Dutch independent NautaDutilh has secured the lead role advising ABN Amro on its £80bn merger bid with Barclays, on what looks set to be one of Europe’s biggest-ever M&A deals.
Nauta is lining up alongside Allen & Overy (A&O) while Clifford Chance (CC) and Sullivan & Cromwell have bagged advisory roles for Barclays.
NautaDutilh corporate partner Hein Hooghoudt is leading the team advising ABN alongside A&O.
Davis Polk & Wardwell is advising the Dutch bank on US law, with corporate partners Margaret Tahyar (Paris) and Thomas Reid (London) understood to be leading the team. New York-based partner Randall Guynn is thought to be providing US regulatory advice.
Barclays confirmed on 19 March that it had entered into exclusive talks with ABN regarding a possible union.
CC and A&O are on the legal panels of both Barclays and ABN but CC has strong ties with Barclays general counsel Mark Harding, who is a former CC partner.
CC advised Barclays on its £2bn acquisition of a majority stake in South Africa’s Absa bank in 2005. It also advised the bank when it bought Banco Zaragozano for €1.1bn (£747m) in 2003. The firm initially advised The Woolwich on its £5.5bn merger with Barclays in 2000, with Lovells acting on the other side.
Barclays is the third-largest bank in the UK and a merger between the two would create a bank with nearly 50 million customers worldwide and more than 200,000 staff. However, the talks could also lead to rival bids for either Barclays or ABN with BNP Paribas, BBVA and ING all seen as possible bidders for ABN.
Barclays has drafted in Deutsche Bank, Lazards, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan Cazenove as financial advisers. ABN is using Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Rothschild and UBS as financial advisers, according to Mergermarket.
One partner at a panel firm for both banks commented: “It is very early days. Barclays itself is something that other banks have expressed an interest in. It if does go ahead you would think they would create one legal panel, which could have implications for advisers.”
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