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Thursday 9 February 2012 - Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London

Private Equity Team of the Year

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Laurence Simons

Our private equity team of the year must demonstrate an ability to land the most significant mandates in an incredibly competitive market for private equity-backed deals. Judges will look for evidence of an ability to move with the market and stand out from competitors on the most eye-catching transaction.

Previous Winners:

In a year that saw private equity return to some semblance of normality, Freshfields was never far from the leading deals. It picked up major mandates for the likes of Warburg Pincus, CVC Capital Partners and Cinven. However it was the eye-catching £2.9bn take-private of Tomkins, the UK-listed global engineering group, by Canadian private equity firm Onex, alongside the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), that stood out.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Ashurst
Simon Beddow; David Carter

Ashurst’s long-held relationship with Candover paid dividends this year when it advised the buyout house, as the major shareholder, on the sale of its stake in Ontex. The firm co-ordinated all the shareholders, lender groups and their respective law firms in the deal, which ran as a dual-track process.

Clifford Chance
Kem Ihenacho

An impressive year for the buyout experts at Clifford Chance was capped off when it represented Bridgepoint on its £414m take-private of Care UK. The deal was one of the first private equity deals in the current cycle to take advantage of high-yield debt financing.

Linklaters
Ian Bagshaw

The Magic Circle firm’s private equity team continues to go from strength to strength and 2010 was no exception. Bagshaw led a team which advised Triton on its acquisition, alongside KKR, of Ambea, the Nordic provider of care services for €850m. Linklaters handled the acquisition, the financing and the consortium equity arrangements.

SJ Berwin
Steven Davis

SJ Berwin’s private equity pedigree remains one of its shining lights. The team worked on some of the most significant transactions of the year, including advising Apax Partners on the sale of a stake in its business to China Investment Corporation and acting for Lion Capital on its £1.2bn buyout of Picard Surgelés.

TRAVERS SMITH
Phil Sanderson

In an outstanding year for Travers’ private equity team, the firm advised Intermediate Capital Group and George Topco on their £400m investment in CPA Global, using one of the first schemes of arrangement to be completed in Jersey. As well as the CPA deal, the firm acted on an impressive deal sheet, which included advising Bridgepoint on both its £955m sale of Pets at Home to KKR and the acquisition of Hobbycraft.

Weil, Gotshal & manges
Marco Compagnoni

The only US firm to make the shortlist, Weil had a role on a number of the leading buyout deals of 2010. In a clear highlight for the practice, the firm acted for Advent International and Bain Capital on the  £2.025bn buyout of RBS’s Global Merchant Services business. Compagnoni’s team came into the process at an early stage allowing them to get involved at every level of the deal with a team of 30 lawyers in London and Boston.