Nov 2019
This digest highlights some of the significant legal work carried out by Conyers’ lawyers since the start of 2019 for our corporate clients in markets around the globe. The deals include significant IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, financings and securitisations across a wide range of industry sectors including insurance, banking, investment funds, aviation, shipping, offshore energy, healthcare, education and more.
Bermuda has seen some significant M&A activity in the period, including Aircastle’s agreed acquisition by a newly formed entity for US$7.4 billion in November, Invesco’s acquisition of Massachusetts Mutual’s Oppenheimer Funds Inc. for US$5.7 billion in May, and BW Tankers Limited’s merger with Hafnia Tankers in January to create one of the largest product tanker companies in the world. Our Bermuda corporate lawyers have also been busy with capital markets and asset finance transactions for the aviation and shipping sectors over the year, including a US$1.1 billion notes offering for Avolon.
BVI corporate and finance deals remain largely focused on mergers and acquisitions, including the completion of Luxoft’s US$2 billion acquisition by DXC Technology in June, which was the largest-ever takeover of a BVI company. On the capital markets side, Gold Fields’ US$1 billion bond issuance and US$250 million tender offer was the most significant transaction.
In the Cayman Islands, PagSeguro Digital’s award-winning IPO in January 2018 was followed up with a US$653.3 million secondary offering in October 2019. A highlight for the Cayman office has been a number of insurance-related deals, particularly for companies in the healthcare sector, including Northwestern Memorial Healthcare and Fairview Health Services.
Our Asian offices in Hong Kong and Singapore have continued to see significant deal flow in 2019, particularly with regard to capital markets. IPO activity remains strong in both offices. Standout deals include Budweiser Brewing Company APAC Limited’s US$5 billion IPO in September and Luckin Coffee’s US$570 million IPO in May, along with MBK Partners’ US$937.5 million privatisation of eHi Car Services Limited by way of merger.
Finally, in this issue we are pleased to showcase our experience in the Latin American market. For many years, Conyers attorneys have provided market leading legal services to clients located in or transacting in Latin America and have well-established relationships with key players in the region, including local law firms and service providers.
We hope this digest will be of interest to our legal colleagues, clients and market followers.