Slaughters scoops Goldman bid for ISS

Slaughter and May is advising Goldman Sachs Capital Partners on a Nordic private equity bid following a major charm offensive with the house.

The magic circle firm is advising Goldman, a member of the PurusCo consortium, on its €2.97bn (£2.03bn) public bid for Danish cleaning company ISS.

Slaughters has advised Goldman on several previous deals and last year was the beneficiary of a recommendation from the venture capitalists which helped head of corporate Chris Saul secure a first-time instruction from KKR.

However, Slaughters has had to work hard with Goldman since former head of corporate Nigel Boardman and corporate partner Andy Ryde ruffled feathers defending Marks & Spencer (M&S) from Philip Green's hostile bid last year. Green's bid was funded by Goldman's private equity team while Goldman's investment bankers acted as his financial advisers.

Baker & McKenzie and Danish firm Gorrissen Federspiel Kierkegaard are advising PurusCo, which is comprised of EQT Partners and Goldman. The deal is the largest ever buyout in the Nordic region, and is a sizeable investment for both.

EQT Partners' Christian Sinding said: "We have good relationships with both firms and have previously done both corporate and finance deals with them."

Partners Tim Boxell, Christopher Saul and Philip Snell are leading for Slaughters, while PurusCo and EQT are being advised by Baker & McKenzie partners Tom Philipp, Bernard Sharp and Charles Whitefoord and Gorrissens partners Tomas Haagen Jensen, Niels Heering and Jan-Erik Svensson.

Goldman Sachs International, Citigroup Global Markets and Enskilda Securities are joint financial advisers to PurusCo. Partner James Johnson and lawyer Emma Folds of Clifford Chance are advising Goldman and Citigroup. Johnson said: "The financing structure consisted of a senior debt bridging facility with high-yield notes."