Norton Rose shores up NIB Capital Bank relationship

Norton Rose has underlined its position in the mid-level acquisition finance market by snaring its second deal for NIB Capital Bank in the space of a year.

The firm acted for NIB as the debt provider in the e145m (£103m) leveraged recapitalisation of Dutch packaging company Schoeller Wavin Systems, which also saw the transactional debut of Stirling Square Capital Partners.

Norton Rose finance partner Tom Speechley, assisted by Colin Morgan, Julia Wallingford, Nick Strutt and Doug Murning, advised NIB on the e65m (£46.2m) senior and e20m (£14.2m) mezzanine facilities, working with the firm's Amsterdam, Cologne and Warsaw offices.

Stirling Square, represented by Clifford Chance's Amsterdam office, bought a controlling stake in the company and provided an exit for minority investor JPMorgan Partners.

Clifford Chance partner Charles Eijsbouts led the transaction from the Netherlands, along with Frankfurt-based partner Christopher Kellett.

It was the first transaction for the private equity house since London funds partners Jason Glover and Stephen Ross won a beauty parade to advise on the fund creation last year, which was seeded with $250m (£150.6m) from Citigroup.

The Norton Rose connection with NIB is understood to have grown from former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) banker Peter Allan, who moved to the Dutch bank in 2001. RBS is a longstanding client of the firm.

Speechley's team handled the £240m of senior and mezzanine facilities for NIB on the Leisure Link secondary buyout last year.