White & Case to advise on Linde's BOC takeover

White & Case has landed the role of advising the bank consortium funding Linde's £8bn takeover of BOC.

The firm was instructed by Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, the lead banks for the consortium, which is also using Commerzbank, Dresdner Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland. Banking partners Christopher Kandel, Mike Goetz and Frankfurt partner Stephen Hodgson are acting for the banks, with the in-house role led by Deutsche Bank's Joachim Walgenbach and Morgan Stanley's Dan Maze.

The banks are providing the credit facility for the acquisition. The facility will include a combination of a capital increase of E1.4bn-E1.8bn (£960m-£1.23bn), hybrid capital of E1.2bn- E1.6bn (£823m-£1.1bn), bonds, banks and the sale of some assets.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is acting for Linde, the German industrial group, on the takeover, led by corporate partner Barry O'Brien alongside Düsseldorf partner Axel Epe. WilmerHale is advising on antitrust issues.

Slaughter and May is acting for longstanding client BOC, led by corporate partner Frances Murphy. Hengeler Mueller, led by Max Schiessl, is advising on German aspects of the deal, while Shearman & Sterling partner Kenneth Prince provided US antitrust guidance. BOC general counsel Nick Deeming led the in-house team.

BOC is set to recommend the £8bn cash takeover by Linde. BOC shareholders will be offered 1,600p in cash for each BOC share.