Dealmakers

UK: cooking up a deal

HowardKennedyFsi has acted on the acquisition of celebrity Australian chef Bill Granger’s latest restaurant premises in London.
The former 1930s factory situated in Clerkenwellwill be Mr Granger’s second restaurant in London and ninth worldwide. HKFsi real estate partner Adam Walford handled the lease acquisition on behalf of whilst Andrew Wong of Jeffrey Green Russell acted on all licensing law matters.  
Macfarlanes acted for the landlord, Derwent and Shelley Sandzer were their letting agents.   

Romania: confiscation compensation

New York-based law firm White & Case Fondul Proprietatea - the fund set up by the Romanian State to compensate the victims of Communist property confiscation - on the sale of 632,482,000 shares in OMV Petrom for €57 million.
OMV is one of the largest corporations in Romania and the largest gas and oil producer in Eastern Europe.
The White & Case team was led in London by partner Greg Stonefield and in Bucharest by partner Lucian Bondoc.

UK: summer holiday

London magic circle law firm Linklaters has advised Credit Suisse, Gleacher Shacklock and Jefferies Hoare Govett and other banks on the Thomas Cook share placing and rights issue, which was announced last week.
The Linklaters team was led by partners Tom O'Neill, James Inglis and John Lane.
Other law firms who advised on the deal included:
Slaughter and May / Latham Watkins - counsel to the Company
Shearman and Sterling - counsel to the banks on the bond element
Allen & Overy - counsel to the banks on the bank debt

China: seal the deal

Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised the 21 joint bookrunners on China Galaxy Securities US$1.07 billion IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Joint global coordinators for the deal were Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, China Galaxy International Securities Hong Kong Limited, ABCI Capital Limited and Nomura.
The company sold approximately 1.6 billion H shares at HK$5.30 each.
The magic circle firm’s team advising China Galaxy Securities - one of the largest brokerage service providers in China – was led by Beijing partner Tim Wangand Hong Kong partner Cherry Chan with Shanghai partner Jean Thio advising on US law aspects of the transaction.

France: vintage deal

French law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel has advised Kweichow Moutai - China's leading distillery - on the acquisition of Château Loudenne.
Château Loudenne, a winery in Saint-Yzans-de-Médoc, southwestern France, has been owned since 2000 by the Lafragette family.
The 132-hectare (326-acre) estate, 62 hectares (153 acres) of which benefit from the AOC Médoc appellation, is situated on the banks of the Gironde estuary and produces, in particular, the Château Loudenne red, the Médoc Cru Bourgeois Supérieur and the Hippocampus Cuvée Spéciale. It employs a staff of around 20 and produces 300,000 bottles per year.