Links and CC defy credit squeeze on major buy out

Linklaters’ lateral hiring policy has borne fruit with two new partners securing one of the biggest buyouts since the credit crunch dried up liquidity.

The magic circle firm advised Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and new client Quadrangle Capital Partners in the NOK5.8bn (£520m) buyout of Norwegian cable company Get from Clifford Chance’s longstanding private equity client Candover.

The deal was led in London by Linklaters private equity partner Ian Bagshaw and in Sweden by Stockholm head of private equity Krister Hansen.

Bagshaw came to Linklaters in March from Clifford Chance. This deal put him on the opposite side of the table to his old mentor and Candover relationship partner Adam Signy.

Meanwhile, leading on the banking side for Linklaters was partner David Ereira. He too joined Linklaters this year, coming from magic circle rival Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

The secondary buyout, the biggest Nordic deal since the summer, is the first time that Linklaters has advised US-based Quadrangle. The instruction came through a historic relationship cultivated by Bagshaw with Macquarie, the acquisitive Australian bank.