JP MORGAN/SOCIété générale

Norton Rose is advising JP Morgan and Société Générale on £482m worth of debt financing to assist French holding company Havas Advertising's bid for Tempus Group.
The firm's leveraged finance team has a longstanding relationship with JP Morgan in London. However, this is the first Havas deal it has worked on, despite JP Morgan's links with the holding company.
Havas was advised by Slaughter and May on the offer and by Hogan & Hartson on the financing. Havas has a strong relationship with Hogans, and when it merged with US company Snyder Communications last year, it was Hogans that was brought in for the work.
This deal was reasonably straightforward, although the documentation was put together in four days. It remains uncertain whether Havas will be able to acquire 100 per cent of Tempus, which is currently owned in part (22 per cent) by WPP Group.
The main part of the credit facility was used to fund the offer, but there was also a euro50m (£35m) working capital facility. Although the deal was done under UK law, the tax and corporate side was done with Norton Rose's Paris office.