Two Castles sparks major hassles

Castle Bidco was busy last week in the real estate market. First came its £1bn offer for property company Countrywide, then Thursday's (8 March) £715m bid for property developer Crest Nicholson. Except it wasn't.

The Castle Bidco in question was actually two different Castle Bidcos. The Lawyer was told by DLA Piper lead partner Jonathan Watkins, who acted for the Castle Bidco on the Crest Nicholson offer, that his client was the real Castle Bidco.

All was revealed after speaking to Slaughter and May corporate partner Charles Randell, who led on the Countrywide deal for the other Castle Bidco, a takeover vehicle for private equity client Apollo. "Our client's full name is Castle Holdco 4 Ltd. It was only called Castle Bidco for convenience, although I appreciate that having two deals announced in the same week with two different Castle Bidcos was a little inconvenient," says Randell. Just a little.