Corporate Team of the Year

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AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD - Dan Walsh

The US firm’s London team acted for Vimpelcom on its mega-merger with Wind Telecom to create the sixth largest mobile telecommunications carrier globally, with net operating revenues of $21.5bn. A genuinely complex multijurisdictional deal that involved 20 different countries, including Russia, North Africa and Italy.

 

 

For this award, consideration will be given to mergers and acquisitions work, as well as disposals, joint ventures and equity capital markets listings. The judges are also looking for evidence of a strong partnership between the corporate lawyers and the in-house client team they work with in the context of one exceptional deal.

 

The US firm’s London team acted for Vimpelcom on its mega-merger with Wind Telecom to create the sixth largest mobile telecommunications carrier globally, with net operating revenues of $21.5bn. A genuinely complex multijurisdictional deal that involved 20 different countries, including Russia, North Africa and Italy.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

ALLEN & OVERY
Andrew Ballheimer

The Magic Circle fi rm acted for Virgin Money on the landmark acquisition of Northern Rock for £747m in cash. As well as putting the bid together under the scrutiny of a number of government stakeholders and with the taxpayer in mind, this is the fi rst post-fi nancial crisis disposal by the government and a complex equity and bank debt funding.

CMS CAMERON McKENNA
Sandra Rafferty

CMS acted for Takeda Pharmaceutical on its €9.6bn acquisition of Nycomed. It was the second-largest deal ever completed by a Japanese pharma company outside of Japan. CMS brought its cross-border capabilities to the fore on the deal, which was indicative of a strong line in healthcare M&A in 2011.

PAUL HASTINGS
Ronan O’Sullivan

A team led by London offi ce head Ronan O’Sullivan advised Jacobs Engineering on the acquisition of the Oslo-listed Aker Solutions for over $900m, including cash and debt adjustments. The fi rm used completion accounts instead of the favoured locked-box mechanism to price the deal, as well as running a dual-track process.

PINSENT MASONS
Paul Amiss; Rob Hutchings

Pinsents acted for Horizon on the acquisition of US-based global temporary power provider, APR Energy for $855m. A reverse takeover under the listing rules, Pinsents managed a cross-jurisdictional team in Africa, South America, Asia, the Cayman Islands and the US. This deal shows that the fi rm’s capabilities are not just confi ned to the UK.

SALANS
Zarko Iankov

Salans acted opposite a number of Global Elite fi rms when it advised Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) in the acquisition of a steel and coke production facility in Redcar for $468m from Tata Steel. The deal involved SSI securing $1bn of acquisition fi nance, something of a coup in these markets. The deal completed in just seven months on a 3,000 acre, mothballed manufacturing site.

SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER & FLOM
Michael Hatchard; Scott Simpson

Represented Colfax on its £1.5bn, game-changing acquisition of Charter International, a Jersey-listed engineering company. With the white knights fi ghting off an intense hostile bid that saw interest from rival Melrose, the announcement of the transaction straddled the implementation of the new Takeover Panel rules.