Practices in London — 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:

• 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.
• Telenor ASA in its defence against the hostile takeover by Alfa Group of Telenor's interests in NYSE-listed Russian mobile operator VimpelCom and leading Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar. The defence involved the use of total return equity swaps, several proxy contests, two international arbitrations and ongoing litigation in a number of jurisdictions. Telenor, represented by Orrick, won both international arbitrations, and is now in the process of enforcing the two arbitration awards against relevant Alfa Group companies.
• 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.
• 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.
• Titanium Asset Management Corporation on notable transactions in 2007 including:
  • Acting as its advisor in connection with its admission to AIM as a special purpose acquisition company to acquire companies engaged in the asset management industry, raising US$120 million, including US$60 million from a strategic investor, Clal Finance Limited, listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
  • Advising upon the acquisitions of US asset management companies Wood Asset Management and Sovereign Holdings for an aggregate of US$48.5 million.
• Platinum Diversified Mining, now known as International Consolidated Minerals, Inc., on the acquisition of International Consolidated Minerals, a company that holds Peruvian mining interests by way of a reverse takeover. The deal had a value of approximately US$250 million payable by the issue of shares and warrants in Platinum.
• Tissue Science Laboratories, a medical technology company, on its recommended takeover by Covidien UK Holding, a subsidiary of the global healthcare company Covidien.