London Practices — Corporate and Corporate Finance

Orrick has a long tradition of representing clients in the full range of corporate transactions. Our Corporate Group advises public and private companies around the world on all aspects of their businesses and at every stage of their growth and development. Companies in a variety of industries and sectors, from established blue-chip companies to technology-driven start-ups, rely on Orrick's corporate lawyers.

Our practice includes mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures and strategic alliances, strategic technology transactions, corporate formations, outsourcing, as well as general corporate counselling. Our corporate lawyers regularly draw upon the skills of other practice groups throughout the firm to provide assistance with competition issues, tax, executive compensation and employee benefits, intellectual property, employment, real estate and litigation issues.

Recent transactions handled by Orrick's Corporate Group in London include advising:

• Venture Production plc, advised on its defence of a hostile takeover offer by Centrica plc, the owner of British Gas, valued at £1.3 billion.
• Telenor ASA, advised on the U.S. $23.8 billion combination of its mobile assets in Russia and Ukraine with those of Altimo, the telecom arm of the Alfa Group, in the newly acquired VimpelCom Ltd.
• Earls Court & Olympia Venues, the majority shareholders of which include longstanding clients Anthony Lyons, Simon Conway and David Coffer, in the sale of a 50 percent interest in London’s iconic Earls Court and Olympia exhibition centres to Liberty International Plc, a UK FTSE-100 listed property company.
• MessageLabs Group Limited, advised on the U.S. $700 million sale of MessageLabs to Symantec.
• Enovation Resources Limited, an independent exploration and production company active in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, on its December 2007 private placement of secured convertible bonds in the Oslo market and a related warrant issuance. The principal purchasers of the convertible bonds and warrants were oil and gas-focused hedge funds.
• Master Replicas in the combination of three collectible product companies: Master Replicas, Corgi International and Cards Inc.
• Matterhorn Capital Management Limited, advised in a joint venture with Brett Palos to acquire the "O2" Leisure and Retail scheme located in North London, valued at £92.5 million.
• CompuCredit in the acquisition and financing of a portfolio of credit cards from Barclaycard, a division of Barclays Bank Plc. Orrick client CompuCredit Corporation purchased approximately US$970 million (£490 million) in face amount of Monument Credit Card receivables from Barclaycard for a purchase price of approximately US$770 million (£390 million). A substantial portion of the purchase price was funded by Orrick client, Bank of America Securities Limited and related entities.
• CB Richard Ellis on a portfolio of UK acquisitions and various joint venture agreements.
• Tissue Science Laboratories, a medical technology company, on its recommended takeover by Covidien UK Holding, a subsidiary of the global healthcare company Covidien.