Freshfields, meanwhile, was instructed by regular client Tesco, with corporate partner Claire Wills leading a team that also included partners from the firm’s intellectual property, competition, employment and real estate teams.
The transaction sees RBS withdraw from its 50:50 joint venture with Tesco, under which it provided services allowing Tesco Personal Finance to function as a virtual bank. Tesco will now have full ownership of the business.
The agreement, which was set up around 10 years ago, has allowed Tesco to offer services including loans, insurance and savings accounts under the Tesco brand.
Rose told Legal Week: “We have done a fair amount of work with RBS both historically and ongoing, but this deal is a particularly big number and is particularly complex because of the virtual nature of the business.”
Freshfields has typically taken much of the high-end corporate work for Tesco in recent years, as well as advising it as part of the competition enquiry into supermarkets. However, the supermarket giant has also turned to Berwin Leighton Paisner regularly in the past.
