BAT uses Herbies on danish purchase

British American Tobacco (BAT) has turned to Herbert Smith for advice on its £2.05bn purchase of Scandinavia's largest tobacco brand.

The company paid £1.15bn cash and £904m in stock in exchange for the tobacco arm of Denmark's Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni (ST).

Herbert Smith corporate partners Austin Sweeney and James Palmer acted for longstanding client BAT. The company received additional advice from Danish firm Delacour, while ST called on Kromann Reumert, led by partner Christian Lundgren. The tobacco giant exchanged its 32.5 per cent stake in ST as part of the deal.

The transaction was BAT's second major acquisition in a fortnight. Last week it bought Turkish brand Tekel Cigarette for $1.7bn (£856.27m). Herbert Smith also advised on aspects of that transaction, which was led by local Turkish law firms.