Clients and peers consistently list Vinge as a clear leader in the Swedish market. "Very good firm," says a client, "they have good people and a reputation that allows them to attract the good people, they have good knowledge and know what we are looking for"....
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Clients and peers consistently list Vinge as a clear leader in the Swedish market. "Very good firm," says a client, "they have good people and a reputation that allows them to attract the good people, they have good knowledge and know what we are looking for". It is not just the quality of individuals that gets good feedback but also the breadth of the team, as another client sees size as a key advantage: "If you are not happy you can get support from the rest of the partnership, they are flexible on staffing."
In the grand scheme of things Vinge has not had the best run of things over the past year and the market notes a number of departures at the senior level, one of which saw Christoffer Saidac leave the capital markets team to join Hannes Snellman’s partnership in December 2010. The losses are generally not considered by commentators as being long lasting setbacks to the firm and there is little reason to expect any change in form, so the team continues its tenure as one of the top three in the capital markets.
The firm has a broad mix of expertise and has one of the largest debt practices in Sweden under leading lawyer Mikael Ståhl. In one standout deal in December 2010 Ståhl and Björn Gustafsson advised the Irish company Aardagh Group on a $2.4 billion Rule 144A compliant combined bond issuance and revolving credit facility, a combination of debt raising instruments which is relatively rare for the Swedish market and was all the more notable for the tough economic conditions of the time.
However, debt work looked relatively flat compared to equity, which in the past year saw rights issues, IPOs and private placements. Corporate and equity partner Göran Nyström leads the firm in this field. In October 2010, Anders Strid, Anna Björk Larsson and Emma Kero Ljungberg assisted Avanza Bank in its role as financial advisor to Artimplant on its $6 million rights issue while earlier in May 2010 Strid, Nyström, Larsson and Emil Hedberg had acted for Handelsbanken Markets as financial advisor to Geveko on its $103 million rights issue on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm. Meanwhile in one of the few Swedish IPOs, Rikard Stenberg led a team to advise Altor 2003 Fund (owner) and Byggmax Group (issuer) on the IPO and listing on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm of Byggmax Group in June 2010.
Other notable deals had partners Henrik Borna, Sofia Olsson and Erik Sjöman work with Qlik Technologies Inc on their IPO and listing on NASDAQ OMX New York, which raised $750 million and was completed in August 2010. Sjöman in particular was kept busy and also advised Acqua Capital Management on a standby equity facility to and underwriting of a rights issue in Karo Bio in October 2010, which amounted to about $76 million, and acted on private placements for Medivir and Active Biotech
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Vinge's reputation in banking is a bit more mixed although its position is rarely questioned. According to competitors the firm has a borrower practice predominantly, while it is active for lenders on the local counsel side....
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Vinge's reputation in banking is a bit more mixed although its position is rarely questioned. According to competitors the firm has a borrower practice predominantly, while it is active for lenders on the local counsel side.
The firm has taken some knocks to its reputation as clients and peers note that there have been some personnel changes of late. One of these was Hans Wibom, who was reputedly a key link with one of the firm's major client Investor. However, says a client, "they have good people, a good reputation and can attract good people". Another says that "as a local firm they have a strong advantage for local deals, they do good work with a high level of precision".
Fabian Ekeblad advised forestry company Bergvik Skog on an $870 million refinancing of a revolving credit facility through a club loan and a government guaranteed facility and also acted as local counsel alongside Danish firm Gorrissen Federspiel for HSH Nordbank on a $350 million financial restructuring of property group Allokton.
Mikael Ståhl advised The Marginalen Group on a highly leveraged $378 million bridge financing from SEB for its acquisition of Citibank's Swedish consumer business. A high profile deal saw Maria-Pia Hope act for a syndicate of international banks alongside Clifford Chance on the financing for the Nya Karolinska University Hospital public-private partnership (PPP), only the second PPP after the rail link to the international airport.
Hope also advised The Swedish National Debt Office as guarantor of a complex project financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to Volvo to advance manufacturing facilities for 'greener' cars.
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Vinge is a go-to firm in Sweden for all walks of M&A: private, public and private equity in a wide spread of sectors. It has nevertheless not had the best couple of years, with commentators noting some staff changes....
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Vinge is a go-to firm in Sweden for all walks of M&A: private, public and private equity in a wide spread of sectors. It has nevertheless not had the best couple of years, with commentators noting some staff changes. Consensus is that its reputation will prevail and the changes do not affect the firm's performance on big ticket deals.
According to clients, the firm is "very good for general corporate business but they have had some problem with their staffing and lost a lot of good senior associates, so their partners are busy". However, clients widely recommend the firm "for its reputation and experience" and argue that it has "good people" and "attracts good people". "Good work and high level," says a client who picks it above others and recommends Christina Kokko for doing "a very good job" and Michael Wigge.
Its top deal saw Kokko and Daniel Rosvall lead a team to advise EQT on a $1.9 billion facility from a consortium of lenders for its acquisition of Dometic Group. The deal was not completed but all the ground was prepared.
Björn Mullaart led a large team to act for Skåne Dairy in its sale of 51% of the shares in ProViva to Danone Group, which will in a period of eleven years fully take over the company, while Johan Winnerblad and Petter Kjöllerström advised the shareholders of Millennium Media Group on its divestment of Turner Broadcasting Europe. The firm has a strong TMT sector presence.
At the start of 2010 Carl Gustaf De Geer and Henrik Wenckert, with a very large team of associates, closed a deal for the Swedish state of Swedish pharmacies companies to a number of different bidders.
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