Rentokil picks Freshfields for selloff

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has bagged an instruction to advise Rentokil Initial on the sale of Style Conferences to the Alternative Hotel Group (AHG) for £325m.

AHG, which is being advised by DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, is the bid vehicle launched by Richard Balfour-Lynn and other directors of Marylebone Warwick Balfour. The Bank of Scotland, which holds a 50 per cent stake in AHG, is also providing financing for the acquisition.

The disposal of Rentokil's training and conference business is the latest in a string of deals that Freshfields has handled for the FTSE100 business services company this year.

Corporate partner Farah Ispahani is understood to have advised Rentokil on the failed takeover by Lovells client Sir Gerry Robinson. Meanwhile, in July, Freshfields teamed up with Denton Wilde Sapte to advise Rentokil on its corporate restructuring following the introduction of new international accounting rules.

A Freshfields source said: "As part of our strategy we have a personal involvement with Rentokil. It's a corporate client and we've done a lot of previous work with it."

DLA Piper corporate partner Jonathan Richard is leading the team advising AHG with assistance from real estate partners Karen Frieve and Helen Barraclough and banking partner Philip Butler.