Linklaters
"Linklaters will continue to be strong, I see them as number one in this space," says one peer. There remains a consensus in the market that Linklaters sits alongside Freshfields as one of the clear leaders within the equity space....
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"Linklaters will continue to be strong, I see them as number one in this space," says one peer. There remains a consensus in the market that Linklaters sits alongside Freshfields as one of the clear leaders within the equity space.
This status is backed up by the firm's work on the largest IPOs and rights issues of the last 12 months.
The Glencore IPO drew a lot of attention last year, not just for its size – which admittedly was substantial at $60 billion - but also due to the fact that it was very much viewed as a bellwether for the success of future dual listing involving the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The deal itself saw a Links team comprising Charlie Jacobs, Patrick Sheil and David Avery-Gee advising the company on its primary LSE offering and secondary Hong Kong listing.
Staying in commodities, another substantial deal saw the team acting for Credit Suisse Securities as global co-ordinator and bookrunner, JPMorgan Securities as joint bookrunner and Evolution Securities and Liberum Capital as co-managers on the £687 million IPO of commodities acquisition company Vallar.
The two key attributes clients, highlights are the size and international scope of the team: "I probably know more associates at Linklaters, they have got a broader team," says one client. "Linklaters are even more commercial, they have got a broad international presence, it's a bit stronger and I have more contact."
Another bank side deal of note saw Charlie Jacobs lead a team acting for JPMorgan Cazenove and Deutsche Bank as the global co-ordinators of Indian corporate Essar Energy's £1.3 billion listing on the LSE. The firm can point to a clear track record in Indian listings having also advised mining company Vedanta on its 2003 listing.
The firm has had difficulties in the CEE (Central & Eastern Europe) region in the past few years, and clients did highlight this as a weakness: "They are the ones that are likely to slip out of the big four," says one. "Brilliant in Russia but not really in the rest of the CIS region."
However, the firm can still draw out some substantial mandates from the region. One deal which also demonstrates the recent rise to prominence of the Warsaw Stock Exchange saw Francis Kucera advise Eureko and Kappa as the selling shareholders on the €2.1 billion IPO of PZU, Poland's largest Insurance Company. As well as being the largest IPO ever on the Warsaw exchange, the deal was also the largest European Insurance company listing in five years, quite a coup for the exchange.
Where the firm is perceived to fall down though is in the amount of partner time clients get on deals, an issue raised on several occasions: "It's a lot less personal, you get a sense that the partners are working on a number of projects at the same time. From a relationship perspective it's not quite the same," says one, while another adds: "At Links the way they run transactions is quite siloed."
Capital raising has been a big feature of the market this year, with banks looking to shore up their tier one capital in light of the discussions around Basel III and again the quality and strength in depth of the Links team was demonstrated as it took a role on three of the largest mandates last year. One example saw Matthew Middleton advise the banks including JPMorgan Casenove, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, in their roles as bookrunners and co-lead managers of the £3.3 billion rights issue by Standard Chartered. The deal also included a private placement into the US and is notable also for the speed in which it was turned around with preparations completed in just two and half weeks.
The firm was also busy on the bank side on the £2 billion rights issue by Resolution. Co-heads of equity Jason Marketo and John Lane advised the Royal Bank of Canada Europe as sponsor and joint bookrunner and Barclays as joint bookrunner on the deal whose proceeds were used in part to finance the acquisition of Insurance company Axa's Uk Life Business.
Switching to the company side, the firm also acted for the National Grid on its £3.3 billion rights issue, including a US private placement. The London team was led by Roger Barron but also drew on partners from 10 other Linklaters offices around the globe.
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Leading lawyers
Charles Jacobs
John Lane
Jason Manketo
Brigid Rentoul
Linklaters
Linklaters remains alongside Allen & Overy in tier one, with both firms drawing on expertise in different areas.For Linklaters, underwriter mandates remains a strength and with a good combination of solid bank links and a notable corporate client base, the firm is well positioned to tap different areas of the market....
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Linklaters remains alongside Allen & Overy in tier one, with both firms drawing on expertise in different areas.
For Linklaters, underwriter mandates remains a strength and with a good combination of solid bank links and a notable corporate client base, the firm is well positioned to tap different areas of the market.
A sign of a market-leading outfit is its ability to take advantage of new trends as they emerge and Linklaters has done just that this year in terms of hybrid bonds. The first example of this saw Carson Welsh lead a team advising Credit Suisse Securities, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Rabobank as the joint lead managers and bookrunners on an issue of $2 billion 8.375% perpetual non-cumulative capital securities issue by Rabobank Nederland. The deal was structured with one eye on the Basel III capital requirements and was the first hybrid issuance, counting towards the issuers tier one capital, placed after the announcement.
The firm is positioning itself as a market leader in this space and has also been engaged on several mandates involving Coco (contingent convertible) bonds. An example saw Carson Welsh again engaged acting for the Credit Suisse Group on an $8 billion issuance of buffer capital notes (BCN) consisting of a $6 billion private placement and a $2 billion issue. In line with Basel III the deal is designed to meet the new Swiss requirements around buffer capital.
"I don't think there's any doubt that these are the leading firms across the DCM space," says one peer about the top tier firms. "There are only a few firms who have that sort of strength in depth geographically and across a number of different products."
Clients were effusive in their praise for the team's quality, though most noted that it came at a premium: "We have got very good partner support there, they have talented lawyers, they are slightly less value for money [than some rivals]."
Like most firms in the market, liability management has been a major source of mandates in the past 12 months for Linklaters and one key example of the firm's work was Richard Levy's advice to RBS, the wider RBS group and National Westminster Bank (NatWest) on the buy back and exchange of £15.9 billion of capital in tier one shares and tier two notes as part of a process to increase RBS's core capital. After tax this deal produced a gain of £2 billion.
In geographical terms the firm is starting to make waves in the east. "I think from a broad depth perception Linklaters are clearly very very strong in Russia," says one partner, "Russia is a very very big market for London based firms and we see Linklaters on the vast majority of Russian deals," says another. Clients also view this as a strength: "They have an exceptionally strong team and the fact that they cover a lot of work in Moscow with English and Russian lawyers is a bonus," says one.
This reputation is backed up by two key mandates from the last year. In the first, a team led by Cecil Quillen acted for Barclays, Citigroup Global Markets, Credit Suisse Securities and VTB Capital as the joint lead managers on the Russian Federation's $5.5 billion dual-tranche bond: a $2 billion 3.62% issue due in 2015 and a $3.3 billion 5% issue due in 2020. This was the first by the Federation since 1998.
Quillen's team also advised Morgan Stanley, UBS and VTB Capital as underwriters on a $412.5 million issue of conditional convertible bonds by Russian Steel company TMK. The first convertible by a Russian corporate since 2002, the deal eased the company's debt burden accrued through acquisitions done before the collapse of the steel market in 2008.
Moving south across the border, the team acted in unison with its Frankfurt office for the Government of the Ukraine as issuer on a $2 billion sovereign bond issue. Consisting of $500 million 6.75 % notes due in 2015 and $1.5 billion 7.75% notes due in 2020. Francis Kucera led the deal, the first since the country's IMF bailout in 2008 and another step in the firm's long standing relationship with the government which has seen them advise on all such issuances since 2004.
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Leading lawyers
Jane Brown
Ben Dulieu
Elaine Keats
Francis Kucera
Keith Thomson
Carson Welsh
Linklaters
The Linklaters high-yield department is led by co-heads Alex Naidenov and Mark Hageman, with the latter joining the department in September 2010 from Cravath Swaine & Moore.The market perception of Links is that of all the UK firms, it is the one that has the best of the early running in the high-yield area....
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The Linklaters high-yield department is led by co-heads Alex Naidenov and Mark Hageman, with the latter joining the department in September 2010 from Cravath Swaine & Moore.
The market perception of Links is that of all the UK firms, it is the one that has the best of the early running in the high-yield area. "Linklaters have been the most successful, their hire of Hageman is a very good hire because he does have a depth of experience and it goes from being a one man band to decent operation, how they integrate with the rest of the firm is their big challenge," says one peer. Others pointed out that rather than experiencing issues of integration, the team would instead benefit from the firm's traditional corporate and banking strengths. "We have been doing a lot of work with Links and its helpful because they have a strong bank side practice and high-yield where the people are good people," says one partner and another agrees: "Links has two American partners and have taken a few clients and they will take the work that is given to them."
This broad capability was highlighted when the team acted for Hertz on the €620 million issuance of senior secured notes as part of a wider financing which also included bank and securitisation elements.
On another issuer side mandate the team acted for Care UK on a £250 million issuance of senior secured notes as part of the financing for the take private of the company. The team also acted for the Cirsa Gaming Corporation on the issue of €400 million in 8.75% senior secured notes.
The state of the Pik financing market has received mixed reports, but Linklaters completed two deals in this area last year. In one the team acted for the arrangers including Nordea Bank, DnB Bank and Nykredit Bank on the SKr12 billion ($1.7 billion) financing including a €200 million Pik facility for the acquisition of the Dometic Group. This deal, led by Alex Naidenov in conjunction with the firm's Swedish office. Naidenov also acted for Deutsche Bank as the underwriter on the £176 million in second lien notes offered by Moto Finance (a subsidiary of the Moto Group) in conjunction with bank financing.
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Leading lawyers
Mark Hageman
Linklaters
The position of leading firm in UK derivatives is seen by most of the market as a straight fight between Allen & Overy and the up and coming team at Linklaters. "With the shift away from OTC towards clearing, it's Linklaters who are behind LCH Clearnet," says one peer, "so it'll be interesting to see how that turf battle evolves....
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The position of leading firm in UK derivatives is seen by most of the market as a straight fight between Allen & Overy and the up and coming team at Linklaters. "With the shift away from OTC towards clearing, it's Linklaters who are behind LCH Clearnet," says one peer, "so it'll be interesting to see how that turf battle evolves."
The image consistently conjured up by the market is one of contrast between the old guard represented by Allen & Overy and the young pretender represented by Linklaters. "I think Links have capitalised," says one practitioner, "but still because of the industry stuff there is a gap [between the two firms] but it's very much smaller than it used to be." Another agrees: "They're are the heirs of A&O and they do have the Lehman link."
The firm's links to Lehman continues to throw up plenty of new work and though it has been seen as something of a mixed blessing in recent years, both in terms of market perception and the enormous time commitment it demands, it has provided the firm with a steady workflow. Last year saw Simon Firth and Pauline Ashall acting for PricewaterhouseCoopers on a landmark case in the UK High Court. Lomas vs JFB Rixon, which arose out of the Lehman administration, raised questions in regard to the definition of Section 2(a) (iii) of the Isda Master Agreement. The conclusions are likely to lead to an amendment to the clause to clarify the issues surrounding payments between defaulting parties.
Rivals cite two main reasons for the success of the team: a greater focus on this area of the market and its positioning at the forefront of new regulation and definitions in the clearing space: "The fact that Linklaters is leading on the derivatives definition though, that's why I'd say I'd put them together," says a fellow practitioner and another agrees: "Linklaters have obviously gone charging ahead. They've really focused around this and because A&O had a massive exposure [during the financial crisis] because of their clients, this area became less profitable for them."
Clients are also impressed: "They're excellent, they are the ones we use," says one, although they point out that partner contact could be improved. "With Jon you do a bit more work with associates, it's less co-ordinated through the partner."
Providing advice to Isda (International Swaps & Derivatives Association) itself is of course seen as the mark of an established practice and last year a Linklaters team including partners Gary Barnett, Chong Liew and Michael Voisin advised the body on the new definitions for equity derivatives. This updates the definitions laid down in 2002 and with equity derivatives accounting for an estimated $7 trillion in trades in 2010, the mandate is a sign of the team's growing reputation.
Another highlight, this time led by partner Vinay Samani, was the team's advice to Barclays on the establishment of 'level two' programmes for the issue of exchange traded securities. These fall under the bank's iPath Global Structured Products Programme, which offer securities linked to the performance of various indices. Originating in the UK these have now spread across Europe.
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Leading lawyers
Simon Firth
Mark Fletcher
Vinay Samani
Deepak Sitlani
Michael Voisin
Linklaters
Securitisation remains the firm's main pillar of strength in the structured products area and this was no better demonstrated than the firm's work last year on the development of two new products: the rather unfortunately titled Asbo (accelerated structured bond offering) and the Utility HoldCo (bond securitisation product). With liquidity still proving difficult to come by and the rise of the bond markets to fill the gap, the Asbo could prove a useful tool, allowing as it does the borrower to effectively bypass the need for short term bank financing (later to be refinanced through a bond issue) and instead leap straight to the capital markets....
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Securitisation remains the firm's main pillar of strength in the structured products area and this was no better demonstrated than the firm's work last year on the development of two new products: the rather unfortunately titled Asbo (accelerated structured bond offering) and the Utility HoldCo (bond securitisation product). With liquidity still proving difficult to come by and the rise of the bond markets to fill the gap, the Asbo could prove a useful tool, allowing as it does the borrower to effectively bypass the need for short term bank financing (later to be refinanced through a bond issue) and instead leap straight to the capital markets.
The first time this new tool was used, the firm advised a huge consortium of banks including HSBC, RBS and Société Générale as the lenders and joint lead managers on the £700 million issue of Asbo bonds as part of the wider acquisition finance package granted to the a consortium for its purchase of HSBC Asset Finance's train leasing business. Julian David advised on the securitisation aspects alongside the firm's projects team.
Davies was also the lead partner as the team acted for Anglian Water Services, Osprey Acquisitions and Anglian Water (Osprey) on its £475 million refinancing including both bank and bond debt. The bond was graded as a HoldCo which falls between sovereign and high-yield debt and the deal marked the first time such a structure had been used on a water company securitisation.
As in derivatives, there are still those in the market who see the firm as being both aided and abetted by its continuing role on numerous Lehman related matters: "Linklaters I think are so so focused and heavily involved in the Lehman fallout and everything related there to that they simply don't have the capacity to do anything else on structured matters," says one peer. Certainly Lehman related work remains a key factor of the firm's work, but a look at the firm's mandates in the last year suggests that the practice has been engaged on a wide variety of other matters as well.
Clients liked the fact that the firm could draw on a wide network, but specifically that there was a centralised command structure: "It was one of the reasons we picked them, we didn't have to deal with the non-UK guys on a day to day basis. It was good, it reflected the value system of the firm," says one client, "We never had that situation where you have to wait for the Italian office or the Spanish office."
Compared to some of its closest rivals the team was also praised for its fee levels: "I personally spend about £20-30 million in fees a year and they by far proved to be the best value," says one busy client.
The last year has seen a resurgence in the covered bond market and the firm can also point to some notable mandates in this area. In one, a team led by partner Andrew Vickery advised Barclays, BarCap, Bank of America/Merril Lynch, Deutsch Bank Securities, Morgan Stanley and DnB NOR Bank as the dealers on DnB NOR Boligkreditt's $8 billion covered bond programme and initial $2 billion issuance into the US market.
In a similar deal Andrew Vickery acted for RBS on a €15 billion global covered bond programme. The issuance is backed by RBS and Natwest's UK mortgage portfolio.
RMBS is another asset class which has been steadily returning and Anne Hoe acted for the banks including RBS as arranger and joint lead manager and JPMorgan Securities, Lloyds TSB and RBS securities as joint lead managers of a £4.5 billion RMBS issuance of residential mortgages by RBS and NatWest Home Loans.
Although CLOs have not been a particularly vibrant asset class since the financial crisis, last year Hoe advised on a novel new structure for Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland. The deal consisted of a £1.6 billion securitisation of UK PFI (private finance initiative) loans. This is the first deal of its type with the portfolio including loans to projects such as schools, police stations and hospitals throughout the UK.
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Leading lawyers
Julian Davies
James Harbach
Anne Hoe
Andrew Vickery
Bank lending - lender side
Bank lending - company side
Bank lending - sponsor side
Linklaters
Linklaters has long held strong positions on the bank and borrower sides of the market but in recent years, linked to the firm's determination to build up its private equity practice, the market has noted that the firm's sponsor side practice is gaining traction. "Linklaters have worked on a lot of sponsor side lately....
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Linklaters has long held strong positions on the bank and borrower sides of the market but in recent years, linked to the firm's determination to build up its private equity practice, the market has noted that the firm's sponsor side practice is gaining traction. "Linklaters have worked on a lot of sponsor side lately. They have been promoting their private equity practice and Ian Bagshaw has been pushing the bank side to act for sponsors," says one peer and another agrees. "Linklaters may feel they are slightly higher than tier three. Sponsor side they would be ahead of Allen & Overy."
The ability was something that cropped up time and time again with clients. "The brain power at Links was invaluable. They did do a spectacular job in a cost effective manner and without any pre-conceived notions about what the financing should look like," says one client of Alex Naidenov. "We literally started at a weekend with a blank piece of paper and started designing this thing [the deal structure] from scratch. These guys did a better job thinking outside the box than I'd ever seen before, there's not many lawyers I'd trust to do that." Another client adds: "They are the kind of people who create solutions rather than creating problems."
There was some movement in and out of the firm last year. While the practice did manage to bring in highly respected banking and restructuring expert Chris Howard (a former Links associate) from Freshfields, it was hit by the departure of partner Steven Lucas who made the shift to US firm Weil Gotshal.
Of the current team, Stuart Thomas and his team were praised for their academic approach: "Stuart is a very methodical introvert who's always trying to think through elements. The team very much follows his lead in terms of the way they do business."
Some clients however, though recognising the firm's innovative qualities, were pushing for more commerciality: "Though they are an extremely capable group of people, they have never struck me as having the same input on commercial thinking," says another client.
Examples of this growing strength include Annette Kurdian and Ian Bagshaw advising Triton Managers III on its €840 million leveraged acquisition of Ambea from the 3i group and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.
One of the highlights of the firms' equity practice was its advice to Glencore on its dual listing on the Hong Kong and London stock exchanges. Linked to this the banking team advised the company on a $10.2 billion revolving credit facility which involved a phenomenal 94 banks, the largest syndicate seen since the turn of the century.
Bank side acquisition finance was the dominant part of the firm's practice last year however with examples including advice to RBS and BarCap on the £400 million bank financing as part of Resolution's acquisition of Axa's UK life business. Similarly, partner Jeremy Stockeld acted for a number of banks as agents, bookrunners, arrangers and original lenders on the provision of a £200 million facility for the acquisition of Brit Insurance by Apollo Management and CVC Capital Partners. The team worked on another deal linked to CVC as Adam Freeman worked again for the banks including BNP Paribas, HSBC and Nomura as arrangers, bookrunners and lenders of a €800 million credit facility to be used by CVC as part of its financing for its acquisition of the Autobar Group from Charterhouse Partners.
Restructuring work remains a key part of most firm's practices and Linklaters was no exception. Last year the team worked on mandates such as the $715 million debt restructuring of Almatis and the substantial restructuring of the European Directories Group. A team led by Philip Spittal also acted for Standard Chartered and a 15 bank syndicate on the €4.6 billion refinancing of the TataCorus Group.
Finally, Toby Grimstone acted alongside projects partner Manzer Ijaz on the combined $5.2 billion non-recourse pre-export financings granted to BP as part of the financing for the company's operations in Angola and Azerbaijan. The deals came as part of the oil company's response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, in an effort to demonstrate to shareholders that the company retained access to liquidity.
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Leading lawyers
Bruce Bell
Bryan Gray
Chris Howard
Gideon Moore
Philip Spittal
Nick Syson
Financial services regulatory - non-contentious
Financial services regulatory -contentious
Linklaters
Of all the magic circle, Linklaters has arguably had the most success balancing its banking and corporate practices and this continued ability to offer an equal service across the two areas keeps them in the top tier.The team had considerable success in the oil sector last year....
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Of all the magic circle, Linklaters has arguably had the most success balancing its banking and corporate practices and this continued ability to offer an equal service across the two areas keeps them in the top tier.
The team had considerable success in the oil sector last year. One of the largest deals saw the London team coordinating with colleagues in New York and Brussels to advise BP on the combined $7 billion acquisition of oil assets in Brazil, Azerbaijan and the Gulf of Mexico from the Devon Energy Corporation. London partners Stephen Griffin, Lee Taylor and Graham Phillips led on the deal, which also saw BP entering into a joint venture with Devon which saw it sell a 50% stake in oil sands assets in Alberta in Canada.
In another oil deal, Nick Rumsby, Fiona Hobbs and Owen Clay acted for the Korea National Oil Corporation on its £1.9 billion hostile takeover of Dana Petroleum, a North Sea and African focused corporation. Alongside this an offer was made for Dana's convertible bonds.
Another substantial deal saw a team led by Charlie Jacobs and Richard Good acting for the Zain Group, a Middle Eastern telecoms operator on the $10.7 billion sale of the majority of its African assets to Indian corporate Bharti. This proved to be the largest ever overseas acquisition by an Indian company.
Also in the telecoms sector, a team including Tom Shropshire and Dan Lawrie, working alongside the firm's Moscow office, acted for United TeleSystems on its merger with Russian provider Mobile TeleSystems
In the energy sector, Matthew Middleditch and Iain Wagstaff acted for GDF Suez and Belgian company Electrabel on the $20.2 billion reverse takeover of International Power, which would see GDF transfer its energy assets to International Power and in return GDF would claim a 70% shareholding.
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Leading lawyers
Richard Godden
Charles Jacobs
Matthew Middleditch
Jeremy Parr
Private equity - fund formation
Private equity - transactions
Linklaters
Linklaters has been putting a lot of focus on its private equity practice, mainly on the transactional side and it is beginning to bear dividends. "They have a broad investment management practice but their activity in private equity fund formation is lower," says one peer....
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Linklaters has been putting a lot of focus on its private equity practice, mainly on the transactional side and it is beginning to bear dividends. "They have a broad investment management practice but their activity in private equity fund formation is lower," says one peer.
Head of department Ian Bagshaw is clearly seen as the firm's driving force: "Ian Bagshaw has been busy but not just on pure private equity he does a lot of restructuring, but they are definitely busier in the market," comments one rival.
Clients have also noticed the firm's expansion: "They have beefed up quite significantly. It used to be focused solely around him (Bagshaw) and Richard Youle, there was a limited number of good associates, Links is a big animal and it takes some time for them to get on with stuff but now they have really beefed up the practice."
Youle was also popular among clients: "He's skilled with legal matters and has a low ego. He's not afraid of calling in external advice if he needs to, it's pretty unbeatable." Another adds: "The quality of service is second to none, he always steps up whether its working through weekends or over Easter, his ability to do that is second to none, his ability to come up with the goods."
However not everyone in the market has yet been convinced with some suggesting that firm still needs to diversify its client base: "They have got high profile partners who love to sound off in the press but they don't have a keystone private equity client." However with mandates this year coming from the likes of The Carlyle Group and Oaktree Capital, clearly the firm is generating forward momentum.
Clients also pointed out that the firm's offering in some of its other European bases could be improved: "They have really good lawyers almost everywhere but I think that it's a slightly different approach from the other offices. They are not as good and hands on and more lax to allow other departments to take a big part of the transaction leading to bigger fees," says one. Another client backs this up: "We have had some issues there in Germany and Sweden where we thought the fees were a bit expensive."
A clear highlight of the firm's work last year saw Bagshaw advise Triton on its €850 million acquisition of Ambea a provider of care services within hospitals and nursing homes in Sweden. The deal, that saw Triton act alongside KKR and Triactor Acquico, was at time of close the largest LBO in the Nordic region since the credit crunch. The deal was completed against the backdrop of a proposed IPO process.
Another deal with Nordic links saw a team led by Richard Youle acting for HgCapital on its sale of software company Visma to a fund managed by KKR. The deal brings the firm full circle as the Linklaters team advised on the initial purchase of Visma by Hg. HG also called in the team to act on the acquisition of Italian software manufacturer TeamSystem by HGFund VI and Titan Luxco 3. This was the largest acquisition by HG to date.
Youle was again involved as the firm acted for Oaktree Capital on its acquisition of distressed marine services company Gulmark Energy. Oaktree's stake was acquired for a nominal value, with $100 million made available to assist the company.
The Carlyle Group also mandated the firm to act on the combined £600 million acquisitions of Integrated Dental Holdings from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Associated Dental Practices from Palamon Capital Partners.
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Leading lawyers
Ian Bagshaw
Richard Youle
Linklaters
The Linklaters team was the subject of a fair degree of change in 2010 with two partners, in the forms of John Maxwell and Daniel Tyrer, relocating to London from Hong Kong and Moscow respectively. Going in the opposite direction to Tyrer was Matthew Keats who made the move to Moscow to head up the energy and infrastructure group....
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The Linklaters team was the subject of a fair degree of change in 2010 with two partners, in the forms of John Maxwell and Daniel Tyrer, relocating to London from Hong Kong and Moscow respectively. Going in the opposite direction to Tyrer was Matthew Keats who made the move to Moscow to head up the energy and infrastructure group.
The Linklaters team is fairly balanced between the three areas of power, oil and gas and infrastructure.
In the latter sector, the team had a busy year advising on a number of road projects. On the domestic side Bruce White and Charlotte Morgan acted for Arney Ventures on the £2 billion Isle of Wight Highways Maintenance Project, which took the form of a PFI (private finance initiative). Closed in June 2010, the project follows similar work completed by the firm as lenders counsel on the Sheffield Highway Maintenance project.
The firm also acted on two Dutch road projects. In one, Stuart Rowson advised the ultimately failed bidders, made up of the Dutch Infrastructure Fund, Volker Wessels, Fluor Infrastructure and Heijmans, on the €665 million PPP (public-private partnership) for the maintenance of the 30km A15 road. The team also acted for the same bidders (without Fluor Infrastructure) on the pitch for the €300 million A12 road in Utrecht.
Another highlight saw Bruce White and Simon Ratledge acting for Caisse des Depots et Consignations on its bid for the £531 million expansion of the tram network in Nottingham, the Nottingham Express Transit Phase Two Rail Project, consisting of 17.4 km of track and 28 new stops.
The firm has had its fair share of lender side mandates as well, with one of the largest involving Pieter Puelinckx acting for BNP Paribas Fortis and Fortis Real Estate on the €1.75 billion PPP project for the construction of over 200 schools in the Flemish region of Belgium.
On the power side, the team can point to a first when a team including Andrew Jones and Julian Davies acted on the first ever Italian project bond, used for the construction of the Montalto di Castro solar power plant in Italy. The team acted for SACE as guarantor, BNP Paribas and Société Générale as originators and arrangers, EIB as bond investor, Société Générale as VAT lender and Deutsche Bank as bond trustee. The project would see Andromeda Finance issuing two sets of senior secured notes to finance the construction of the park.
Another renewable energy deal of note saw John Pickett act for the lenders including the European Investment bank and the African Development bank on the €60 million financing of four wind farms in Cape Verde.
Although the firms presence in the Middle East is arguably not as strong as some competitors, the London team did act on a major project in the oil and gas sector last year. A London team led by Manzer Ijaz acted for the lenders including seven export credit agencies and 31 commercial banks on the $14 billion financing for the Jubail Refinery facility in Saudi Arabia. The deal is notable for its size, the wide variety of financing sources it draws upon and the fact that it represents the first greenfield merchant refinery in the country.
Finally the firm demonstrated its Russian strength when new London partner Daniel Tyrer acted for the lenders on the $1.8 billion financing for the Yuzhno-Russkova gas field in Siberia.
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Leading lawyers
Alan Black
Jeremy Gewirtz
Clive Ransome
Bruce White
Linklaters
"Linklaters do get a pretty good run now they have managed to free a couple of people from Lehman," says one peer highlighting what many in the market highlighted as both a blessing and a curse for the firm in recent years. The seemingly unstoppable surge of Lehman related matters has no doubt kept the team busy, but the firm has had to guard against neglect of the other members of its client base and the perception in the wider market that it has become a one-client operation....
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"Linklaters do get a pretty good run now they have managed to free a couple of people from Lehman," says one peer highlighting what many in the market highlighted as both a blessing and a curse for the firm in recent years. The seemingly unstoppable surge of Lehman related matters has no doubt kept the team busy, but the firm has had to guard against neglect of the other members of its client base and the perception in the wider market that it has become a one-client operation.
However the fact remains that if you are one of the primary firms engaged in such a complex, varied and wide ranging mandate as the Lehman collapse, there is no doubt that valuable experience will be gained. "I think Linklaters have benefited enormously from Lehman," says one peer.
The duo of Richard Holden and Tony Bugg received much client praise with their complementary skills: "I've worked with them for years. Tony Bugg and Richard Holden - they are top-notch. Tony Bugg is the top insolvency lawyer in the UK in my view. Richard Holden is one of the top restructuring lawyers in the UK."
Richard Bussell also receives praise: "One of the best in the industry, the best on restructuring and insolvency. Best in class, he is a very strong partner. Good interpersonal skills, building consensus across the group. Incredibly knowledgeable of my business area," says another client.
The firm's bank side practice received a considerable boost in January 2011 when it welcomed back Chris Howard from Freshfields. Howard had been at Links before moving across and becoming partner at its magic circle rival.
When contemplating the firm's deal highlights there's only one place to start. The team continues to act on the Lehman insolvency most recently acting for PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrators of the bank's UK companies. Tony Bugg, Richard Holden and David Ereira continue to lead the team on work including the return of assets to clients, debt claimants, pension issues and advising on negotiations with various affiliates over claims and litigation relating to the so called Rascals case over the ownerships of securities.
Outside of this, the team led by Rebecca Jarvis and Yen Sum acted on the major restructuring of European Directories advising senior lenders including Alcenta, Allied Irish, Lloyds, M&G Investment Management and RBS on the senior, mezzanine and Pik debt. The deal also included acting on the case in the Court of Appeal where a high court decision finding in favour of two junior lenders was overturned allowing the senior lenders to enact a restructuring plan which saw the company's shares and debts being placed under the control of a new company under the control of the senior lenders.
Another highlight saw Yushan Ng acting for the senior noteholders on the restructuring of telecoms company the Hellas Group. The mandate brought in Linklaters partners from the capital markets team and also from the firm's Luxembourg office.
The firm's international network was generally praised, though clients pointed out that as with most firms, there is room for improvement: "The New York office was excellent, Belgium not on the same level as London and New York, they lacked the same technical knowledge and tended to flip flop on position a little. Offices were very well coordinated though," says one.
Another mandate which required the firm to draw on resources from various offices saw the London team combining with counterparts in Frankfurt, Amsterdam, New York, Tokyo and Beijing on the restructuring of Almatis. Following the company's debt default in 2009, the company was put under US Chapter 11 bankruptcy, emerging in September 2010 with a restructuring plan approved by the court with the company's creditors.
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Leading lawyers
Tony Bugg
Richard Bussell
David Ereira
Richard Holden
Chris Howard
Rebecca Jarvis
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