The news that Clifford Chance (CC) has emerged as a front-runner to land the proposed £5bn flotation of Standard Life has certainly got partners talking in the boardrooms of at least two of its major City rivals.
Three years ago when demutualisation was last big business, Lovells and Herbert Smith dominated the scene. Lovells advised GE Capital on its purchase of National Mutual, Liverpool Victoria’s on its £248m acquisition of the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses and Equitable Life on its sale to Halifax.
