Deals Flashcards
What do you think about the McLaren deal?
Found it really interesting, obviously competition factors. Interesting acquisition and it was fascinating actually getting to work on it:
Increases their audience
EV development synergy
Expand sustainability commitments
Mercedes apparently wished to focus on its Formula 1 team more
IP had to be considered, moving facilities
Morrisons and McColl’s
The transaction is being structured as a pre-pack administration. Pursuant to the agreement Morrisons has reached with McColl’s administrators, Morrisons will acquire all of McColl’s 1,160 local convenience stores which include 270 stores already branded as Morrisons Daily pursuant to existing partnering agreements. All of McColl’s employees will be transferred with the McColl’s business and Morrisons will also take on both of McColl’s defined benefit pension schemes. McColl’s secured lenders and preferential creditors will be paid in full with a distribution also expected to unsecured creditors.
The significant Ashurst team advising Morrisons is also drawing on specialist advice from competition and antitrust partner Nigel Parr, assisted by associates Emile Abdul-Wahab and Olivia Spong; head of contentious restructuring and insolvency and London Office co-managing partner, Lynn Dunne; employment partner Ruth Buchanan; global loans partner Tim Rennie; counsel John Gordon; real estate partner Sarah Sivyour and tax partners Nicholas Gardner and Paul Miller.
This marks the second major transaction on which Ashurst has advised Morrisons in the last 12 months, following our advice to Morrisons on its £7.3bn takeover by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice which completed in October 2021 following a competitive takeover process involving an earlier offer from a consortium of investors including Fortress Investments.
Octopus onshore wind
Ashurst advised Octopus Energy on its first wind farm investment in Germany. The 35 MW onshore wind farm Gaishecke will be built near Frankfurt (Germany). Construction will kick off in the next few weeks, with start of operations scheduled for the end of 2023. The British renewable energy company bought the construction rights from a consortium of sellers comprising three project developers (LindenProjekt GmbH, FH Beteiligungs GmbH and ISB GmbH).
Octopus Energy is one of the largest investors in solar and wind energy in Europe and currently manages 3 GW of renewable energy assets like wind and solar farms across eight countries. Entering the power generation market is the next step in the company’s growth strategy in Germany. By 2030, Octopus Energy is planning to operate up to 1.2 GW of wind and solar farms across the country. At Gaishecke wind farm, ten wind turbines will generate almost 100,000 MWh per year, powering nearly 40,000 households with green energy and saving approximately 60,000 t of CO2 a year.
The Ashurst team was led by partners Dr Benedikt von Schorlemer and Dr Maximilian Uibeleisen (M&A/Energy). They were assisted by counsel Holger Mlynek (Commercial Contracts) as well as associates Dr Simon Groneberg (Energy/Regulatory), Jan Ischreyt and Friederike Preyer (both M&A). Senior associate Alexandra Heitmann provided advice on financing aspects, senior associate Dr Susanne Knoch advised on tax law.
