BLP steals a march on Speechly on AIM debut work for Metal-Tech

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has fought off competition from Speechly Bircham to win Israeli company Metal-Tech as a new client.

The firm, led by corporate partner Jonathan Morris, advised Metal-Tech, which specialises in processing high-purity metals from low-quality materials, on its recent AIM debut.

Metal-Tech chief executive officer Ariel Rosenberg said: "Jonathan, Simon [Ward] and Jeremy [Moreton] at BLP were superb, highly skilled and available night and day. [Assistant] Inbar Zilberman was invaluable for her Hebrew capability and understanding of the Israeli market."

Speechly corporate commercial partner Joel Adler, though, asserted that his firm still expects to gain future instructions from Metal-Tech. "We work closely with Israeli investment house Cukierman, who recommended us to Metal-Tech. However, the Joel Adler,

Speechly BirchamUK nominated adviser, Durlacher, has a close relationship with BLP, so the firm won the deal for that reason," explained Adler. "We have every confidence Metal-Tech may instruct us in the future, as we advise several Israeli public companies listing on AIM."

Metal-Tech is valued at £50m, which includes an anticipated fundraising of £10.5m, before expenses, to be used for investment in new projects, expansion of its current plant capacity, acquisitions of new plants in Western Europe and the Americas and the repayment of short-term debt.

Tel Aviv firm S Friedman & Co advised Metal-Tech on local law issues.