Month: April 2015

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Cross-border £1.1bn Liberty Living deal sees raft of firms pick up mandates

The trend of foreign money flowing into the UK real estate market continued last month. This time the investment came from Canada and saw a raft of Legal Business 100 and international law firms pick up advisory roles.

Nabarro, Clifford Chance (CC), Pinsent Masons, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Dechert and Canadian firm Stikeman Elliott won roles advising on the £1.1bn acquisition of UK student accommodation provider Liberty Living by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).

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Deal watch: Corporate activity in March 2015

CC, LINKLATERS AND LATHAM & WATKINS WIN KEY ROLES ON PIRELLI TAKEOVER

Advised by Clifford Chance (CC), China National Chemical Corporation bought tyre-maker Pirelli in a $7.7bn deal. The Chinese company acquired a 26.2% stake from Camfin, which was advised by Chiomenti, while Lombardi Molinari Segni handled financing aspects and Linklaters advised fellow investor Long Term Investments. Latham & Watkins advised underwriters JP Morgan.

 

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Latham halves its offices in the Middle East

DWF picks Dubai for first international office and puts three-year growth plan in place

With just 35 lawyers spread across four offices, Latham & Watkins admitted last month it had made a mistake in how it launched in the Middle East in 2008, and told staff in Abu Dhabi and Doha that their offices will close by the end of the year with the firm using Dubai and Riyadh to service the region.

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Pinsents launches infra-focused Australia outpost

After much speculation, Pinsent Masons announced the launch of an infrastructure sector-focused practice in Melbourne and Sydney last month, with a formal opening planned for July.

The five-partner operation will be headed up by David Rennick, a former chief executive of Australian firm Maddocks, who had been analysing the local market for Pinsents since March 2014. He will be joined by partners Greg Campbell and Simela Karasavidis, who also come from Maddocks; as well as Michael Battye, a former Pinsents lawyer who set up QED Legal, a construction boutique in Adelaide; and Andrew Denton, a construction disputes partner at Pinsents who will relocate from its London office.

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Europe’s credit markets – the future is not where it used to be

Ashurst’s Mark Vickers and Helen Burton assess a seismic shift in Europe’s leveraged debt markets

For many participants in Europe’s leveraged market, 2014 on first impressions heralded something approaching a new normal. According to data from 3i, Debt Management, leverage debt issuance in 2014 reached a total of €150bn; leveraged loan issuance was €78.4bn, the highest volume since 2007; and European high yield had another record-breaking year with total issues of €72bn. The European CLO market performed similarly strongly, raising €14.5bn, the third-strongest year of issuance on record. But behind the semblance of a market re-asserting its momentum, a number of fundamental features are coming together to divert the market’s direction of travel. And these changes have potentially far-reaching implications for law firms engaged in the European leveraged landscape.

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The use of a Cyprus International Trust (CIT) as a business vehicle

Andri Tsangarou and Andrianna Solomonides of Kinanis LLC discuss a new use for the CIT.

The economic and business instability of recent years, stemming from the worldwide economic crisis as well as widespread uncertainty and increased national scrutiny, have changed the rules of the business game dramatically. The international investor is faced with the need to seek additional safeguards towards business assets, as well as the need to provide a stable and unimpeded environment against any internal or external threats.

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Why are there no lawyer-backed MDPs?

With the rise of multi-disciplinary practices (MDPs) receiving daily comment in the professional news, this is certainly a question worth asking.

Before adding my own observations to the debate, I should spell out what I am thinking about and what I am not.

For starters, I appreciate that much work of many solicitors’ firms in England and Wales falls outside the reserved areas. As a result, there is a sense in which many law firms are already MDPs. Similarly, I am not thinking about those alternative business structures (ABSs) that, in the course of providing retail legal services, offer ancillary, non-legal services, such as car hire, medical reports, etc.

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