In the spring of 2015 we advised L Capital Asia Advisors, part of Groupe Arnault, which controls the LVMH and Christian Dior luxury goods business and other high-end fashion businesses, on Cyprus merger control issues in relation to the acquisition of control of Arcadia srl, an Italian luxury goods supplier. We filed the necessary notification and obtained clearance from the competition authorities.
With a team led by Dr. Sönke Görgens and Dr. Michael Dröge, both from the law firm’s Hamburg office, Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek provided comprehensive legal and tax law advice to issuing company WealthCap on the acquisition of the "SILVA" office property in Frankfurt am Main. The advice included the structuring of the transaction, the performing of due diligence and the negotiation of the land purchase contract with the seller, Commerz Real’s CFB Fund 142. The purchase price is EUR 86 million.
Capital Four, the largest independent high yield manager in Europe, today announced the sale of the majority interest to Northill Capital, an independent London-based asset management company.
The investment in Capital Four amounts to approximately 60% of the firm’s equity. The remaining 40% ownership is maintained by the existing partners Sandro Näf, Torben Skødeberg and Henrik Østergaard. Capital Four will retain operational independence and members of Northill will join Capital Four’s board of directors.
Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW“) advised Iccrea BancaImpresa S.p.A. (“Iccrea”), the corporate banking arm of Credito Cooperativo, and a syndicate of banks comprising BCC Roma, BCC Garda, BCC Staranzano and BCC San Biagio led by Iccrea on the financing of a new campsite in Ostia owned by Sil Campeggi S.r.l. a subsidiary of the Vezzola family’s Baia Silvella Group.
In December 2015, Dentons’ Banking and Finance practice advised Bank PKO BP on loans to Qualia Group in connection with two seaside real estate projects in Poland. The team also advised Raiffeisen Bank Polska on financing for the same developer in connection with a residential complex in Gdansk.
Gide advised Société Générale and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank in connection with the issue by Financière Spie Batignolles of its € 95 million 4.00 per cent. notes due July 2022. Financière Spie Batignolles was assisted by Simmons & Simmons LLP.
Gide's team was led by Hubert du Vignaux, assisted by Laurent Vincent and Guillaume Leteurtrois.
NautaDutilh assisted Global Alternative Asset Manager The Carlyle Group (CG:NASDAQ) with the envisaged purchase of a controlling interest in Hunkemöller from PAI Partners. NautaDutilh worked alongside Latham & Watkins.
International law firm Pinsent Masons has advised Legal & General Group plc on the sale of Suffolk Life, one of the UK’s leading providers and administrators of self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs), to Curtis Banks Group plc for £45 million. The acquisition is subject to an underwritten placing by Curtis Banks Group plc and regulatory approval, both of which are expected in the first half of 2016.
On December 14, 2015, Orascom Development Holding AG, a SIX listed leading developer of fully integrated destinations, announced the results of its rights offering, which before deducting transaction fees increased its equity capital by CHF 133.8 million. The total amount of new equity capital stemmed from gross cash proceeds of CHF 49.6 million and from the conversion of a loan of CHF 84.2 from Orascom's major shareholder, Samih O. Sawiris, into equity.
International law firm Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised three banking syndicates led by Banco Santander on the €423M debt refinancing of Renovalia Solar’s photovoltaic portfolio.
The portfolio, one of the largest of its kind in Spain, comprises three major photovoltaic projects- in Casa de los Pinos, Puertollano and Albacete – with an aggregate maximum capacity of 69 MW which were refinanced in three consecutive phases, with the last, Renovalia Solar 2, completing on 28th December 2015.