Eversheds’ City office has advised the UK arm of major US corporation Dow UK, scoring one of its benchmark deals of the year.
The subsidiary of the multi-billion dollar Dow Chemical Company bought out UK plc Ascot, a chemicals supplier, for a cash offer of £305m. City-based corporate partner George Butler led the Eversheds team.
On the other side of the deal Slaughter and May’s respected corporate partner William Underhill acted for Ascot. Eversheds London-based national head of corporate Martin Issitt said the deal was “a significant one for the firm, and one of several big deals that are in the pipeline”.
Issitt stated that the 13 partner, 50 fee earner London corporate department is involved in major deals for eight Ftse 250 companies.
The firm has also built strong relationships with US corporations SPX and DuPont.
The deal is further evidence of Eversheds’ continuing strength in financial services, despite a difficult year that saw the firm struggle with senior staff changes in its City banking and corporate team.
Eversheds has suffered a number of departures over the last few months. In January US firm Buchanan Ingersoll snapped up private equity partner Keir Barrie, boosting the number of partners in its UK office to 13.
Last November saw the departure of Eversheds’ head of international banking partner, David Halliday also to Buchanan Ingersoll. However, the firm is hoping to boost the profile of its banking
and private equity practices in the hope of building a broader based City practice.
Eversheds – top london deals 2001
