Ropes & Gray’s lawyers have announced or closed transactions totalling more than USD20 billion on four continents in two weeks. The milestone demonstrates the firm’s exceptional international reach on significant transactions, including across Asia, Latin America and Europe.
“From London and Tokyo, to Hong Kong and into Latin America, our cross-practice teams have reached milestones in headline-making, highly complex, private equity-backed transactions involving big global names: Bain Capital, Toshiba, Alibaba, Advent International, Walmart and more,” says Will Shields, co-chair of Ropes & Gray’s global private equity practice.
“Our results reaffirm that our practice excels in handling an array of diverse clients through their biggest challenges,” says David Blittner, who co-chairs the firm’s private equity practice with Shields.
“Ropes & Gray’s seamless coordination between offices underscores our ability to handle the highest level of deal complexity,” said Phil Sanderson, also a private equity practice co-chair.
The firm’s transactions during this two-week timeframe are as follows:
Closed on 1 June, Ropes & Gray advised long-term client Bain Capital on the sale by Toshiba Corp. of its semiconductor business to a group led by Bain Capital and includes Apple Inc., Seagate, Kingston, Hoya, Dell Technologies Inc. and SK Hynix. The transaction is valued at two trillion Yen (approximately USD18 billion). It is the largest leveraged buyout and private equity deal ever in Asia, and also among the most complex M&A transactions globally in 2017 and 2018. Ropes & Gray led the legal aspects of the transaction, including the acquisition negotiations, structuring, financing, antitrust and litigation analysis and settlement. The transaction was recognised earlier this week by the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Asia Pacific 2018 Awards in its “Innovation in Legal Expertise: Managing Complexity and Scale” category.
Ropes & Gray has advised Advent International, a global private equity firm, on its agreement to acquire a majority stake in Walmart Brazil. Under the terms of the agreement, Advent will hold 80 per cent of Walmart Brazil, and Walmart Inc. will retain the remaining 20 per cent upon the completion of the transaction. The transaction was announced on June 4 and is expected to close later this year, subject to regulatory approval in Brazil. Walmart Inc. is one of the world’s leading retailers. Having a presence in Brazil for the last 22 years, Walmart Brazil today has 438 stores in 18 states, with 55,000 associates.
Announced 23 May, Ropes & Gray advised Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) on its GBP1.3 billion joint partnership investment – alongside HG Saturn Fund – into IRIS, a leading provider of business-critical software and services to the UK accountancy, education and business market. The deal is the largest UK and third largest European private equity software buyout ever. Over 21,000 accountancy practices and more than 80,000 small and mid-sized businesses, corporates, and payroll bureaus rely on IRIS to run their business every day.
Ropes & Gray represented Alibaba Group, as lead consortium member, on its USD1.38 billion investment in ZTO Express for an approximately 10 per cent equity stake in the company. The deal was announced on May 29 and is expected to close in early June, subject to customary closing conditions. ZTO Express is a NYSE-listed leading express delivery company in China and one of the largest express delivery companies globally.