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

Simmons & Simmons' finance team is reputedly strongest in structured finance, specifically securities and derivatives, but last year it also handled a wide range of equity work predominantly for underwriters but also for issuers.

Looking at its deals the firm has won good clients amongst hedge funds and it counts as its clients Kempen & Co and Petercam, as well as some biotech and real estate companies. The firm advises a number of Italian and Spanish European banks.

On the debt side, Daphne Brinkhuis recently advised Banca IMI for an update on Dunia Capital's €5 billion debt programme and on matters relating to alternative investments. Brinkhuis also acted for Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria on updates on CID Finance's €5 billion programme and on an issuance of $23 million in floating rate secured limited recourse notes due in 2011 by Boiro Finance. Other debt clients included Caja Mediterráneo and UBS.

On the equity side, led by Michiel Wurfbain, the firm advised Kempen & Co and Petercam Bank on the €12 million equity offering by Euronext Amsterdam listed biotech company Pharming Group. Wurfbain advised Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics on its €14.3 million capital raising exercise and US traded funds operator Rafferty Asset Management on the listing of its exchange traded funds platform Direxion Shares on the Amsterdam Euronext.

Simmons & Simmons keeps its place in the rankings. The banking practice is managed by Daphne Brinkhuis, who acts on most of the top deals, while her team also counts on the support of partners with generalised practices (especially in tax and insolvency).

Competitors note that the firm does not appear often on big ticket transactions however through 2010-2011 it did handle a number of large financings and refinancings.

The highest value of these was advising Coöperatie AVEBE on a €250 million facility agreement with ABN AMRO and Rabobank, while another other high value deals saw the firm act for Refresco on a €140 million acquisition and revolving credit facility from ABN AMRO and Rabobank.

The firm also advised ING Bank, ABN AMRO and Deutsche Bank on a series of refinancings for a group of companies owned by Dutch private equity firms. Showing versatility, the firm also advised on a substantial straight financing, representing Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation on loans of €50 million and €30 million to Denso Europe and Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift Europe.

Simmons & Simmons is one of the strongest firms in the second half of the table. The firm does well in local and regional tables especially with regards to the volume of M&A it handles. The firm is also very capable of leading on cross-border transactions coming out of the Netherlands.

"They are doing quite well," says one peer, "I would mention Jean-Pierre van Leeuwe as the leader there, he is very active and has lots of experience". Pieter van Uchelen ranks highly individually for the number of deals he has closed so far in 2011, while Leo Verhoeff and Michiel Wurfbain also lead on a number of the firm's biggest M&As. Other peers recognise that the firm is strong in private equity.

Among the most standout deals, Verhoeff advised Refresco on its relatively high value acquisition of Spumador from Trilantic Capital Partners and, on a high value mandate, acted for Jefferies & Company as financial advisor to Eurand on the $583 million tender offer by Axcan. The latter involved various counsel across a number of jurisdictions. Verhoeff also advised the Foreman Capital on the sale of Orangefield Trust to AAC Capital.

One of Van Leeuwe's large mandates saw him assist the firm's long standing Irish client CRH, a building supplies manufacturer, on the €125 million sale of CRH Insulation Europe to Kingspan; a deal that involved four jurisdictions a number of the firm's offices.

Simmons & Simmons R&I team is headed by the "very good" Gerhard Gispen, say peers, the "up and coming" Barbara van Gangelen, who specialises in national and international workouts, and Christiaan Zijderveld. The firm's practice is split between restructuring and insolvency work.

"They have a good team, act more for banks," says a peer while another says: "We see Gispen many times, used to see him as bankruptcy receiver and representing clients on bankruptcy cases and in major litigation against managing directors." "Gispen is the leading person in field for insolvencies," says another peer.

The firm has been noted in the market for its involvement in the LyondellBasell restructuring and the Yukos bankruptcy related litigation cases. One of the most high profile bankruptcy mandates saw Gispen act for Icelandic bank Landsbanki Íslands on the emergency proceeding relating to its Dutch branch.

The firm also advised Citibank in relation to the restructuring of Rotterdam based chemical company LyondellBasell and has won various mandates on behalf of note holders of the Dutch treasury company of Lehman Brothers. The firm has also been heavily involved in real estate restructuring deals mostly acting on behalf of hedge funds.

Simmons & Simmons's capacity was hit in January 2011 when US securities partner Daniel Winterfeldt left the firm to make the move to CMS Cameron McKenna. However, the firm did respond by hiring Julian Perlmutter from Clifford Chance.

The firm is largely known for its strong funds practice and this does have a tendency to over shadow the capital markets offering. However the team finds itself on a decent number of mandates and can leverage off its funds capability.

Head of the international capital markets team is Chris Horton and he worked on a number of deals for key client JPMorgan Cazenove last year. One example saw Horton act for the client alongside Evolution Securities as joint bookrunners, lead managers and sponsors on the £200 million IPO of Prime on the LSE. On a similar deal the team again acted for the bank this time alongside Panmure Gordon on the £88 million rights issue by the RPC Group.

In another notable IPO deal Horton acted alongside Steven Whittaker for RBS Hoare Govett on the £75 million IPO of CQS Diversified Fund on the LSE.

Simmons & Simmons secured a good mix of issuer and underwriter mandates last year. The firm is better known for its funds work but the debt team also maintains a solid practice.

Two key issuer mandates included acting for the Thomas Cook Group on the €400 million issue of 6.75% notes due in 2015 and £300 million in 7.75% notes due in 2017 on the LSE. In addition the team acted for Dong Energy on the €700 million of capital securities. The proceeds of this issuance were used by Dong to make a tender offer for previous bonds issued by the company.

Clients appreciated the firm's ability to work on deals with a more structured element and fund related mandates. "We have had a lot of transactions with them, a major firm, we rely on them extensively to provide high level legal input into complex structured trades," says one. "Very knowledgeable of the business area, I have worked with them over ten years. They are one of the small number of firms I consider centrally important to the products I support."

Others also pointed to the structure the firm puts in place to learn more about its clients: "They invest in their own learning, they send secondees to us and we have ongoing relationship throughout. We feel valued as clients," says another client.

On the arranger side, one highlight saw Charles Hawes lead a team advising JPMorgan on the establishment of a $65 billion EMTN programme on the LSE and the subsequent $500 million 4.25% issuance.

The Simmons & Simmons derivatives team is led jointly by Allan Yip and David Roylance and both had a hand in the firm's major work last year. In one example, Roylance acted for UBS on the securitisation of a €1.5 billion portfolio of derivative transactions. He also advised another international bank on a secured multi-currency variable drawdown financing related to a $1.3 billion revolving portfolio of loans and high-yield bonds.

The two key figures in Simmons & Simmons for structured finance and securitisation work are practice head Ian Sideris and Simon Schiff. Derivatives partner David Roylance also does work in this area.

The team has a focus on securitisation work and Schiff in particular was kept busy in this area last year. In one example he acted for Singer Asset Finance on a £260 million equipment lease receivables securitisation. He was also called in by Lloyds TSB to act on a $4 billion RMBS restructuring.

The Spanish real estate sector has, due to it being badly hit in the downturn, thrown up a lot of restructuring work in the last couple of years. Simmons conversely found itself advising on one of the few new transactions out there, acting for Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo on four separate securitisations of Spanish mortgage loans and real estate.

In a derivative linked deal, Roylance acted for UBS as the arranger of a synthetic securitisation of a €1.5 billion portfolio of derivatives.

A key client for Simmons & Simmons is Barclays Capital who the team advised on several financing transactions last year. On one, the team acted on Barclays Capital and Absa for the financing of Transnet, these were supported by Finnish export credit agency (ECA) Finnvera and Dutch ECA Altradius. The team also acted for BarCap and Barclays in another ECA related deal advising on the Coface supported financing of Avanti's Hylas 2 Ka satellite system.

The London team was boosted last year by the return of Philip Abbott who returned to the UK after a period working in the Middle East.

As in other areas the firm's ability to handle structured mandates was picked up on by clients: "Simmons' partners are excellent, strong on structured issues and coming up with innovative ideas to resolves issues, strong on/documenting and drafting."

The team also picked up some notable borrower side mandates. In one, Simon Middleton acted for the HMV Group on a £240 million revolving credit facility and Middleton also acted fro the Thomas Cook Group on a £1 billion loan and revolving credit facility and a £200 million bilateral bonding and guarantee facility.

The firm's European network received praise, but some clients did point out that the firm's US presence could be improved: "They have a wide network of European partners who know each other very well, making them work well together. It's very well synchronised but it lacks a US presence," says one.

Simmons & Simmons took some positive steps this year with the hire of Colin Bole (former senior associate at Allen & Overy) and Steven McNab who moved from Travers Smith to head the firm's environmental and climate change practice. Both partners combine M&A work with equity capital markets transactions. However the firm did also see the departures of partner David Shasa who left for Gowlings and Richard May who moved to Fried Frank.

One of the firm's largest deals last year, made good use of its funds experience as a team advised Gartmore on a £4.1 billion merger of its private equity fund business with Hermes.

Other highlights included acting for Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings on the £211.7 million acquisition of BG Group's 50% in Seabank Power and medical technology company Becton Dickinson on the sale of its global ophthalmic systems business to Roundtable Healthcare Partners.

In addition to promoting both Yves Baratte and Adrian Nizzola to the partnership in 2010, the firm also hired energy partner Steven McNab from Travers Smith.

One of the firm's largest deals last year saw it act for the mandated lead arrangers including Santander and Depfa Bank on amendments to the €350 million financing of the A8 motorway in Germany.

The team also advised Barclays on the £120 million financing to cover the launch costs of the Nylas 2 satellite of Avanti Communications. David Nelligan led on the deal.