Linklaters

Linklaters was last night named Legal Adviser of the Year for the third year running, French Legal Adviser of the Year for the second year running, and Middle East & North Africa Legal Adviser of the Year, at the fourth annual Financial Times and mergermarket European M&A Awards.

The awards recognise corporate, private equity, banking and legal M&A expertise across a number of jurisdictions. Winners are identified by using mergermarket M&A data and expert opinion from an independent panel of leading M&A practitioners.

The firm was also named Law Firm of the Year by Acquisitions Monthly for M&A work undertaken during 2010, in addition to advising on the Cross-border Deal of the Year (Zain-Bharti Airtel) and Domestic Deal of the Year (RBS WorldPay). The Acquisitions Monthly awards recognise excellence in the global M&A sector and are based primarily on research by the editorial team and the views of external judges.

Key deals that Linklaters has acted on over the past year include advising:

• AXA Private Equity on the €585m sale of Spotless Group SAS to BC Partners – the first significant French LBO in 2010, which paved the way for "double Luxco" structures
• GDF Suez on the proposed merger of its international energy division with International Power to create the global leader in independent power generation – the largest European transaction in 2010
• The Royal Bank of Scotland Group on the separation of businesses and assets allocated to the Dutch State and legal demerger of ABN AMRO Bank N.V. involving transfers of several billions worth of assets and liabilities
• Zain on the US$10.7bn disposal of its African mobile telecommunications business to Bharti Airtel, which involved extensive regulatory analysis in 15 African countries.

For further information please contact:
Sarah Peters on +44 20 7456 2153 / sarah.peters@linklaters.com or
Rupert Winlaw on +44 20 7456 3219 / rupert.winlaw@linklaters.com