Clifford Chance and LG lead on Shell's £992m bid for Cove Energy

Clifford Chance corporate partner Timothy Lewis is leading for Shell with senior associate Katy Foster.

LG has been brought in by established client Cove, a young Aim-listed energy company that the City firm advised on its £110m fundraising in 2010, on which corporate partner Geoff Gouriet led.

Gouriet advised again on the latest deal alongside funds partner John Reed and corporate associate Sam Gray.

Clifford Chance’s mandate follows on from its roles acting for Shell on the sale of its Stanlow refinery to Essar Energy last year and the sale of its Heide refinery in Germany to private equity house Klesch & Co the previous year (6 September 2010). Both deals were led by projects and finance partner John Wilkins.

Herbert Smith corporate partner Malcolm Lombers is acting for Shell’s financial adviser, Morgan Stanley.

The deal sees Shell offer 195p per share for Cove and would give Shell its first presence in Mozambique.