Private equity house Lion Capital has handed Weil Gotshal & Manges and SJ Berwin a sizeable European acquisition each as the sought-after client continues to divide up its work.
SJ Berwin advised Lion Capital on its Ä1.2bn (£813m) acquisition of Netherlands retail chain HEMA from private equity houses Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR), AlpInvest Partners and Change Capital Partners late last month.
SJ Berwin corporate finance partner Richard Lever led alongside Lion relationship partner Steve Davis. Nauta-Dutilh was instructed to advise on local law.
HEMA is a subsidiary of Dutch retail group Maxeda, which was bought by the KKR-led consortium in 2004 for Ä1.5bn (£1bn), changing its name from Vendex earlier this year. Clifford Chance’s Dutch arm advised Maxeda.
Shearman & Sterling advised the funding banks, ABN Amro and Citi.
Weil Gotshal’s Lion mandate came on the back of the acquisition of bakery products distributor Vaasan & Vaasan from CapVest. London managing partner Mike Francies lead the team for the buy-out house, which completed the deal for an undisclosed sum. Linklaters private equity partner Richard Youle advised CapVest.
Vaasan is a producer of bakery products in Finland and the Baltic States. The company’s net sales for 2006 stood at Ä334m (£227m).
Lion traditionally hands much of its work to Weil Gotshal as it span out of US buy-out house Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, one of Weil Gotshal’s largest US clients.
However, SJ Berwin has shared much of the work since acting for Hicks Muse on the £101m acquisition of a majority stake in high-profile shoe brand Jimmy Choo at the end of 2004.
