SJ Berwin and Cleary act for buyout houses on $1.9bn frozen food sale

SJ Berwin and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton have advised on private equity firm BC Partners' $1.9bn (£1.2bn) sell-off of its French frozen food business to Lion Capital, reports The Am Law Daily.

SJ Berwin took the lead role for buyout house Lion Capital on its acquisition of Picard Surgeles, reportedly the largest leveraged buyout in France since 2008.

The UK top 20 firm fielded a cross-border team led by the firm's City-based head of corporate Steven Davis (pictured) and Paris-based M&A partner Maxence Bloch. The team also included Paris M&A partner Thomas Maitrejean and London finance partner Ian Borman.

Lion Capital, which was formed in April 2005 after splitting off from HM Capital Partners, specialises in acquiring consumer products companies such as Weetabix, lingerie retailer La Senza, restaurant chain Wagamama, and t-shirt retailer American Apparel.

SJ Berwin also handled Lion's acquisition of Wagamama in July 2005, La Senza in December 2006, and Dutch retail chain Hema in June 2007.

Cleary advised BC Partners on the Picard Surgeles sale, fielding a Paris-based team including M&A partner Jean-Marie Ambrosi, finance partner Valerie Lemaitre and antitrust partner Francois Brunet.

The US firm also represented BC Partners in November 2004 when it acquired Picard Surgeles from another private equity group, and has handled several other deals for the firm.

Earlier this month, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett advised BC Partners and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners on their $3.1bn (£2bn) acquisition of healthcare business MultiPlan.

The Picard Surgeles deal is the latest in a string of frozen food sales, after Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May took roles on Unilever's €805m (£677m) sale of its Findus Italian frozen foods business to Birds Eye Iglo.

The Am Law Daily is a blog on law.com, Legal Week's US affiliate title.

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