The market view of Logos Legal services from the past 12 months is that it is clearly a top tier firm. By far the largest firm in the country, it has also found itself working on a lot of interesting deals....
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The market view of Logos Legal services from the past 12 months is that it is clearly a top tier firm. By far the largest firm in the country, it has also found itself working on a lot of interesting deals.
"We are used to seeing Logos up there. They are a very good firm," admits a competitor, while another adds: "Logos are the biggest, are always around and are very good."
Clients seem most impressed by the financing and banking sides of the firm, as one comments: "Logos's technical ability is very good. Their team is very professional and is comprised of a good mixture of legal specialisation, commercial knowledge and a very good knowledge of the banking sector."
"They have a good ability to resolve problems that come up and could be considered to be as innovative as lawyers can be," says another client.
As is to be expected, the firm's deal flow was replete with restructuring work and a couple in particular are definitely worth mentioning. Two leading lawyers, Gudmundur J Oddsson and Helga Melkorka Óttarsdóttir, led a team that acted on the mammoth Actavis restructuring. The work on the pharmaceutical company represented the single most sizeable restructuring of an Icelandic company to date, completing in June 2010 for €5.6 billion.
Another large deal was the firm's work on the financial restructuring of the holding company Exista, owner of some of Iceland's most important companies. Exista also owned an approximate 25% stake in the troubled Kaupthing bank. This restructuring too was successful, and closed out in the latter stages of 2010 for a figure of €2 billion.
Logos was also active on the corporate side, advising on Iceland Enterprise Fund's acquisition of Vestia on the buyer's side, a transaction worth an eventual €119 million upon its January 2011 completion.
The firm also gained one partner and regained another this year, with Óttar Pálsson, former CEO of Straumur-Burdarás Investment Bank, and Gudmundur J Oddsson, who returned from a sabbatical in the summer of 2010, joining the team.
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