Freshfields and Lovells scoop Advent-RWE deal

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Lovells have advised on the EUR1.7bn sale of an RWE subsidiary to US private equity house Advent International.

German utility RWE has sold its energy services subsidiary, RWE Solutions Group, to Advent. The acquisition includes SAG, Nukem, RWE Industrie-Lösungen, RWE Space Solar Power and Lahmeyer International which generated combined net sales of approximately €1.7 billion in 2005.

Lovells, led by Frankfurt corporate partner Partick Kaffine, acted for RWE while Freshfields advised Advent.

Private equity group Advent has traditionally been a client of Lovells but questions remain over whether the firm can hold onto client after its private equity practice was decimated.

As first reported by The Lawyer (2 February) Lovells private equity star and Advent relationship partner Marco Compagnoni has left to join Weil Gotshal & Manges. This follows 2005’s departure of private equity partner Oliver Felsenstein from the Frankfurt office who had won a number of mandates from Advent.

RWE is in the process of selling its subsidiaries in order to concentrate on energy production. This includes Thames Water in the UK. Berwin Leighton Paisner has scooped the mandate to advise Thames while Slaughter and May is acting for RWE.