Global law firm White & Case has advised GSO Capital Partners on its GBP115 million debt-and-equity financing of the management buyout of XLN Telecom from ECI Partners. White & Case also represented the management-backed Newco on the acquisition.   GSO, a subsidiary of global investment and advisory firm The Blackstone Group LP, is one of the world’s largest credit-oriented alternative asset managers with more than USD67 billion in assets under management.   London partner Gareth Eagles, who led the team which advised GSO, says: “Our team included lawyers from several of our practices but in particular our banking and private

Drug development firm Brabant Pharma has been sold to US-based pharmaceutical company Zogenix, in a deal where the main selling shareholders were advised by Zeus Capital. Consideration for the deal is expected to reach up to USD130m.   Brabant is a single purpose company developing its low-dose fenfluramine treatment to Dravet syndrome, Brabafen. The disease, also known as Severe Myoclonic Epilepsy of Infancy (SMEI), is a rare form of intractable epilepsy that begins in infancy and affects one in 40,000 children born. The disease causes frequent, severe and potentially life-threatening seizures that typically start in the first year of life.

Cirque Energy has entered into a USD5 million common stock purchase agreement with Kodiak Capital Group, a Newport Beach, California-based institutional investor. Cirque has agreed to file a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission covering the shares that may be issued to Kodiak under the terms of the common stock purchase agreement.   After the SEC has declared the registration statement related to the transaction effective, Cirque will have the right at its sole discretion over a period of one year to sell up to USD5 million of common stock under the terms set forth in the

More insurance companies across the EMEA region see themselves as sellers of business units rather than buyers over the next three years, according to a survey by Towers Watson and Mergermarket. More than 60 per cent of respondents said they expected to divest operations before 2017, up from just 20 per cent who said the equivalent just a year ago.   Meanwhile, the percentage of organisations saying they expect to make an acquisition in the same three year timeframe has fallen from over two thirds (69 per cent) to well under half (42 per cent).   Fergal O’Shea, EMEA life

Ogier recently advised English entrepreneur and businessman Richard Caring on his GBP135m sale of the world famous Wentworth Club to China-based Reignwood Group. Wentworth Club provides the headquarters for golf's PGA European Tour and hosts the annual BMW PGA Championship, making it one of the most desirable golfing locations in the world. It also played host to the 1953 Ryder Cup and, until 2007, the annual HSBC World Match Play Championship.   Caring, the owner of a range of prestigious clubs and restaurants across London which includes The Ivy, Scott's and Annabel's, purchased the celebrated venue in 2004 prior to

Following industry debates that the leveraged buyout market has all but dried up, Preqin examines whether or not buyouts and, in particular, public-to private transactions are still attractive to the investment community. In recent years, trillions of dollars have been spent on private equity-backed buyout deals and they remain the most favoured private equity strategy among investors and fund managers. Public-to-private transactions constitute a very small quantity of buyout deals, but have historically represented a disproportionately large amount of overall buyout value. This article will examine if there has been a shift in the overall private equity buyout landscape, and