Macfarlanes has advised the British Bankers Association on its sale of BBA LIBOR to ICE Benchmark Administration Limited, a NYSE company.

The sale agreement was signed in July 2013 and a process of transition has been undertaken since that time.  Completion was achieved on 31 January.

This matter involved a combined commercial, corporate, regulatory and employment team.  Commercial partner Rupert Casey led the deal, with support from corporate partner Ian Martin and solicitor Hannah Salmon, with supplemental advice from the regulatory and employment teams.

Rupert Casey comments: "We were delighted to have been given the opportunity to help the BBA implement one of the reforms of LIBOR recommended by Martin Wheatley in his 2012 Review. The challenges in this transaction as a result of the BBA's constitutional structure, the close involvement of a number of its members, the tendering structure established by the independent Committee under the chair of Baroness Hogg, as well as the involvement of both the Treasury and the FCA combined to create an extremely interesting and enjoyable project on which to have worked."