Caixabank absorbs Barclays and public deed is registered with commercial registry

Caixabank, S.A. and Barclays Bank, S.A.U. have completed their merger process after obtaining the required regulatory authorizations and registering the public deed of the merger with the commercial registry.

The transaction was closed at the start of the year when Caixabank acquired Barclays and its retail banking business in Spain for €800 million.

Charles Russell Speechlys has advised Chantrey Vellacott, the UK’s 21st largest accountancy firm, on its merger with Moore Stephens LLP, the UK’s 10th largest accountancy firm.

Moore Stephens’ accounting and consulting network comprises more than 1,300 partners and staff in 34 locations. Chantrey Vellacott has nine offices across the United Kingdom.

The Swiss KABA Group (SIX: KABN), which specialises in access and security solutions, has agreed on a merger with the German DORMA Group. 

KABA is a listed company and leading provider of access control, enterprise data collection and key systems worldwide with a market capitalisation in excess of EUR 2 billion and annual turnover of more than CHF 1 billion. 

Slaughter and May, working alongside Uría Menéndez and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, is advising Banco Santander, S.A. on its preliminary and exclusive agreement with Warburg Pincus, General Atlantic and UniCredit S.p.A. to merge Santander Asset Management and Pioneer Investments to create a leading global asset manager in Europe and Latin America. The combined company, with approximately EUR 353 billion in assets under management at the close of 2014, will be called Pioneer Investments.

Eversheds have acted alongside Latournerie Wolfrom Avocats in the merger between Groupe Avidom and Groupe Sous Mon Toit. The two companies which specialise in Social services and Childcare have now united to form Groupe Destia; a national entity with a consolidated sales revenue of 34 million euros.

The Avidom management was advised on corporate, financial and fiscal issues by a team led by Dan Roskis (partner) which included Eric Knai (partner) , Catherine Detalle (of counsel) , Jacques Messeca (partner), Gilles Chemoul (senior associate) and Sophie Perus (partner)

The merger of the five leading online fashion trading companies to form the Global Fashion Group (GFG) – valued at 2.8 billion euro – has been successfully concluded. Under the auspices of the Luxembourg-based GFG, the world’s leading online fashion platform in emerging markets has been created and includes the market-leading online fashion retailers Dafiti (South America), Lamoda (Russia and CIS), Zalora (Southeast Asia), Namshi (Near and Middle East) and Jabong (India). The global group is assisted, among others, by a recently founded London service company.

Addleshaw Goddard's (AG) Professional Practices team has advised independent accounting and consulting network, Moore Stephens LLP on its merger with mid-tier accountants Chantrey Vellacott DFK LLP.

Slaughter and May and Bonelli Erede Pappalardo (BEP), working as an integrated team, are advising Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A. (Richemont) on a proposed all-share merger of The Net-A-Porter Group Limited (Net-A-Porter) and YOOX S.p.A (the Merger) to create the YOOX Net-A-Porter Group (the Combined Group), a leading online luxury fashion retailer worldwide.

Slaughter and May is advising BHP Billiton on its proposed demerger of South32 Limited (South32).

South32 will be a globally diversified metals and mining company with a significant presence in each of its major commodities. The majority of South32’s assets are located in the southern hemisphere with its two regional centres - Australia and South Africa - linked by the thirty-second parallel line of latitude. The company’s name represents this footprint and its regional approach to managing its operations.

Holcim Ltd (SIX: HOLN) and Lafarge SA (Euronext: LG) have announced that they had agreed to amend the terms of the merger of equals originally announced in April 2014. The revised terms were approved by both respective Board of Directors and supported by the core shareholders of both companies. The transaction will be consummated by a public exchange offer of Holcim Ltd for all outstanding shares of Lafarge, leading to a top holding company with place of incorporation in Switzerland, following Swiss governance rules, and a balanced allocation of headquarters between Switzerland and France.