22 October – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Allen & Overy acted as Belgian and UK counsel to JP Morgan Securities Ltd., KBC Securities NV/SA , Lehman Brothers International (Europe), Merrill Lynch International, Goldman Sachs International, Dexia Bank NV/SA, Petercam NV/SA and Fortis Bank NV/SA as underwriters on the EUR1 billion initial public offering (IPO) by Telenet, Belgium’s largest provider of broadband cable services. This is the largest IPO by a Belgian company this year to date and the first in Belgium under the Prospectus Directive.
Trading in the 50.5 million ordinary shares commenced on 11 October 2005 on Euronext Brussels. The offer included a primary offer of 13.3 million newly issued shares and a secondary offer of 33.6 million shares sold by existing shareholders (of which approximately 3 million shares were allocated to certain existing shareholders further to their priority allocation rights) and 6.6 million over-allotment shares.
The Brussels-based Allen & Overy team was led by corporate partner Dirk Meeus, assisted by associates Sophie Rutten and Yves Van Pul. London-based partner and Head of the Equity Capital Markets team, Vanessa Blackmore, also advised.
