Dewey & LeBoeuf celebrates double win

The other one to note is that Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May have both been handed the mandates to advise on New Look’s £650m IPO.

Dewey acted for a group of existing and new shareholders - understood to include the Mikati family’s M1 Group - that bought out EFG-Hermes Holding’s 29 per cent stake in the Lebanese bank. The $913m (£564.2m) transaction is thought to be the largest ever in the country.

EFG had been the largest shareholder in the bank, which is the biggest in Lebanon. None of the new or existing shareholders now owns more than 5 per cent of the bank’s shares.


The sale came in the wake of EFG’s 2006 investment in Bank Audi. Initial plans are thought to have included a simultaneous listing on four stock exchanges before talks began about combining the two entities in what an insider described as “effectively a hostile takeover” (read article).

Meanwhile, Slaughters is advising New Look and its majority shareholder, a holding company owned by private equity houses Permira Advisers, Apax Partners and New Look founder Tom Singh.

Slaughters partners Martin Hattrell and Simon Nicholls are leading the team acting on the deal with partner Matthew Tobin giving advice on financing matters and partner Eddie Codrington advising on pensions issues (read article).

Clifford Chance, which advised Apax and Permira on their 2004 acquisition of New Look, is acting for the bookrunners and sponsors on the deal and also has a separate role as counsel to Permira.

The news comes at a time of increased activity for the private equity sector.

Recently TheLawyer.com reported that Clifford Chance had missed out on a role on Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ (KKR) £955m buyout of retailer Pets at Home, with the US private equity house turning to regular adviser Simpson Thacher & Bartlett for all aspects of the deal (read article).