News & Events | News

Wednesday 1st August 2007

European law firm SJ Berwin LLP has further enhanced its growing reputation acting for banks on leveraged finance transactions after acting for lead arranger Bank of Scotland on the financing of the £170m leveraged buy-out by Global Radio UK Limited (a vehicle backed by Lydian Capital) of the Chrysalis Radio Group from Chrysalis plc, the first LBO that SJ Berwin has acted on for Bank of Scotland.

Global Radio will be headed up by former ITV Chief Executive Charles Allen and includes as one of its executive directors Fame Academy judge Richard Park, who has over 10 years experience in the radio and music industry and who was credited with much of the early success of Capital Radio.Chrysalis Radio, which is the third largest operator in the commercial radio market with over 6 million listeners each week, operates well established and highly regarded radio brands Heart FM, Galaxy Radio and LBC. The transaction has led to much speculation that the commercial radio market may be about to begin a period of consolidation as operators seek to establish UK-wide coverage that will enable them to compete with the BBC.

The SJ Berwin team was led by Finance partner Stuart Brinkworth (assisted by Associates Bryan McCarthy and Angela Cobbina) and also included Corporate partner Perry Yam (assisted by Sarah Higgins).

Commenting on the transaction, Stuart Brinkworth said:

"This was our first LBO acting for the Strategic Relationships Group at Bank of Scotland and we were very pleased to have secured this particular transaction, not only because of its size, but also its profile. The transaction was put together on a very tight time scale (signing in just over a week from start to finish) and were able to field a large multi-disciplinary team to deal with all of the issues that arose. Completing this transaction leaves us very well placed to take advantage of any further consolidation in the market"

Denis Knockton, Director in the Strategic Relationships Group at Bank of Scotland, said:

"SJ Berwin played a signicant role in bringing this transaction to a close on what was a very aggressive timetable. It was an impressive first showing with us and we look forward to working with Stuart Brinkworth and his team again in the future"

Global Radio were advised by KC Capital Advisers (Craig Cook and Keith Crockett) and legal advice was provided by Howard Kennedy (Michael Harris and Simon Pullen). Chrysalis plc were advised by Freshfields (Patrick Ko and Neil Radford).

• SJ Berwin LLP is a full-service international legal practice with more than 550 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, Financial Markets, Commercial, Real Estate, Finance, Reconstruction and Insolvency, Litigation, Employment & Pensions, EU & Competition and Tax.
  
  
• Our approach has resulted in the firm winning a number of recent awards including The Lawyer Awards Corporate Team of the Year - Mid Markets 2007, European Law Firm of the Year (EVCA) 2007 for the third consecutive year, Private Equity Law Firm of the Year (EVCJ) 2007 for the fourth consecutive year,  Best Law Firm (Fund Formation) 2007 (Private EquityOnline and Private Equity International) for the sixth year running; Competition Team of the Year - Legal Business Awards 2006; Law Firm of the Year 2006 at the EVCA/Real Deals Private Equity Awards for the fourth consecutive year; Fund Formation Team of the Year 2006 - Financial News/Private Equity News Awards; No 1 in Legal Week’s Law Firm Satisfaction Survey 2005; UK Firm of the Year - Legal Week Awards 2005; 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 been.
  
  
• The London department comprises 12 partners and over 40 fee earners. In addition there are 3 dedicated European finance partners. 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 Markets Group on regulatory and derivatives work, the real estate 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 
  
  
• SJ Berwin LLP or an affiliated undertaking has an office in Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Turin.