Herbert Smith is advising the syndicate of banks providing the finance for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ (KKR) proposed takeover of Alliance Boots, The Lawyer understands.The US private equity house, alongside Alliance Boots deputy chairman Stefano Pessina, is receiving financial advice mainly from UniCredit Markets & Investment Banking, JPMorgan Cazenove and Merrill Lynch. However, JPMorgan Cazenove, Citigroup, […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has reinstated itself as AstraZeneca’s main UK firm for big M&A deals, scooping a key role on the company’s $15.6bn (£7.8bn) purchase of MedImmune. Freshfields held off a chasing pack of City heavyweights, including Herbert Smith and Linklaters, which all have links to AstraZeneca. Last year Freshfields missed out on AstraZeneca’s £702m […]
The European arm of Latham & Watkins is upping its pro bono effort, with London clocking up 4,000 hours on its own. A key component has been Latham’s work fighting for Eastern Europeans in front of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). As part of this, the firm is assisting the Romania Helsinki Committee, […]
Bircham Dyson Bell has launched a new family group to service its growing private client list with a combination of media and family law advice. Lead employment partner Sian Jones will head the new group, which aims to coordinate Bircham’s departments as a response to a number of high-value cases requiring more than one specialism. […]
Allen & Overy (A&O) has advised on the two largest transactions in the history of the European syndicated loan market in the past three weeks. Just two weeks after the firm bagged the lead role advising Porsche’s E35bn (EU163;23.69bn) bid for Volkswagen on 28 March, it scooped the role advising Mediobanca and UBS on the […]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued proposals that could make private competition cases the norm. The proposals follow the unprecedented action brought by consumer group Which? against a replica football shirts cartel. The OFT is raising awareness about private actions for breaches of competition law through a discussion paper that floats several suggestions […]
Family law chambers One Garden Court has set a long-term target to become London’s pre-eminent chambers in its field, but sees the Carter reforms as a major hurdle. Recently appointed joint head of chambers Stephen Cobb QC said that the set’s ambitions are “entirely achievable”, but “the greatest challenge will come from the reforms to […]
A line-up of UK, US and Dutch firms is advising Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Santander and Fortis on their battle with Barclays for ABN Amro. The three banks have turned to De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Linklaters, Slaughter and May and Willkie Farr & Gallagher to advise on their plans to split up ABN. The […]
The politically charged auction of Yukos assets to Italian utility companies Enel and Eni has cemented Salans’ relationship with Enel on Russian acquisitions. The firm was lead counsel to Enel when it paired up with Eni to bid for $5.3bn (£2.66bn) worth of gas assets formerly held by Yukos, the bankrupted Russian energy giant. The […]
Bristol-headquartered Burges Salmon scored an instruction on the landmark flotation of independent financial adviser and stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown, which will value the company at between £600m and £800m. Burges Salmon head of corporate Chris Godfrey is leading the team. He is the relationship partner for the company. Hargreaves Lansdown, which is also based in Bristol, […]
Gemma Westacott, deputy editor, TheLawyer.com
Should those who exaggerate personal injury claims be forced to forego the aspects of payouts to which they are entitled? By Alejandra Hormaeche