News | Spain
Tuesday 13th February 2007
European Law Firm, SJ Berwin LLP, advised Landsbanki Islands hf on the debt financing of a merger which involved the acquisition of four regional electro-domestic distributors in Spain by Change Capital Partners, a leading pan-European private equity firm specialising in retail and consumer industries.
The proposed merger of Radio Castilla, Condigesa, UCASA and Grupo Noain, will create Spain’s leading purchaser, distributor and retailer of household electrical appliances, with annual purchases of around €500 million and total retail sales approaching €1 billion. The integrated store network in Spain has 116 of its own stores, in addition to more than 1,600 franchised stores, operating under the brands of Master Cadena and Idea.
Iñigo Perez Corella, currently Director General of Grupo Noain, became CEO of the newly created Group on completion of the deal. All the current shareholders of the participating companies have re-invested some €20 million in the new holding company, demonstrating their belief that the enlarged group will be better able to prosper in an increasingly competitive environment. Federico Aenlle and Dionisio Biot, selling shareholders and CEOs of Idea and Radio Castilla respectively will support the new company as President and Vice President of the supervisory board.
Paul Diss, London Finance Partner, led the SJ Berwin team assisted by associate Katy Kingston with Alejandro Hurtado leading in Madrid, assisted by Victor Domenech. SJ Berwin have a strong relationship with Landsbanki, having advised them on a number of leveraged deals. Paul Diss commented "We were delighted to be instructed to assist Landsbanki with their first leveraged acquisition facility in Spain". The Landsbanki Structured Finance team based in London was led by Agnes Hugot and Anna Farina.
For further information please contact:
Paul Diss, Partner, on + 44 (0)20 7111 2834 or by emailing paul.diss@sjberwin.com
Amanda Nassar, Business Development Manager, on +44 (0)20 7111 2658 or by emailing amanda.nassar@sjberwin.com
Notes:
SJ Berwin LLP is a full-service international legal practice with more than 1000 lawyers across its offices in Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Turin.
SJ Berwin was created and thrives as a leading-edge legal services business, focusing on the European and international market place. Our clients are sophisticated buyers of legal services, principally entrepreneurial companies and financial institutions, whom we advise on a comprehensive range of services including Corporate Finance, Commercial, Real Estate, Finance, Reconstruction and Insolvency, Financial Services, Litigation, Employment & Pensions, EU & Competition & Tax.
Our approach has resulted in the firm winning a number of recent awards including Best Law Firm (Fund Formation) (Private EquityOnline and Private Equity International) 2006; Competition Team of the Year - Legal Business Awards 2006; No 1 in Legal Week’s Law Firm Satisfaction Survey 2005; UK Firm of the Year - Legal Week Awards 2005; Law Firm of the Year 2005 at the EVCA/Real Deals Private Equity Awards for the second consecutive year; Real Estate Team of the Year - Legal Business Awards 2005; Real Estate Team of the Year - The Lawyer Awards 2005; Stephen Kon awarded Best Achievement in Copyright Practice at the World Leaders European IP Awards 2005; Jonathan Blake named Global Private Funds Lawyer of the Year by The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers; Jonathan Blake was admitted to The BVCA Hall of Fame, the only adviser to have done so.
The core Finance Department grew by 45% in 2006, an increase of 85% over the past three years. The department comprises 10 partners and over 40 fee earners. Key bank clients include Bank of Ireland, Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank plc, Landsbanki Islands h.f., Lehman Brothers, Lloyds TSB Bank plc, NM Rothschild & Sons, Standard Chartered Bank , and The Royal Bank of Scotland plc. The department works closely with other departments within the firm, in particular the Financial Services Group on regulatory and derivatives work, the property finance group in the Real Estate Division and the media finance group. It advises a wide range of banks and other financial institutions, corporates and revenue capitalists. The growth of the finance practice in London is reflected in recent significant expansion in our offices in Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid and Milan, whose practices include both domestic and crossborder financings.
On 1 June 2005 SJ Berwin became SJ Berwin LLP, a limited liability partnership www.sjberwin.com
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