Travers Smith Braithwaite, Linklaters & Alliance, Allen & Overy (A&O), Slaughter and May and Norton Rose all advised on the break up of Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC). Travers corporate partner Spencer Summerfield led the 20-lawyer team that advised NTL on its acquisition of the cable arm of the company for £8.2bn. A&O corporate partners Richard Cranfield and Richard Rowland led the team that advised Cable & Wireless on its acquisition of CWC’s business telecom and data business for £6.5bn. A 40-lawyer team from Linklaters, led by corporate partner Carlton Evans, advised CWC. Slaughters advised CWC shareholder Bell Atlantic and Norton Rose acted for France Telecom, which is investing £3.4bn in NTL.
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain acted for Associated Newspapers in its acquisition of 50% of the shares of internet service provider Zoom.co.uk from Arcadia Group plc, the high street fashion group, for £15m. Corporate partner Tim Anderson led the Reynolds Porter team. Arcadia was advised by Clifford Chance, led by corporate finance partner David Pudge.
