IFLR 1000
The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms

Ashurst's EU competition practice is led by Nigel Parr. "He is an outstanding lawyer, always calm, completely unflappable, knows everything inside out, really excellent - if I had a problem I would go to him," says a competitor.

Julian Ellison also receives high praise from clients: "He is innovative and does not just do what you ask him, he is very good at pushing to make things happen; he is good at thinking." According to a second client Ellison "is excellent and has very good knowledge of our business". The firm recently went through a process of decentralisation of its European network and shows good growth figures as a result.

In notable cases, Ellison helped Candover Investment and Ontex file a merger notification for its €1.2 billion sale of Ontex subsidiary Candover Partners (hygienic disposals company) to private equity firms Goldman Sachs PIA and TPG Capital. As well as being one of Belgium's biggest ever private equity deals, the transaction required a number of clearances in European and Asian countries.

Alexandre Vandeneasteele led a team advising Colgate Palmolive on merger control matters for its €672 million acquisition of Sanex, which came as a direct result of the Commission forcing Unilever to divest. Denis Waelbroek advised Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutica on the notification of the €206 million sale of its animal health division to Elanco, which involved parallel filings in Latin America.

A fourth interesting deal saw Ellison advise US company Millpore on its merger notification to the Commission on its €5.2 billion sale to Merck, a deal which also involving clearance in Asia and the Americas.

The Ashurst Brussels office has a smaller presence in the market than its magic circle counterparts and often acts in a supporting fashion on large transactions with other international firms or alongside its London office, according to commentators. Carl Meyntjens is the main name at the firm.

In recent mandates, the team assisted Latham & Watkins in advising Ontex IV on several bond issuances comprising of a €570 million senior secured notes offering, a €280 million floating rate notes offering and €235 million senior notes issuance with Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch.

Meyntjens also led a team in Brussels advising Ontex on its abandoned IPO which was being worked on by UBS Investment Bank and JPMorgan. After the abandonment of the listing the deal turned into a sale of the Ontex Group to Goldman Sachs PIA and TPG Capital.

On a fully Belgian deal, Ashurst advised KBC Securities as underwriter of €15 million capital increase of Euronext listed Accentis. With the London office, the firm advised Shanks Group and subsidiaries as issuer and guarantors to €50 million bond, with notes listed on London exchange in October 2010.

Ashurst keeps its position in tier four this year and according to some competitors the firm is "good, it is the exception in the fourth tier in that its banking practice is not simply ancillary to other core practices, but we do not see them very often".

The firm's reputation in strong in private equity, which means it will be in good stead as the market picks up and leverage deals grow in volume and size.

The firm advised Westdeutsche Immobilien Bank (Westimmo) on the acquisition financing for the acquisition of two buildings in Brussels by the fund HFSB Metropolen Westeuropa. It also acted alongside Ropes & Gray and Sullivan & Cromwell for Goldman Sachs and the Texas Pacific Group to provide a €700 million facility for the acquisition on Ontex, the largest LBO in 2010.

In also represented the European Investment Bank (EIB) on the restructuring of several project financings and supported the London team on the Belgian aspects of the Shanks Group refinancing by a group of banks, which included Barclays Bank.

All the deals were led by Arnaud Wtterwulghe, head of the banking and finance department. He is supported by a team of five associates, including a recent associate recruit from Liedekerke.

Ashurst's lead capital markets partner Ugo Giordano has advised on most of the mandates undertaken by the team last year. One notable example saw him lead the team advising Deutsche Bank acting as issuer on its private placements and public offers of securities into the Italian market; it also advised its listing on the Italian Stock Exchange as well as the establishment of an issuing programme.

Another similar mandate saw Giordano acting for issuer Banca IMI on the public offers of securities into the Italian market, as well as the listing on the Italian Stock Exchange and the establishment of their issuing programme.

Franco Vigliano, the head of the project finance team at Ashurst was kept busy in 2010 by advising on two major deals. Rivals were quick to praise his reputation in the market. "Ashurst has an advantage because they've got Franco Vigliano, he's a traditional project lawyer and he's the senior partner at the firm," says one. "He's one of the first lawyers who did projects in Italy. So for historical reasons, he certainly deserves to be the leading lawyer."

When it comes to the team's overall capacity in the market, one rival says the firm "is very strong in infrastructure, but less in renewables", while another one suggests that since "Vigliano's team only has four people", if they genuinely want to become tier one, they need to do more investment.

One notable deal saw Vigliano involved in a €92.5 million mandate when he acted for BNP Paribas Clean Energy Fund on the structuring, negotiation, and closing of the financing aspects of a photovoltaic project, with a capacity up to 30MW in Montalto di Castro. The mandate also includes an acquisition of the project. Another saw Vigliano lead the team advising Tunnel Gest on the €110 million financing for the 110 road tunnels' maintenance in Lombardy. The facility has been granted by BIIS Banca Infrastrutture Innovazione Sviluppo and UniCredit.

One of the key clients of Ashurst in 2010 and 2011 is the private equity firm First Reserve Corporation who specialise in the energy sector. A team of lawyers, including Carloandrea Meacci and Paola Flora alike, acted for the firm on the €276 million non-recourse debt facilities financing to acquire a solar park with a capacity up to 70MW in Rovigo, north east of Italy. Other lenders on the deal include Santander, UniCredit, and Crédit Agricole.

Ashurst's banking expertise is spearheaded by former Vinge lawyer and SEB Bank in house counsel Mats Rooth. He "deserves a high individual ranking and still does quite a lot of work for SEB Bank" says a leading lawyer.

Clients are very pleased with the firm and impressed with Rooth's elephantine memory. "They have been ramping up recently and Rooth is very much involved in any deals he takes," says a client adding: "he knows all the details of the deal and if you work with him he will remember the details of the deals for years after, it's scary!"

Rooth is especially strong on leveraged financing, acquisition finance and shipping finance.

Ashurst has a good reputation in the market for corporate. The firm very much holds its own if it is not overtly on the ascendency, and in 2010 it received a boost with the lateral hire of former Linklaters partner Martin Börresen. Clients especially like the firm and in many respects it punches alongside the top rung in terms of quality.

Ashurst remain very highly thought of in the equity capital markets field despite the disruption that has affected other parts of the firm. Recent years have seen moves to increase its underwriter offering and the firm's evolution has been noted by peers: "Ashurst have transformed themselves in the last eight years," says one, "this year they have had some managerial issues, but they're still a very strong firm."

Another shift in focus has seen the firm looking towards the Scandinavian markets for potential growth and this resulted in department head Nicholas Holmes acting for Nomura, Morgan Stanley and SEB Enskilda on the Kingdom of Sweden's sale of its shares in Nordea Bank by way of an accelerated book building process.

The firm did experience disruption in terms of its US securities offering this year. In April 2011 partners Daniel Bushner, Eric Stuart and Marie Elena Angulo left the firm to join Jones Day, however the firm has to be applauded for its rapid response as it hired Linklaters partner Ray Fisher, head of the firm's New York capital markets offering, and former Links partner Jennifer Schneck a mere month later.

In terms of IPO work, it was another good year for Holmes who managed to rack up an impressive transaction list. Both he and Jeffrey Sultoon acted for Orile Securities and RBS Hoare Govett as global co-ordinators and bookrunners on NB Distressed Debt Investment Fund's $435 million offering. Holmes also acted for Citi and JPMorgan as sponsors and bookrunners on Lonmin's £160 million IPO.

Led by Anna Delgado, Ashurst's debt team maintains its positions with a good mix of bank and corporate side work.

One such example saw the team acting for Merrill Lynch and its international branch on the update of the formers €15 billion note programme. Another bank side mandate saw the firm acting for JPMorgan Securities on its structured products programme for the issuance of Notes, warrants and certificates.

On the company side, one of the largest mandates saw the firm acting for the National Express Group on the establishment of a £1 billion EMTN programme and a debut issuance of £350 million in 6.25% notes due in 2017 and £225 million in 6.625% notes due in 2020.

Finally, another interesting deal on the corporate side saw the team acting for the Shanks Group in relation to a €50 million issue of 5% notes offered by the Kingdom of Belgium and Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

The securities and derivatives group at Ashurst was until recently very much defined by partner Erica Handling. Since her departure to an in-house position at Barclays Capital, Chris Georgiou has taken the helm and has managed to steady the ship, always a priority during a succession process. "Ashurst have been very up and coming recently," says one peer.

Although not seen as competing directly with Allen & Overy and Linklaters the market had respect for the practice, which still picks up notable mandates from the likes of LCH Clearnet, who James Coiley advised last year on the clearing procedure for various CDS transactions. This relationship was fostered initially by the firm's Paris team, but the firm is now advising on English-law aspects of the clearing procedure.

Another major client is Merrill Lynch who last year called in the team to advise its European commodities arm on trading and risk management issues relating to the Eggborough Power Station. The team also been appointed to provide netting and due diligence advice going forward.

Christopher Whitely, working again alongside the Paris team, advised Credit Suisse and RBS on the termination of equity derivatives and collateral arrangements with Eurazeo related to its stake in Accor.

The firm has also been busy providing opinion on structured derivatives transaction documentation for the likes of Morgan Stanley and RBS and prime brokerage documentation for the likes of Nomura, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Haymarket.

Ashurst's reputation in this area is built on its strength in the CDO and CLO space. This had caused a slight drop off in work in recent years as both markets experienced problems. "Ashurst were a volume CDO shop, that's all they ever did and that's gone," says one partner.

However, in line with many other firms in the market, there has been a concerted effort made to diversify the practice and this is now bearing fruit.

Another major change in the practice has been the departure of Erica Handling, the former group head who moved to Barclays Capital. Her replacement Chris Georgiou has big shoes to fill, but will be hoping to move the firm to a more rounded base.

CDO and CLO work is still a key pillar of the practice and though work has reduced, there are still a few mandates to be had. In one example, David Quirolo advised Barclays Capital as the swap counterpart on over 30 CDO transactions. In another he acted alongside Michael Smith acting for Intermediate Capital Managers as manager on the CLO by ICG EOS Loan Funding.

Ashurst's banking practice led by Nigel Ward remains focused on bank side mandates, although thanks to its private equity strength the firm also maintains a solid sponsor side offering.

"Ashurst on the leveraged side, I would see them a lot," says one client. "Maybe it's just the fact that they understand our approach, we don't have to sit down and explain things to them. There's a lot of people we'd regard very highly in Ashurst."

The London team experienced a few changes in the past 12 months including the return to the London office of Martyn Rogers after two years in the Middle East. The team's Italian law capacity was also boosted through the hire of partners Ugo Giordano and Fabio Pizzoccheri from Dewey & LeBoeuf.

Key bank side mandates included lead partner Nigel Ward acting for Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley, RBS and UBS on the £2 billion financing provided to Advent International and Bain Capital for the acquisition of 80% of RBS Worldpay. Working alongside Ward on the deal was partner Jane Eissenden who also advised Goldman Sachs and TPG on €700 million in financing facilities for the acquisition of Ontex from Candover. A separate team led by Nick Benham also acted for Ontex on the sale.

Another mandate from Goldman saw the team act for the bank alongside Rothschild over the £700 million financing for Boparan Holdings offer for Northern Foods.

One of the firm's largest deals saw Benham act for Korea Eximbank on the $2.6 billion in financing provided to Korea National Oil for its takeover of Dana Petroleum.

On the sponsor side Doo-Soon Choi was kept busy advising Oakley Capital on the financing aspects of its acquisition of a 50% stake in Time Out and on the financing of the groups disposal of Host Europe. Choi also acted for LGV Capital on the financing for its acquisition of Snow & Rock.

Refinancing remains a key part of the market and last year Helen Burton acted for Gala Coral on its LBO restructuring which involved the mezzanine debt holders converting a £558 million holding into equity and injecting a further £200 million in cash. The deal was the largest LBO restructuring in 2010.

Ashurst's financial services regulatory team consists of seven partners led by James Perry and it received a significant boost in 2010 with the hire of Rob Moulton from Nabarro. Moulton focuses on European regulation and enforcement and the market was of the opinion that he would certainly raise the practice's profile. "Ashurst I have come across, they have acted for the FSA," says one practitioner. "They have James and now they have Rob Moulton, James is an extremely impressive regulatory lawyer."

Alongside providing more general advice last year on issues such as Mifid, Emir and derivatives regulation, the non-contentious team also advised RBS on the establishment of an in-house management structure for the distribution of its structured products.

On the contentious side, one highlight saw the team act for Winterflood Securities as it challenged a decision by the Financial Services Tribunal in regard to the need to have an actuating purpose in a finding of market abuse. The team also advised Mehmet Sepil in regard to an FSA (Financial Services Authority) investigation.

Ashurst took the opportunity to reorganise the management of its M&A team in 2010 appointing Stephen Lloyd as the global head of corporate and Simon Beddow as his European equivalent.

In corporate circles, the firm is better known for its extremely strong private equity practice with links to the likes of Nordic Capital and Candover Investment. However this is not to say that the firm does not get its fair share of public mandates as well.

One of the largest deals last year saw Adrian Clark acting for the Chloride Group on a £997 million offer for Emerson Electric. Another highlight saw the firm advise engineering and construction firm the URS Corporation on its offer for consultancy firm the Scott Wilson Group.

Another notable mandate saw Robert Ogilvy Watson acting fro Kexim on Korea National Oil Corporations $2.6 billion bid for the share capital of Dana Petroleum. In the mining sector Ogilvy Watson and Clark worked together, acting for the Chinese energy group CGNPC Uranium Resources on its cash offer for mining company Kalahari Minerals which is active in Namibia.

The departures last year of David Arnold and Gavin Gordon drew a varied response from the market, but most were in agreement that the department would not suffer too much. "The two guys that went over there were actually quite junior so although the market made a big deal of it, I'm not sure," says one, while another says. "I think Ashurst have probably suffered with Gavin and David's departure, but they are still relatively busy."

The other key shift in the department in recent years was the promotion of former private equity head Charlie Geffen to senior partner, with the market interested to see how active he would remain in terms of pure deal work. However his continued presence within the firm, some suggest, is enough to ensure the department remains a significant force. "Ashurst still has some very good people so I would not over play that [the departure of Arnold and Gordon]," says one peer. "The loyalty Charlie has with clients should not be underestimated."

The team is now led by Bruce Hanton and last year he acted alongside Mark Sperotto advising Blackstone on the sale of a stake in Merlin Entertainments to CVC Capital Partners. This left Blackstone with a 34% stake in the £2.25 billion company.

Simon Beddow and David Carter meanwhile were engaged by Candover on the €1.2 billion sale by subsidiary Candover Partners of Ontex to Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and TPG Capital. This led on from Ashurst's advise on Candover's original takeover of Ontix in 2003.

Apax is another key client for the team and last year Stephen Lloyd acted on its $830 million acquisition of a majority stake in IT security company Sophos. Lloyd also advised new client Nordic Capital on the acquisition of child safety seat manufacturer Britax from funds advised by The Carlyle Group. The firm was appointed in 2010 as Europe wide counsel to Nordic and will hope to win plenty more mandates in this regard.

Ashurst's project finance deal list had a distinctly international feel last year. One of the largest projects undertaken by the team saw the firm acting on the $1.7 billion financing of the Shuweihat 1,6000MW IPP (independent power production) project with the firm acting for the banks including JBIC, K-Exim, BNP Paribas, Mizuho, BTMU, HSBC and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

Another power project saw Anthony Patten and John McClenahan advising KOGAS in relation to a $16 billion investment into the Gladstone LNG (liquefied natural gas) project in Queensland. Staying in Southeast Asia, partner Matthew Bubb acted for the mandated lead arrangers including BNP Paribas, HSBC and Standard Chartered on the S$1.33 billion (£678.7 billion) Singapore Sports and Leisure Infrastructure PPP (public-private partnership).

"I think Ashurst is also an outstanding team. Patrick Doyle and Jan Sanders," says one client. "I'd put Jan up there in terms of the way she treats her clients."

The firm has recently been building strong links and client relationships in the Nordic region and one example saw a team including Sanders, Patrick Boyle and Nick Hilder acting for Skanska/Innisfree on the $1.35 billion Nya Karolinska Swedish university hospital PPP, the largest project undertaken by Skanska to date.

Another client specifically praises the firm's ability to work with many differing parties: "We had national institutions as well as banks so it was a difficult mix to manage. It was important to create ownership on the lawyers, Ashurst worked very well to achieve that. It was a non-confrontational approach, it didn't feel like two sides."

The energy, transport and infrastructure team at Ashurst is led by Mark Elsey and was boosted last year with the promotion of Nick Stalbow to the partnership.

The firm has been making moves this year to strengthen and expand its international presence, most notably in Australia where a merger with Blake Dawson was confirmed earlier this year. In light of this it will be encouraging for the firm that it has managed to secure roles on projects work in a host of locations beyond the European markets where it derides its strength.

One such example saw Matthew Bubb act for the lead arrangers including Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, DBS Bank and HSBC on the S$1.33 billion ($1 billion) Singapore Sports and Leisure Infrastructure PPP (public-private partnership). Another PPP project saw Jan Sanders, Patrick Boyle and Nick Hilder act for the Skanska/Innisfree consortium on a project to develop Sweden's new university hospital. The project is notable for being the first successful PPP in Swedish history.

Power was another key area for the team last year and two projects emphasise this. In the first Anthony Patten and John McClenahan acted for KOGAS of South Korea on its investment in the $16 billion Gladstone LNG (liquefied natural gas) project in Queensland. John Inglis, David Wadham and Nikhil Markanday meanwhile acted for the lenders including BNP Paribas, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and JBIC on the financing for the $1.7 billion Shuweihat SE IPP (independent power project) in Abu Dhabi.

Ashurst's restructuring team led by Giles Boothman splits its time evenly between LBO restructurings and bondholder representation.

In the former, the team acted on the high profile Wind Hellas restructuring, advising Zolfo Cooper as administrators of the group as it restructured its £1.8 billion debt. Acting for the company this time, the team also advised Panrico on its €600 million debt restructuring and Gala Coral on its £3 billion restructuring.

Real estate related transactions were another source of work for the team and Nigel Stacey and Dan Hamilton acted last year for Real Estate Opportunities on its financial restructuring and demerger from Battersea Power Station. The team also advised RBS on the Ethel Austin restructurings and pre-pack administration.