Addleshaw Goddard has completed its first significant corporate deal for Fenner after advising the listed rubber manufacturer on its £44.6m recommended offer for Wellington Holdings.
The deal is a coup for Addleshaws, which is trying to bolster its FTSE350 client base by muscling in on clients which have traditionally instructed City firms.
Historically, Hull-based Fenner has outsourced corporate work to Nabarro Nathanson, but decided to instruct Addleshaws on the Wellington acquisition because of the firm’s prominant presence in Leeds.
Mark Abrahams, the director at Fenner, said: “We instructed Addleshaws because we used [NM] Rothschilds [& Sons] in Leeds to underwrite the deal and needed a Leeds firm.”
However, a Nabarros source argued that the firm’s relationship with Fenner is still intact. “We’ve recently done some antitrust and health and safety work for Fenner and were instructed on some corporate deals that cratered,” said the source.
Slaughter and May advised Wellington and Travers Smith acted for the underwriters, NM Rothschild and Collins Stewart. The Addleshaws team was led by corporate partner Sean Lippell.
To finance the deal, Fenner is proposing to raise approximately £54.1m by way of a placing and open offer of 46,611,102 new Fenner shares at 127p per share.
