International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is advising Partnership Assurance Group plc, a leading provider of non-standard annuities which offer better terms to customers with medical conditions, together with its majority shareholder, Cinven, on its proposed initial public offering (IPO) and London premium listing.

The IPO is expected to comprise the sale of a portion of Partnership’s existing ordinary shares held by funds managed and advised by leading European private equity firm Cinven and management, and an issue of new ordinary shares by Partnership.

Corporate partners Mark Austin and Adrian Maguire are leading the Freshfields team advising on the IPO, together with corporate associates Rós Ní Dhubháin and Bob Lehner, corporate partners Sarah Murphy and David Higgins and employment and benefits partner Simon Evans. The firm is acting as US and English counsel.

Commenting on the transaction, Mark said, ‘This IPO demonstrates the increasing trend of the financial sponsor community to look to the equity capital markets, which have been more stable recently, as a route to exit.’

Adrian added, ‘With the reduced M&A activity, our financial sponsor clients with assets close to maturity are now seeing an IPO exit as a very viable alternative to a traditional sale process.’

Freshfields’ work on the proposed IPO is a further example of the firm’s long-standing relationship with Cinven and Partnership Assurance. Earlier this year, Freshfields advised Cinven and Spire Healthcare, one of the UK's leading private healthcare providers, on the partial refinancing of its loan facilities through a sale of 12 of its 38 hospital properties subject to leases raising approximately £700m.

http://www.freshfields.com/en/news/Freshfields_advises_on_proposed_Part…