Ashurst beats City rivals to secure £435m Hikma Pharmaceuticals IPO
Ashurst beats City rivals to secure £435m Hikma Pharmaceuticals IPO" />Ashurst has beaten 10 of the City's top firms in a beauty parade to secure the lead role advising Hikma Pharmaceuticals in relation to its £435m IPO on the London Stock Exchange.
The silver circle firm is understood to have beaten the likes of Herbert Smith, Norton Rose and Slaughter and May during the pitch earlier this year, which included initial written submissions and a round of interviews.
It is understood that the firm won the mandate based on previous dealings with Hikma, a generic pharmaceutical multinational, combined with the firm's plan to launch an office in Dubai.
Following the official opening of that office in September, Ashurst will also advise Hikma on a possible listing on the Dubai International Financial Exchange. Hikma is forecast to be the first company to obtain a secondary listing on the new exchange.
The Ashurst team was led by corporate partner Daniel Bushner.
Subsequent to the firm securing the instruction, former Ashurst senior associate Henry Knowles was appointed general counsel to Hikma.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, led by corporate partners Tim Jones and Sarah Murphy, acted on behalf of Merrill Lynch as global coordinator, book-runner, lead manager and sponsor to the listing.
Based on an offer price of 290p per share and an initial share issue of 166.5 million, Hikma's market capitalisation at listing on 4 November was £483m, bringing the company into the FTSE250.
