Ropes & Gray Shortlisted as European Legal Adviser of the Year in Real Deals Private Equity Awards

Ropes & Gray has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Pan-European Legal Adviser of the Year category of the Real Deals Private Equity Awards 2019.  The awards, which recognise the best in European private equity, are judged by a panel of leading industry practitioners.  Winners will be announced at a ceremony taking place in London on 24 April. 

The Pan-European Legal Adviser of the Year Award recognises the achievement of legal advisers working across the European market in 2018, reflecting success in creating value for clients through outstanding execution, commercial awareness and ability to deliver creative solutions to problems, as well as the overall evolution of team and strategy. 

Ropes & Gray’s European private equity practice enjoyed exponential growth in 2018.  The five-partner team, based in London, won a range of new high-profile clients – including Ares Management, Avenue Capital Group, Avista, Duke Street Capital, Epiris and Genstar Capital – as well as building on the flow of work from existing clients, such as Bain Capital, Baring Capital, Intermediate Capital Group (ICG), Exponent Private Equity, Oakley Capital, Oak Hill Capital, PAI, Partners Group, Silverfleet, TPG, Charlesbank and TSG. In the process, the team advised on 42 deals.  These included advising: 

• Intermediate Capital Group on its £1.3bn joint partnership investment – alongside HG Saturn Fund – into IRIS. The deal is the largest UK private equity software buyout ever and follows on from the team’s work for ICG on its $5.3bn investment in Visma in 2017, Europe’s largest private equity software buyout ever.
• Genstar Capital – a new client for the London PE team - on its (estimated) $1bn acquisition of CRF Health.
• TPG Capital on BVI’s acquisition of PhysIOL
• New client Epiris on its acquisition of Bonhams.
• Epiris on its acquisition of The Club Company, the UK’s leading country club operator.
• Charlesbank and its portfolio company Ensono on its $405 million acquisition of data centre business from Wipro.
• New client Ares Management on the sale of Cordium to ACA Compliance.
• New client Avenue Capital Group on the £106.8m sale of Hawthorn Leisure Holdings, a 298-strong UK pub group, to leading UK property investor NewRiver.
• New client Duke Street Capital on its acquisition of Great Rail Journeys, the world’s leading provider of escorted rail holidays.
• Bridgepoint on various matters relating to its investment in BigHand, a leading provider of productivity software to the legal market, including its acquisition of legal technology company DW Reporting.
• The founders of Thomas International, a leading international provider of psychometric assessment solutions, on the sale of a majority stake in the company to Palamon Capital Partners, a pan-European growth investor.
• The founders of TCP LifeSystems - a software solutions provider to life and pensions insurance companies – on their sale of the company to iPipeline UK and Thomo Bravo, a leading provider of business intelligence to the UK life, pension and investment markets.
• The founders of Cathelco, a UK-based global manufacturer of equipment for ships and offshore installations, on its sale to Evac and Bridgepoint Europe, the world’s leading provider of integrated waste, wastewater and water management systems for the marine, offshore, and building industries.
• Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a leading healthcare investment firm, on its acquisition of Abzena plc, an international biopharmaceutical services company