A&O and Slaughters lead as GE pays $2.8bn for Wood Group division
Allen & Overy (A&O) and Slaughter and May have taken the prize mandates advising the John Wood Group on the $2.8bn (£1.7bn) sale of its Well Support Division to General Electric (GE).
Simon Nicholls
A multi-jurisdictional A&O team acted for GE, jointly led by US M&A head Eric Shube and London corporate partner David Broadley.
Slaughters took the mandate from longstanding client the Wood Group, fielding a team led by corporate partner Simon Nicholls. Baker Botts, meanwhile, acted for the energy services group on the US aspects of the transaction with Houston-based firmwide corporate chair David Kirkland leading.
Slaughters has acted for Aberdeen-based Wood Group on several major transactions going back a number of years, most recently its £600m purchase of rival PSN at the tail end of last year. Nicholls led on that transaction alongside finance partner Andrew Balfour. PSN turned to McGrigors for advice, with corporate partner Rosalie Chadwick leading from its Glasgow office.
For GE, the deal is part of what is believed to be a growing interest in the oil and gas sector.
Slaughters also acted on GE’s previous investment in the UK energy market when corporate partner Mark Zerdin led a team advising the US conglomerate on its £800m takeover of Wellstream.
The oil and gas services company was advised by Clifford Chance on the December 2010 deal, with London corporate partners Tim Lewis and David Lewis leading.
