Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (‘Freshfields’) has advised British technology and electronics business Laird plc (‘Laird’) on its acquisition by AI Ladder Limited, a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of funds managed Advent International Corporation (‘Advent’). The acquisition values the shares of Laird at approximately £1bn on a fully diluted basis and represents a notable private equity acquisition of a public company.
Macfarlanes has advised private equity real estate firm Patron Capital on the sale of its stake in luxury housebuilder Cala Homes to joint owner Legal & General Capital.
Legal & General acquired Patron Capital and management’s interests for a total of £315m plus additional transaction costs and financial adjustments to reflect the contribution of management and Patron during the period of the joint ownership.
Kirkland & Ellis is advising funds advised by Searchlight Capital on the sale of Ocean Outdoor to Ocelot Partners Limited, a publicly listed acquisition company. The transaction will give Ocean Outdoor, an operator of premium digital out-of-home advertising that operates the UK’s most prominent outdoor advertising locations, including Landsec’s Piccadilly Lights, BFI’s London’s IMAX, Westfield’s Holland Park Roundabout and the Birmingham Media Eyes, amongst others, an enterprise value of £200 million. The acquisition agreement was announced on March 1, 2018.
Osborne Clarke has advised the shareholders of Hills Balfour on its acquisition by leading US-based agency, MMGY Global.
Hills Balfour is Europe and Dubai’s leading travel, tourism and lifestyle communications partner, specialising in PR, digital, representation, crisis management, sales, trade and consumer marketing, branding and MICE. This strategic transaction will bring the two complementary businesses together enabling them to significantly expand their global footprint.
Slaughter and May advised Maersk Oil on competition and energy law aspects of Total S.A.’s acquisition of Maersk Oil from AP Moller Maersk for $8.1 billion. The transaction, which was completed on 8 March 2018, saw Total acquire Maersk’s upstream oil and gas division with around 1 billion boe of 2P/ 2C reserves and 160,000 boepd production from assets in Europe, Africa, Middle East, North America and South America.
Contacts
Competition: Phillippe Chappatte (partner), Ben Plant (associate); Corporate and Energy: Hywel Davies (partner)
Allen & Overy Casablanca advised Saham Group in connection with the acquisition by Sanlam Emerging Markets Ireland Limited (Sanlam) of 100% interest (direct and indirect) in Saham Finances (Saham’s insurance group).
Sanlam shall acquire all the issued shares of Saham S.A. - which holds the remaining 53.37% of the shares in Saham Finances not already owned by Sanlam - for USD 1.050 billion.
ERG Power Generation SpA (ERG) has sold 100% of its interest in Brockaghboy Windfarm Limited (BWFL) to Greencoat UK Wind PLC (Greencoat).
Burges Salmon’s energy sector specialists have advised ERG on the sale of BWFL to Greencoat for a total consideration of c.£163m.
At 47.5MW capacity, the 19 turbine Brockaghboy wind farm project is one of the largest operational wind farms in Northern Ireland.
Ashurst has advised Crown Resorts Limited (Crown) on the sale of its 62% interest in CrownBet, together with loans advanced by Crown to CrownBet, for A$150 million.
The firm has acted as the adviser to Crown on a number of recent transactions. This includes the A$62.5 million sale of its interest in part of the property and operations of the Ellerston golf course in the Hunter Valley in December 2017, and the A$1.34 billion sale of Crown's remaining shareholding in Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited in May 2017.
Law firm Womble Bond Dickinson has advised Countrywide Farmers plc on the sale of its LPG distribution business to international sales, marketing and support services group DCC plc, for a cash price of approximately £28m.
The Womble Bond Dickinson team; led by Corporate Partner Simon Hewes and Corporate Solicitor Alex Fergus advised on the complex transaction, utilising specialist input across a broad range of specialist areas, including energy, banking, real estate, employment and health and safety.
Simon Hewes, Partner at Womble Bond Dickinson, said:
Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised William Hill on the sale of its Australian bookmaking business (William Hill Australia) to one of Australia's largest gaming and entertainment groups, CrownBet via a competitive sale auction process.
William Hill entered the Australian gaming market in 2013 through the AU$660 million acquisition of Sportingbet, Centrebet, and tomwaterhouse.com. Clifford Chance advised on both the Centrebet and tomwaterhouse.com transactions.