Private Equity Team of the Year

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Laurence Simons
BAKER & McKENZIE - Bruno Bertrand; James Burdett

The firm has advised AXA Private Equity on a series of acquisitions worth more than $6bn over the last 18 months in London and Paris, including two of the largest-ever secondary private transactions. The company has been at the forefront of the secondary market and Bakers has consistently been at its side. The largest deal came with the purchase of leveraged buyout assets from Citigroup for $1.7bn.

 

 

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.

 

Laurence Simons

The firm has advised AXA Private Equity on a series of acquisitions worth more than $6bn over the last 18 months in London and Paris, including two of the largest-ever secondary private transactions. The company has been at the forefront of the secondary market and Bakers has consistently been at its side. The largest deal came with the purchase of leveraged buyout assets from Citigroup for $1.7bn.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

CLIFFORD CHANCE
David Walker

Walker’s team acted for Carlyle on its acquisition of RAC from Aviva with an enterprise value of £1bn – the largest UK buyout of 2011. In a year of highly contested auctions, this was one of the fi ercest with Carlyle winning out over a who’s who of buyout houses, including Clayton Dubilier & Rice, BC Partners and Bain Capital.

LINKLATERS
Ian Bagshaw

Advised a consortium of Carlyle and PCP Carlyle Group on the merger of Associated Dental Practices and Integrated Dental Holdings. The deal can rightly be considered one of the more complex private equity deals of the year. It included two separate management incentivisation packages, debt fi nancing for the newly consolidated group, and an antitrust fi ling leading to the creation of the UK’s largest dental group.

KIRKLAND & ELLIS
Jim Learner

Advised Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman on the acquisition of Securitas Direct from EQT Partners for €2.3bn, in one of the largest European buyouts of the year. The deal included the largest mezzanine financing for some time with fi nancing commitments for the acquisition comprising €1.6bn of underwritten bridge and commitments from a number of banks including Morgan Stanley.

SIMMONS & SIMMONS
Gideon Sharp

Advised new client AnaCap on its tertiary buyout of Cabot Financial from Citigroup Capital UK, part of a consortium that included Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners. The buyout was quickly followed by a merger between Cabot and Apex group – two debt purchasing companies. The fi rm worked on the refi nancing of the combined group debt and bringing together two management teams.

WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES .
Marco Compagnoni

The London team advised Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) Private Equity on the acquisition of V Group for $520m from Exponent after talks broke down with Charterhouse Capital. This was the debut buyout deal for OMERS in the European market since opening in London in late 2009