Linklaters

Linklaters enjoyed double success at The Lawyer Awards 2008, held this week at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London (24 June 2008) - winning Banking Team of the Year for being at the "forefront of innovative financing techniques that shaped the landscape" and Corporate Team of the Year for its advice to RBS on its EUR71.1bn acquisition of ABN AMRO.

Judges were also impressed by the firm's leveraged finance practice, saying: "Linklaters’ banking team has been at the forefront of innovative financing techniques that shaped the landscape, with partners such as Nick Syson and Gideon Moore driving the team to success in recent years. Advising on the two first covenant-lite deals in Europe in 2007 demonstrated the firm’s banking prowess in the market. Last year also saw Linklaters win a role on Tata Steel’s iconic $13bn acquisition of Corus, advising the banks on financing of the deal." They added: "Advising on the financing on private equity house KKR bid for Alliance Boots earned the magic circle top marks and cemented an outstanding 2007 and 2008."

The Linklaters team advising on the leveraged buyout of Alliance Boots was led by Nick Syson (banking partner, London). The team advising on the financing for Tata Steels bid for Corus Group was led by Philip Spittal (banking partner, London).

The pioneering RBS acquisition of ABN AMRO was described by the award judges as "...hugely complex…Aside from the time pressures...[Linklaters was] breaking new ground by advising on a cross-border acquisition involving a three-way consortium." In total, the deal - the largest takeover in financial services history - involved more than 400 lawyers in 24 offices. The Linklaters team advising the RBS consortium was led by Robert Elliott (Global Head of Banking, London), Matthew Middleditch (Co-Head of Global M&A Group), Anne Drummond (corporate partner, London), Tom Shropshire (US corporate partner, London), Peter Goes (corporate partner, Amsterdam), and Larry Vranka (US corporate partner, New York).

Linklaters was shortlisted for four awards in total, the others being:

• TMT Team of the Year (BT / Post Office Broadband and HomePhone packages contract)
• Assistant Solicitor of the Year (Jessamy Gallagher)

For further information, please contact:
Rupert Winlaw on +44 (0)20 7456 3219 / rupert.winlaw@linklaters.com