Dr. Olga Stürmer

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) advises global private equity firm Permira on the planned investment in GGW Group. Freshfields further advises on the debt financing for the transaction. GGW Group is one of the leading European insurance brokerage platforms for small and medium-sized enterprises (“Mittelstand”) currently owned by Hg, a leading investor in European and transatlantic software and services businesses. Closing is subject to the usual approvals by the relevant authorities and is expected in the second quarter 2024. The Freshfields team was led by Frankfurt-based financial sponsors Partners Markus Paul and Olga Stürmer and Principal Associate Maximilian Hobuß, and further comprised Principal Associate Anna Dominke and Associate Maximilian von Scheidt. The financing team was led by Partner Alex Mitchell and comprised Associates Vansha Tolani, Mahesh Daryanani, Matthis Grenzer and Lucas Lengersdorf.

Dec 11

1 min

Global law firm Freshfields advised the financing banks on the successful signing of a new green credit facilities agreement in a total amount of €5.25bn for Eurogrid. ABN AMRO (Documentation Agent), Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and ING acted as coordinating banks. The financing supports investments in Germany’s electricity transmission grid. Eurogrid is an energy company based in Berlin and the parent company of 50Hertz Transmission GmbH, one of Germany’s four transmission system operators. Through its grid, 50Hertz plays a central role in ensuring security of supply and enabling the energy transition. The new revolving credit facilities replace and increase existing credit lines with a total volume of €3.75bn. It provides financing for Eurogrid’s investment programme, including the expansion and modernisation of critical grid infrastructure required for the integration of renewable energy. The transaction strengthens Eurogrid’s financial flexibility and represents a further step in Eurogrid’s green financing strategy. The Freshfields team was led by Partner Mario Hüther with support by Principal Associate Dennis Chinnow and Associate Thilo Köhler (all Finance, Frankfurt).

Feb 24

1 min

Freshfields is maximising use of its contractual six-month notice period for non-U.S. partners who opt to leave the firm, in a shift away from its usual practice of allowing partners to leave after three months. Although the firm’s partnership contract allows it to require departing partners to observe a full six-month notice period, normal practice was to accept half that, according to two sources with knowledge of the firm. The firm has recently decided to use the full extent of its contractual power with certain senior partners as it faces a growing number of top level exits across Europe, the people said. One of the people said that it is the first time the full six months has been implemented. Lengthy notice periods are generally associated with U.K. and European headquartered law firms and can serve several purposes, including disincentivising departures and minimising their impact. Most of the time, partners are put on garden leave, which requires them to see out their notice away from work. Some firms have justified longer notice periods as a means to offset the sometimes destabilising effects of exits by smoothing succession planning and enabling the orderly transfer of mandates. Long notice periods can disrupt the departing partner’s client relationships, reducing the likelihood of the firm losing clients and market share. Last month, Law.com revealed that A&O Shearman was also implementing lengthier and less defined notice periods, with the potential to insist on a nine-month period, against a backdrop of a planned 10% reduction of its equity partner ranks among many other partner departures, which by January had closed in on 200. Freshfields too has faced departures, with several, many long-time, partners leaving for rivals. Among them is a four-partner Germany team that last month left for Latham & Watkins, led by the firm's former Continental European head Markus Paul, and his fellow private equity partner Carsten Haak, as well as Munich-based corporate partners Wessel Heukamp and Verena Nosch. Others have included Brussels antitrust partner Rafique Bachour, who before his exit to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was one of the firm’s global managing partners, and senior corporate partner in Spain Armando Albarran, who left last month to launch Gibson Dunn & Crutcher’s Madrid office. Meanwhile, Cyril Valentin, the firm’s former Paris tax head, and veteran corporate partner Hervé Pisani, both left last month for White & Case. Over a similar period the firm hired Kirkland & Ellis partner Florian Sippel to its Munich office. In the U.S., where Freshfields is focusing much of its hiring attention, it has hired Nema Milaninia, a regulatory and investigations partner from King & Spalding, and Manish Kumar, a veteran of the Department of Justice. However, this month, the firm saw its head of the U.S. energy and infrastructure group and co-head of the firm’s Latin America practice, Melissa Raciti-Knapp, join Vinson & Elkins in New York. The notice period development adds to the perception of a growing divergence between Freshfield’s U.S. practice, into which it has invested a great deal, and its historical European hubs. In the U.S., employers are generally prohibited from using long notice periods, with most U.S. law firms utilizing 30 day periods or less. Freshfields declined to comment.

Feb 23

2 min

Nearly 50 partners across six Big Law firms helped steer the $110 billion deal confirmed on Friday between Paramount Skydance Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery, according to lists of firm lawyers on the deal. Warner Bros., which accepted the offer from Paramount, initially indicated it would accept an offer from Netflix for the business that came in between $72 billion and $83 billion, but a campaign (and substantial financial investment) by the Ellison family eventually won out. Larry Ellison, the father of Skydance/Paramount head David Ellison, personally backed $40.4 billion of the offer. Bank of America and Citigroup are providing around $54 billion in debt financing, while several Middle East sovereign wealth funds (reportedly Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi) also kicked in cash to reach the $110 billion mark. Cravath, Swaine and Moore was the lead counsel for Paramount, while Debevoise & Plimpton and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz acted as co-counsel for Warner Bros. Latham & Watkins worked with the investment consortium on finance, and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton advised the special committee to the board of directors for Paramount. Covington & Burling was regulatory counsel for Warner Bros. Several Big Law leaders and M&A rainmakers jumped in to see it through. That included Faiza Saeed, presiding partner at Cravath, working for Paramount, and Andrew Nussbaum, co-chair of Wachtell Lipton, working for Warner Bros. Top M&A partners and dealmakers at Latham, Debevoise and Covington also worked the deal. The Cravath team was comprised of partners Saeed, Daniel Cerqueira, Claudia Ricciardi, Alexander Greenberg and Minh Van Ngo on M&A matters; partners Andrew Pitts and C. Daniel Haaren on capital markets matters; partner George Zobitz on banking matters; partner Lauren Angelilli on tax matters; partner Jonathan Katz on executive compensation and benefits matters; partners Andrew Finch and Noah Joshua Phillips on antitrust matters; partners Kevin Orsini and Justin Clarke on litigation matters; and partner John W. White on corporate governance matters. Debevoise & Plimpton and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz were co-counsel for Warner Bros. The Debevoise team was led by M&A partners Jonathan Levitsky, Erik Andrén, Gordon Moodie and Katherine Durnan Taylor, employee benefits and executive compensation partner Simone Hicks, IP and technology transactions partner Henry Lebowitz, capital markets partners Benjamin Pedersen and Matthew Kaplan, finance partners Ryan Rafferty and Ramya Tiller and tax partners Peter Schuur and Erin Cleary and includes M&A partners John Love and William Regner The Wachtell team was led by corporate partner and firm co-chair Andrew Nussbaum and corporate partners Karessa Cain, Hannah Clark and Jacob Pearlman. Deborah Paul handled tax, while firm co-chair William Savitt and partner Ryan McLeod handled litigation matters. Finance partner Gregory Pessin rounded out the partners working the deal. Latham worked with Paramount and an investor consortium on equity finance. The team was led by New York partner Ian Nussbaum, Chicago partner Max Schleusener, and Los Angeles partners Rick Offsay and Liliana Ranger. Cleary was led by partners Paul Shim and Kelsey Nussenfeld. The Covington team, as regulatory counsel for Warner Brothers, included Derek Ludwin (DC); Johan Ysewyn (Brussels); Ross Demain (DC); Melissa Van Schoorisse (Brussels); James Marshall (London); Nathan Wilkins (Brussels); Romain Girard (Brussels); Silvia Wu (DC); and Jaina Patel (DC). In all, there were at least six announced deals valued at more than $1 billion in the last week. Two of those were over the $5 billion range. There was at least one new SPAC merger and one new IPO tracked by Radar. There were at least nine debt offerings over $500 million tracked last week. Deals on the Radar The information regarding the deals below was derived exclusively from Law.com Radar. Engie SA has acquired UK Power Networks Holdings Ltd. (UKPN), an electricity distribution operator in the UK, from CK Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. for an equity value of approximately 10.5 billion pounds ($14.2 billion). The transaction, announced Feb. 25, is expected to close in mid-2026. France-based Engie was advised by a Herbert Smith Freehills team led by partners Caroline Rae, Silke Goldberg and Frédéric Bouvet. Counsel information for UKPN was not immediately available. The Brink’s Co., the security and armored truck company, has agreed to acquire ATM network NCR Atleos Corp. in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $6.6 billion. The transaction, announced Feb. 26, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. Richmond, Virginia-based Brink’s was advised by Sidley Austin New York-based partners Adam Cromie, David Grubman and George Hunter. NCR Atleos, which is based in Atlanta, was counseled by King & Spalding partners Robert J. Leclerc, Rahul Patel, Michelle Stewart and Keith M. Townsend. Latham & Watkins represented J.P. Morgan, acting as the financial advisor to NCR. The Latham & Watkins corporate team was led by partners Charles Ruck and Brian Umanoff. An investor consortium led by Affinius Capital, in partnership with Vista Hill Partners, has agreed to acquire Veris Residential, a Class A multifamily REIT, for an all-cash consideration of Veris common stock valued at an enterprise value of $3.4 billion. Affinius Capital and Vista Hill Partners were advised by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Greenberg Traurig; and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Veris Residential, which is based in Jersey City, New Jersey, was counseled by Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Seyfarth Shaw. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson guided J.P. Morgan, acting as financial advisor to Veris. The Fried Frank team was led by M&A and private equity partners Philip Richter and Roy Tannenbaum. Goldman Sachs & Co., the lead arranger and underwriter on the bridge loan, was represented by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Citigroup has agreed to sell 24 percent of its Mexico retail-banking unit to General Atlantic, Brazilian bank BTG Pactual and insurance giant Chubb, among others, for roughly $2.5 billion. The transaction, announced Feb. 24, is expected to close by the end of 2026. Sao Paulo-based BTG Pactual Bank was advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett partner Grenfel Calheiros. Counsel information for Citigroup, which is based in New York, was not immediately available. CECO Environmental Corp. and Thermon Group Holdings have agreed to merge for a stock and cash consideration valued at approximately $2.2 billion. The transaction, announced Feb. 24, is expected to close in mid-2026. Dallas-based CECO Environmental was advised by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Thermon Group, which is based in San Marcos, Texas, was counseled by Sidley Austin. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson has guided Citi, acting as lead financial advisor to CECO. The Fried Frank team was led by M&A and private equity partners Philip Richter and Roy Tannenbaum. SPAC Mergers: IQM Finland Oy, a super conducting quantum computers designer and manufacturer, is going public via SPAC merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. As a result of the merger, IQM will be listed on one of the two leading U.S. stock exchanges with a post-transaction equity value of $450 million. Espoo, Finland-based IQM Finland was advised by Borenius and Cooley partners Eric Blanchard, Peter Byrne and Rita Sobral. Real Asset Acquisition Corp., which is based in Princeton, New Jersey, was counseled by Perkins Coie; Krogerus; and Conyers. IPOs: Guardian Metal Resources plc, an exploration-stage critical minerals company, announced that it has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with its proposed initial public offering of its American Depositary Shares. Guardian Metal was advised by Davis Polk & Wardwell partners Michael Kaplan and Connie Milonakis. BMO Capital Markets, which acted as the underwriter, was counseled by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom partner Ryan Dzierniejko. Debt Offerings: OpenAI Group PBC has secured $110 billion after announcing the close of its funding round led by Amazon ($50 billion), NVIDIA ($30 billion) and SoftBank ($30 billion). San Francisco-based OpenAI was advised by a Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz team led by corporate partners Andrew J. Nussbaum and Mark F. Veblen. Counsel information for the lead investors was not immediately available. Bank of America announced a $7 billion aggregate principal senior notes offering. The lead manager, sole bookrunner and representative of the several underwriters were advised by Davis Polk & Wardwell partners Lucy Farr and Christopher Schell. Counsel information for Bank of America, which is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, was not immediately available. Infineon Technologies AG announced an aggregate 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) in unsubordinated unsecured notes. Neubiberg, Germany-based Infineon Technologies was advised by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Christoph Gleske. The Republic of Paraguay announced an aggregate $1.3 billion principal bond offering. The Republic of Paraguay was advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton partners Matthew Brigham and Ignacio Lagos. Sunoco LP has announced an aggregate principal $1.2 billion senior notes offering. Philadelphia-based Sunoco LP was advised by a Vinson & Elkins team led by partners Jackson O'Maley, Ben Heriaud and David Stone. MetLife announced a $1 billion aggregate principal subordinated debenture. New York-based MetLife was advised by a Willkie Farr & Gallagher team led by partners John Schwolsky, Benjamin Nixon and Anne Barrett. The debentures come due in 2056. Matador Resources Co. announced a $750 million senior unsecured notes offering. Dallas-based Matador Resources Co. was advised by Baker Botts partners Preston Bernhisel, Stephen Marcus and Luke Weedon. The notes come due 2034. TPG Operating Group II LP, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of TPG Inc., announced a $500 million senior notes offering. TPG Operating Group II was advised by Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Wells Fargo Securities, BofA Securities, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group, which acted as the underwriters, were counseled by a Davis Polk & Wardwell team including partners Stephen Byeff, Derek Dostal, Jack Orford, David Schnabel and Aliza Slansky. The senior notes come due 2031. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison has guided an ad hoc group of term loan lenders and bondholders in connection with Advantage Solutions Inc.'s $590 million aggregate principal senior secured notes offering. The Paul Weiss team included partners Lauren Bilzin, Joseph Glatt and Sung Pak.

Mar 2

7 min

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has announced the appointment of 22 new partners, with effect from 1 May 2021. Drawn from every region and practice area, the new partners are all exceptional lawyers who reflect the depth and breadth of expertise across the firm. Eleven of the new partners are women, surpassing the firm's recently announced gender diversity target for new partners. Commenting on the promotions, Freshfields Senior Partner, Georgia Dawson said, “I am delighted to welcome such a strong group of colleagues to Freshfields’ global partnership. Our new partners bring diverse thinking, backgrounds and experience to our partnership, all critical to helping our clients navigate the ongoing complexities of the legal and business landscape. The promotion of our new partners reflects the firm’s focus on diversity over several years and I look forward to working with each of them as we continue to build our firm for the future.” The full list of appointments is set out below: Antitrust, Competition and Trade Jenn Mellott, Washington / Brussels Maria Dreher, Vienna / Brussels Sharon Malhi, London Dispute Resolution Christoph Werkmeister, Düsseldorf David Livshiz, New York Joaquin (Jack) Terceño, Tokyo Laura Whiting, London Natalia Gómez, Madrid Global Transactions Andrea Merediz Basham, New York Gerrit Beckhaus, Hamburg Julien Rebibo, Paris Ludwig Hartenau, Vienna Lauren Honeyben, London Olga Stürmer, Munich Philipp Dohnke, Hamburg Philip Morgan, Singapore Richard Johnson, London Theresa Ehlen, Frankfurt / Düsseldorf Tom Lawless, Abu Dhabi People & Reward Holly Insley, London Tax Bob van Kasteren, Amsterdam Sarah Bond, London ENDS Notes for Editors The firm’s global gender diversity target, as announced in March 2021, is for new partners to average at least 40% women and 40% men (20% men, women or non-binary) between now and 2026. About Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP is a global law firm with a long track record of successfully advising the world's leading national and multinational corporations and financial institutions on ground-breaking and business-critical challenges. Our team of more than 2,800 lawyers and other legal professionals delivers global results from our 29 offices worldwide. Our commitment, local and multinational expertise and business know-how means our clients can rely on us when it matters most.

Apr 12

2 min