March 29, 2012 5:16 PM

Linklaters Advises France's GDF Suez on $9.5 Billion Bid for U.K. Power Company

Posted by Brian Baxter

UPDATE: 3/30/12, 12:00 p.m. EDT. The names of the Clifford Chance lawyers advising IPR have been added to the last paragraph of this story.

GDF Suez, the suburban Paris-based multinational electric utility, announced Thursday a $9.5 billion offer to acquire the 30 percent of Britain's International Power (IPR) that it doesn't already own.

Linklaters M&A partners Marc Loy in Paris and Iain Wagstaff in London are advising GDF. Both partners led a team from the Magic Circle firm that represented GDF when it acquired a majority stake in London-based IPR in August 2010. That deal transformed GDF into the world's largest utility, according to our previous reports.

GDF named Sandra Lagumina as its in-house legal director last June. Lagumina is the former general counsel of Gaz de France, the French energy giant that merged with GDF in a $157.5 billion deal in 2008 on which at least ten firms advised. Linklaters was one of several firms representing GDF on that transaction.

Earlier this year, GDF unveiled its first-ever global panel of preferred legal advisers, creating roles for Linklaters, Shearman & Sterling, and French firm Bredin Prat, according to U.K. publication Legal Week.

GDF said it believes that a full merger with IPR would simplify its structure and be attractive to IPR shareholders, according to news reports. IPR has not offered a public response to the latest offer by GDF.

Clifford Chance, which represented IPR on the initial sale of a majority stake to GDF two years ago, is advising IPR again this time around through M&A partners David Pudge and Brendan Moylan in London. Francois Graux serves as general counsel of the company.

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