Slaughter and May is advising Ladbrokes plc (Ladbrokes) on (i) its proposed merger with certain businesses of Gala Coral Group Limited (Gala Coral), including Coral Retail, Eurobet Retail and Gala Coral’s Online businesses (Coral Group), and (ii) the placing of approximately 9.99% of its current issued share capital in connection with the merger. Following completion of the merger, Ladbrokes will be renamed Ladbrokes Coral plc ('Ladbrokes Coral') and will continue to operate both the Ladbrokes and Coral brands in the UK.

Matheson has advised Willis, the third-largest insurance broker globally, on its merger of equals with financial management services provider Towers Watson.  The combined company, Willis Towers Watson, will be valued at $18 billion approximately and it will have 39,000 employees in more than 120 countries with revenue of approximately $8.2 billion.

Slaughter and May is advising Ladbrokes plc in connection with its announcement that it is in talks regarding a possible merger of Ladbrokes and certain key businesses of the Gala Coral group - Coral Retail, Eurobet Retail and Gala Coral’s Online businesses. The possible merger would create an enlarged Ladbrokes which would be listed on the official list of the UK Listing Authority and traded on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.

CONTACTS

Corporate and Commercial: Andy Ryde (partner), Victoria MacDuff (associate), Tom Braiden (associate).

Stuttgart-based R + M Graphik GmbH, was merged with Konica Minolta Business Solutions Deutschland, Hanover. Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek advised Konica Minolta on the subsidiary's restructuring and merger under corporate and employment law with a team led by Hamburg-based partner Jörg Schewe. The firm also advised on the notarization of the merger agreement and on the merger resolutions.

Hill Dickinson’s corporate team has advised financial recruitment firm Watson Moore on its merger with Axon Resourcing. The two financial recruitment firms have merged to create a business with a combined turnover of £13.5m and six offices across England.

The newly enlarged firm, which also posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of £1.1m in 2014, also reported that turnover and EBITDA have risen by a further 20 per cent in the first half of 2015.

The company now has a team of 57 members of staff.

RHM Klinikgruppe (“RHM”) held by the Dutch private equity company Waterland Private Equity (“Waterland“) announced that it has signed agreements to acquire  Parkklinik Bad Rothenfelde, including the MBOR Kompetenzzentrum Bad Rothenfelde, and Gesundheitszentrum Hannover.

Charles Russell Speechlys has advised leading independent caterer and Royal Warrant holder, CH&Co Catering Limited, on its merger with the HCM Group (Host Catermasters Group) in a deal which gives the new combined business a turnover approaching £200m, and a team of 4,500 providing services to over 400 operations across the UK and Ireland.

 Ashurst has advised Novion Property Group (Novion) on its A$12 billion merger with Federation Centres (Federation) which today created one of the largest real estate investment trusts in Australia, and an ASX top 30 entity with over A$22 billion in assets under management.

The Merged Group is one of Australia's largest retail property groups, with more than 5,000 retailers occupying the 102 retail centres managed by the Group. The merged entity has a market capitalisation of more than A$12 billion.

The general shareholders’ meeting of Zurich-based Kaba Holding AG (Kaba) today approved the merger with Dorma Holding GmbH + Co. KGaA, Ennepetal (Dorma). From the companies’ perspective, the path has therefore been cleared for the merger of the Swiss holding company with the German family-owned firm to become a global top 3 player in security and access solutions. In the future, the companies will bundle their forces in the group operating as "dorma + kaba." A team led by Dr. Götz G.

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”)-advised General Maritime Corporation (“Genmar”) on its recent merger with Navig8 Crude Tankers (“Navig8”), which will create one of the world’s largest owners of very large crude carriers (VLCCs), according to TradeWinds. The new entity will be known as Gener8 Maritime (“Gener8”), will be based in New York and will run 46 ships, including 28 VLCCs.