Legal briefs: Seven-up for DLA Piper team; Brabners advises on Jaywing deal
DLA Piper’s Manchester corporate team have completed seven deals in two months, including the mammoth AIM IPO of Boohoo.
The team including partners James Kerrigan and Jonathan Watkins and associates, Paul Kelly, Louise Barber and Jennifer Lee, have advised on four M&A transactions including; the secondary management buyout of North West shoes manufacturer, Hotter Shoes, which saw Gresham Private Equity sell its stake to Electra Partners, the cross-border sale by Andrew Industries of six businesses within its filtration division to Lydall Inc for $83m, the sale of Grenade UK to Grovepoint, and the sale of LAS Claims Management for £35m.
On the public markets, partners, Elia Montorio, Stephen Devlin together with Ciaran Stone advised online fashion retailer boohoo.com on its IPO on AIM, having a market capitalisation after the first day of trading of over £750m.
Mr Devlin and Ciaran Stone also advised Zeus Capital on one of the largest corporate fundraising on AIM in recent years with the IPO of logistics provider DX.
Jonathan Watkins said: “2014 has started off at an incredible pace. The whole Manchester corporate team have been heavily involved in being these transactions to a successful close.
“These deals showcase the team’s ability and strength in depth to advise large PLC’s, multinationals, PE Houses, entrepreneurs and management teams, locally, nationally and internally and helps to cement our place in the market as the preeminent firm for both international and domestic corporate transactions.”
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BRABNERS has advised AIM-listed Jaywing on the acquisition of Epiphany Solutions for £18m.
Jaywing, which has offices in Sheffield and operates mainly in the digital marketing sector, is paying £12m in cash, with an additional £6m available over the next two years for the Leeds and London firm.
The acquisition is being funded through Jaywing’s existing cash resources and additional bank facilities provided by Barclays.
Brabners Corporate Partner, David Bowcock, led the team advising Jaywing. He said: “We are delighted to have assisted Jaywing in the acquisition of Epiphany. Following on from the disposal of Tryzens last September, this deal is another significant step forward for the Jaywing group.”
