HYDER CONSULTING

Following on from last summer's chaotic bid for Hyder, Western Power Distribution (WPD), which won out against Japanese bank Nomura, is offloading a number of the Welsh water and electricity company's assets.

The £20m management buyout of Hyder's consulting business by 70 senior managers may provide a new client for Wragge & Co, as it is the first time the firm has acted for any facet of the company after corporate partner Richard Haywood, who headed the deal, was recommended to the client. Osborne Clarke, however, reprised its role as legal adviser to WPD by acting on the selloff of the group. Led by corporate partner Clive Watts, this transaction was particularly time-consuming due to the buyers having to examine a high number of businesses housed under the Hyder Consulting umbrella.

WPD will become a rich source of work for its firms, as it intends to offload everything bar Hyder's electricity business Swalec. Ironically, the water business may end up in the hands of Glas Cymru, a not-for-profit company, which threw its cap in the ring to take over Dwr Cymru (Welsh Water) last year at the height of the bidding war between Nomura and WPD.