Dentons opens service centre
Dentons has opened a shared services centre in Poland to provide back-office functions such as finance, business development and marketing, human resources and IT.
The Warsaw facility is a joint initiative between the global firm’s UK, Middle East and Africa and Europe regions and has a staff of 70 but plans to expand further by attracting talent from within the legal profession, multinationals and professional services firms.
It is reported in UK media that 25 support jobs have been lost there because of the centralization.
HSF advising Boral on proposed acquisition
Boral Ltd advised the ASX that it is proposing to acquire New York-listed Headwaters Inc. for an aggregate enterprise value of around U$3.4 billion on Monday and has appointed
Herbert Smith Freehills to advise on finance issues.
The Herbert Smith Freehills team in relation to the Offer was led by partner Philippa Stone, and included senior associates Jade Winterburn and Charlotte Cameron and solicitors Victoria Mataczynski and Thomas Mawson.
The firm’s team in relation to a bridge debt acquisition facility was led by partner Justin Pelly and included senior associate Adam Jeffrey and graduate Michael Trent.
Meanwhile, a third HSF advised in relation to the US securities law aspects of the transaction, led by partner Siddhartha Sivaramakrishnan and included senior associate Jin Kong.
Alston & Bird and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom are also acting for Boral on the transaction.
Power, utilities deals fall again
For the fourth consecutive quarter, global power and utilities deals were lower in the third quarter of 2016 according to data from EY.
The value of deals was U$39.7 billion, down 8 per cent from the previous three months and deal volume slipped from 128 in Q2 2016 to 102 in Q3. The largest share of deals by volume (53 per cent) was in renewable energy assets.
Transactions involving disruptive technology are on the rise though, especially in Asia Pacific and Europe. This is due to the digitization and sector convergence along with increased competition from outside the sector.
“A closer look at smaller transactions in the sector reveal, however, that major utilities are looking beyond safe bets and investing in a new energy future,” noted Matt Rennie, EY Global Power & Utilities Transactions Leader.
