Dechert Wins Two International M&A Awards

Dechert LLP has been honored with two awards during the 8th Annual International M&A Awards Gala in New York on April 12. The awards honored the leading deal teams, firms and professionals whose activities set the standard for cross border M&A transactions. This year, over 250 companies, representing every major market in the world, became finalists for the awards. An independent judging committee of 19 top cross border M&A industry experts determined the ultimate recipients of the awards.

Dechert’s representation of the Liberty Living Group in its £1.1 billion acquisition by the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (“CPPIB”) won the award for “Real Estate Deal of the Year.” The team was led by London partner Eleni Skordaki who, together with Sarah Reader and Simran Sanghera, provided legal advice as well as transactional direction on the new financing arrangements provided to the acquired group by way of facilities from the Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC as well as under a US$ loan note programme. The acquisition is the first investment in an alternative real estate sector for CPPIB and it is also the largest real estate deal CPPIB has ever done in Europe.

The firm also secured the award for “Cross Border M&A Deal of the Year (Over $500MM - $1B)” for its representation of the special committee of Steiner Leisure Limited, a Bahamas-headquartered worldwide provider and innovator in the fields of beauty, wellness and education, in its take-private acquisition by private equity firm Catterton. The Dechert team advising Steiner Leisure was led by partners Carmen Romano and Derek Winokur, and includes partner Sarah Gelb as well as associates Cody Cowper, Ruslan Korteski, Jonathan Stott and Steve Stoute. The total transaction value, including assumed net debt, was approximately US$925 million.

Dechert was also named as a finalist for its work on several other deals, including:

• the acquisition of US$23 billion in GE Capital Real Estate assets by Wells Fargo and Blackstone, in which Dechert represented Wells Fargo in the purchase of some 250 performing loans, representing half the loan portfolio. The landmark transaction, which made headline news around the world, was shortlisted in three categories: Cross-border M&A Deal of the Year (over US$5 billion); US-Europe Deal of the Year; and Real Estate Deal of the Year (over US$10 billion).
• representation of Dutch biotech and kidney drug developer AM-Pharma and its shareholders in the acquisition of a minority stake in the company by pharmaceutical heavyweight Pfizer Inc. for up to US$600 million, which was shortlisted in the Corporate and Strategic Acquisition of the Year (over US$500 million) category.
• Dutch biotech uniQure’s landmark collaboration agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb for the development of gene therapy treatments, which was nominated for the Healthcare and Life Sciences Deal of the Year award.
• a complex IP due diligence investigation carried out ahead of Sequoia Capital’s investment in China’s SYMAP, also shortlisted for the Healthcare and Life Sciences Deal of the Year award.
• a US dollar-denominated funding round carried out in France for Paris-based PeopleDoc, which was shortlisted for the Professional Services (B-to-B) Deal of the Year award.

About Dechert

Dechert is a global specialist law firm focused on sectors with the greatest complexities and highest regulatory demands. We deliver practical commercial insight and judgment to our clients’ most important matters. Nothing stands in the way of giving clients the best of the firm’s entrepreneurial energy and seamless collaboration in a way that is distinctively Dechert.