil Gotshal & Manges has come out on top of the latest H1 private equity league tables in a top 20 which also includes DLA Piper, driven by a strong performance on the Continent and after a series of notable hires in the area. Continue reading “Weil Gotshal heads H1 global private equity table as DLA Piper enters top 20”
Guest post: Good news for the SFO in Innospec – jury convicts former CEO and sales director
Dennis Kerrison and Miltiades Papachristos were found guilty [on Wednesday 18 June] at Southwark Crown Court of conspiracy to commit corruption. In a nutshell, that they gave or agreed to give corrupt payments to public officials and other agents of the Government of Indonesia as inducements to secure, or as rewards for having secured, contracts from the Government of Indonesia for the supply of fuel manufactured by Innospec. Continue reading “Guest post: Good news for the SFO in Innospec – jury convicts former CEO and sales director”
Back in the machine: A&O strengthens high yield practice with Cahill Gordon hire
With competition between US and UK firms for dominance in key European finance markets intensifying each month, Allen & Overy (A&O) has laid down a significant marker. It has boosted its US-qualified lawyer ranks in London with the hire of Cahill Gordon & Reindel counsel Jake Keaveny, a high yield specialist, as partner.
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Back in the machine – opportunity and threats amid much-changed debt markets
After years in the post-Lehman doldrums, the finance markets are springing back to life. Legal Business assesses the forces powering the upgraded ‘Doomsday machine’
‘Having gathered 100 different [sub-prime-backed bonds], they persuaded the ratings agencies that these weren’t, as they might appear, all exactly the same things. They were another diversified portfolio of assets! This was absurd. The 100 different buildings occupied the same flood plain; in the event of a flood, the ground floors of all of them were equally exposed… The CDO was, in effect, a credit laundering service for the residents of Lower Middle Class America. For Wall Street, it was a machine that turned lead into gold.’
Michael Lewis, The Big Short
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Whose money making machine? Not all law firms will be richer in a bank-lite world
Cov-lite, cov-loose and even now cov-lame – in some pockets of the finance market we are back to the boom days. All we need is a couple of headstrong private equity partners to quit Linklaters for a more sponsor-facing platform and we’ll be right back to 2006. On second thoughts…
As our cover feature this month makes clear, the debt markets are going through not only a substantive revival but the non-investment sector is rapidly being dragged towards a US-style dynamic. This means European borrowers increasingly tapping capital markets and the role of banks reducing amid competition from other debt providers. The related vogue for upper mid-market and larger buyouts to be backed by high-yield bonds and US loans has obvious implications for City advisers since it tilts the playing field heavily in favour of New York law and US advisers.
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Further BLP banking departures as real estate finance duo set to join Hogan Lovells
Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has lost another two City banking partners, with real estate finance duo Andrew Flemming and Jo Solomon set to join top 10 LB100 firm Hogan Lovells. Continue reading “Further BLP banking departures as real estate finance duo set to join Hogan Lovells”
RBS litigation: Bird & Bird’s head of dispute resolution criticised for £500m fluctuation in value of claim
The highly complex Royal Bank of Scotland 2008 rights issue litigation has seen Bird & Bird’s dispute resolution head Steven Baker criticised at the High Court over a £500m fluctuation in the value of the claim.
In his fifth witness statement to the court in November Baker, who represents John Greenwood and the RBoS Shareholders Action Group Limited, with around 12,000 retail and around 100 corporate, institutional and charitable members (the BB Action Group), told the court: ‘the losses suffered by the members of the BB Action Group who have actually issued proceedings so far would equate to approximately £900m…and the total acquisition value of those claimants’ shares is £1.25bn.’ Continue reading “RBS litigation: Bird & Bird’s head of dispute resolution criticised for £500m fluctuation in value of claim”