LAWFUEL – Thwe Law News Network – Linklaters has reaffirmed its position as one of the world’s leading capital markets legal advisers in Thomson Financial’s and Bloomberg’s equity capital markets 2005 league tables.
Thomson Financial named Linklaters as the leading equity legal adviser for both managers and issuers. In 2005, Linklaters advised on:
61 issues for managers valued at US$32.8bn
33 issues for issuers valued at US$14bn
Linklaters also topped the following equity categories by value of issue:
All EMEA Convertibles Issuer Legal Advisors
All EMEA IPOs Manager Legal Advisors
All EMEA Common Stock Manager Legal Advisors
All EMEA Convertibles Manager Legal Advisors.
Linklaters has also recently ranked top as Global and EMEA IPO manager adviser in Bloomberg’s 2005 Legal Advisor Tables for equity, completing 16 global IPOs valued at US$14bn.
In addition, we were also named one of the top two leading debt manager advisers, acting on 298 issues valued at US$172bn.
Nick Eastwell, global head of capital markets, said:
“The equity capital markets were very strong in 2005, giving us the opportunity to be involved in the most challenging and high-profile deals in the market. We advised on IPOs across a number of sectors including online gaming companies, the energy sector, telecoms, and investment funds.
“With the introduction of a new regulatory regime, we have been at the forefront of the market’s response to these changes both in our work on the array of securities transactions affected by them and our leading position within the London capital markets trade body, the International Capital Markets Association. Throughout the year we have worked closely with key exchanges in order to guide our clients on their options for listing on either a EEA-regulated market (such as the UKLA in London and the Luxembourg and Irish Stock Exchanges) or to choose an exchange which is not regulated under the EU regime.”
European equity deals that Linklaters advised on in the fourth quarter of 2005 include: the IPO of the Safilo Group, the largest IPO by and Italian manufacturing company in the last five years; the IPO of Kazakhmys who subsequently entered into the FTSE 100; the £405m flotation of soft drinks company Britvic; and the EUR 281m IPO of Endemol.
