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Linklaters

Global excellence in Public M&A

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Clients across the globe instruct us on public M&A deals knowing that whatever the scale of complexity and challenge ahead, we will deliver to ambitious takeover schedules, drawing on the best legal minds across our global practices, with local, personal advice.

We have consistently dominated the legal advisory league tables and are recognised by the leading independent directories as top tier for M&A in Europe and globally.

Our lawyers know that legal advice is not “one size fits all”. Our wealth of experience means that we are able to understand complex legal and commercial issues from every angle. And, if faced with challenges we have not seen before, our lawyers also have market-leading experience of advising on some of the most innovative deals in recent years across a multitude of sectors.

 

"A highly sophisticated corporate practice that enjoys an outstanding reputation for complex M&A work. Consistently acts on landmark cross-border deals, servicing industry-leading clients from the energy, healthcare and TMT sectors, among numerous others. Clients also benefit from a market-leading borrower-side finance practice assisting with high-value deal work. Extensive international footprint covers Europe, the Americas and East Asia."

Chambers UK 2022, Band 1 Corporate/M&A: High-end Capability: London
"The strength and depth of the Linklaters team is extremely impressive. Their ability to mobilise quickly and experience in supporting large scale M&A makes them an incredible asset to have in a team."

Legal 500 UK 2022, M&A: Upper Mid-Market and Premium Deals, £500M+: United Kingdom

£37.2bn

Linklaters was number 1 in 2021 for European cross-border deals, with £37.2bn worth of deals

8 years

Four of our senior partners have served the UK Takeover panel as senior case officers, each for two years

Work highlights

Clients regularly turn to us on some of their biggest and most strategic mandates. In the past few years Linklaters has worked on, among others, these transformational public M&A deals:

Landmark deals

  • Vodafone: advising on its £112bn hostile bid for Mannesmann, the first successful hostile bid for a German company.
  • Unilever: advising on the successful defence to the USD145bn approach from Kraft-Heinz.
  • SABMiller: advising on the recommended USD108bn offer from Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest UK takeover and the third largest global M&A deal in history and SABMiller on the disposal of its stake in Tsogo Sun.
  • Cheung Kong Holdings: advising on the USD103bn merger with Hutchison Whampoa - the largest Hong Kong public M&A in history. Glencore: advising on its USD90bn merger of equals with Xstrata.
  • Takeda Pharmaceutical Company: advising on its £46bn recommended offer for Shire, the largest ever outbound M&A deal by a Japanese company.
  • E.ON: advising on the EUR43bn public takeover of a 76.8% stake in Innogy and on the planned extensive swap of assets between E.ON and RWE.
  • Ahli United Bank: advising on the USD8.8bn recommended acquisition of AUB by Kuwait Finance House, the largest ever cross-border public takeover in the GCC.

Recent deals - UK

  • Just Eat: advising on its £6.26bn recommended all-share combination with Takeaway.com.
  • GIC as part of a consortium with Advent: advising on the $8bn takeover offer for SOBI AB.
  • Dialog Semiconductor: advising a world-leading developer of integrated circuit technologies on the recommended cash offer by Renesas Electronics Corporation to acquire its entire issued and to be issued share capital, valuing Dialog at approximately €4.89bn.     
  • Global Infrastructure Partners: advising on the US$4.63bn recommended cash offer for the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Signature Aviation, a FTSE-listed company.
  • G4S: advising on its recommended £3.8bn cash offer from Allied Universal and its defence against a hostile offer from Garda World.
  • KAZ Minerals: advising on the recommended £4.1bn cash offer by Nova Resources.
  • Caesars Entertainment: advising on its £2.9bn recommended cash offer for William Hill
  • Greene King: advising on the £2.7bn recommended cash offer by CK Asset Holdings Limited.
  • Aristocrat Leisure: advising this Australian gambling machine manufacturer on its proposed $2.8bn cash offer for Playtech.
  • Brookfield Asset Management: on its recommended £4.07bn cash offer for Homeserve.

Recent deals - Mainland Europe

  • Belgium: Ablynx: advising on the €3.9bn public takeover bid made by Sanofi on Ablynx
  • Spain: SIX Group: advising on the €2.8bn public takeover bid made for Bolsas y Mercados Españoles
  • Spain: Corporación Financiera Alba: advising on the €630m public takeover offer launched for Parques Reunidos
  • Germany: Commerzbank: advising on the €380m sale of its Equity Markets & Commodities business to the French bank Société Générale
  • Germany: ams: advising on the €3.6bn public takeover of Osram Licht
  • Netherlands: Recruit: advising on its €1.42bn all-cash tender offer for all USG People shares
  • Netherlands: Delhaize: advising on its €26bn merger with Netherlands-based listed retailer Ahold
  • Paris: BPIfrance: advising on the contemplated €160m tender offer of Wordline on Ingenico Group

Recent deals - Asia

  • China: China Three Gorges: advising on its USD10.6bn public tender offer for Energias de Portugal, Portugal’s largest energy company
  • China: UBS: advising on its CNY 858m acquisition of 12.01% and 14% equity interests in UBS Securities, becoming the first foreign-controlled securities company approved by the CSRC in China’s further opening-up
  • Japan: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation: advising on the JPY820m merger squeeze-out of minority shareholders in its subsidiary NTT Com Security
  • Singapore: J Trust Co Ltd: advising this Tokyo-listed financial services company on its USD93m acquisition of approximately 29.5% of Singapore-listed LCD Global Investments
  • Hong Kong: China International Capital Corporation: advising on the USD25.9bn merger of China’s train makers, CSR Corporation and China CNR Corporation, through a securities exchange offer effected through a Chinese law-governed merger by absorption

Recent deals - U.S.A.

  • Bioceres Crop Solutions: advising this fully integrated provider of crop productivity solutions, in connection with its USD236 million merger with Marrone Bio Innovations, a NASDAQ-listed agricultural company.
  • Sibanye Gold: advising on its USD2.2bn acquisition of Stillwater Mining Company and related equity issuance
  • Xtep International Holdings: advising on its USD260m acquisition of a 100% stake in E-Land Footwear USA Holdings, the owner of the K-Swiss, Palladium and Supra brands
Landmark deals
Recent deals - UK
Recent deals - Mainland Europe
Recent deals - Asia
Recent deals - U.S.A.

Specialist practice areas

Competition/Antitrust

Our market-leading global Competition practice advises on some of the most high-profile matters including significant mergers, complex investigatory work, regulatory and litigation and embraces the continued globalisation of competition law and policy.

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Employment and Incentives

Our pre-eminent Employment & Incentives practice is one of the strongest and most innovative players in the global market, providing legal and commercial expertise across employment and incentives matters, wherever our clients do business.

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Intellectual Property

Our Intellectual Property team has global recognition and a track record of solving a wide range of IP issues, including commercialising, acquiring and licensing IP, and enforcing and defending IP in litigation.

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Pensions

Our top-tier Pension lawyers can assist with the full range of pensions issues including de-risking solutions, tailored funding solutions, regulatory, governance and investment issues.

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Tax

Our pre-eminent Tax practice is known for its market-leading work and is consistently recognised as being at the forefront of its field.

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Technology, Procurement and Outsourcing

With technology and outsourcing being used to transform and achieve business objectives, Linklaters advises on a global basis, and those in regulated industries.

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Key Public M&A Contacts

For more information on how our public M&A team can support you, please speak to one of our public M&A lawyers below.
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