White & Case in £2BN European M&A Double
Firm Closes Second Billion Pound Plus M&A Deal of the Year in London
London,
May 15, 2007 ... White & Case has acted on two major European M&A deals in the space of a week. Firstly, the Firm advised airport operator BAA plc on the sale of its 75 percent minus one share stake in Budapest Airport to a consortium led by Hochtief AirPort GmbH for £1.309 billion. The sale has been approved by both the Hungarian State Privatisation Agency and the European competition authorities.
The deal follows on from BAA's privatisation of Budapest airport in December 2005, on which White & Case also advised BAA. At the time, the transaction was the largest privatisation in Hungary. BAA's decision to sell its concern in Budapest Airport was made following BAA's purchase in 2006 by the ADI consortium led by Ferrovial.
In addition, White & Case also acted for Allianz Capital Partners GmbH in its £772.5 million acquisition of European vending business Selecta from Compass Group PLC, the world's largest catering group.
"Our London corporate team has had its best-ever first quarter," commented White & Case partner Peter Finlay, co-head of the Firm's Corporate practice in London. "Not only has the ECM component of the team had a flying start to the year, but we've also signed around 15 M&A transactions so far in 2007, including these two for BAA and Allianz, as well as Weather Investments' €3.4 billion purchase of Greek mobile operator TIM Hellas."
The White & Case team advising BAA was co-led by partners Peter Finlay and István Réczicza, based in London and Budapest respectively. They worked closely with partners Pieta Menon and Alan Rockwell, counsel Andrew O'Keeffe, and associates Andrew Macklin, James Meakin and Alex Pett in London, along with associates Ivan Varga and Zita Albert in Budapest. The BAA team was led by general counsel Robert Herga.
White & Case partners Greg Hammond and Claus Wecker, based in London and Düsseldorf respectively, led the team acting for Allianz Capital Partners, working alongside counsel Michelle Brady and partner Ashley Winton in London and local partners Heiko Wilde and Christoph Kuzaj in Düsseldorf.
About White & CaseWhite & Case LLP is a leading global law firm with more than 2,000 lawyers in 35 offices in 23 countries. Our clients value the breadth and depth of our US, English and local law capabilities and rely on us for their complex cross-border commercial and financial transactions and for international arbitration and litigation. Whether in established or emerging markets, the hallmark of White & Case is our complete dedication to the business priorities and legal needs of our clients.
Contact:
James Martin
Media Relations Mgr EMEA, White & Case
44 0 20 7532 2853/ 44 0 7939 012 011
Alexandra Henderson
Media Relations Executive, White & Case
44 0 20 7532 2848