Clifford Chance

"Clifford Chance clocked up 41 shortlist appearances and an unassailable 13 award wins in the 22nd annual IFLR Europe Awards. It was another clear demonstration of the firm’s influence on cross-border deal structuring across European markets and across disciplines."

David Bickerton, Partner receives Lifetime Achievement Award

The IFLR Europe Awards 2021 recognised Clifford Chance's capacity for innovation and leadership during the past 12 months.

Our firm is incredibly proud to be the Equity Team in Europe for the third year in a row, and in the same category IFLR singled out the JDE Peets IPO as Equity Deal of the Year. Clifford Chance advised Mondelez International on the IPO and listing of JDE Peet's shares on Euronext Amsterdam. Clifford Chance is also the Financial Services Regulatory Team of the Year in Europe.

In addition, Clifford Chance is IFLR Europe's Luxembourg Firm of the Year as well as the Banking & Finance Firm of the Year in France and Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and the Private Equity Firm of the Year in Spain.

Clifford Chance also advised on the High-yield Deal of the Year: SYNLAB refinancing and debt extension and the Restructuring Deal of the Year: Virgin Atlantic

The strength and depth of our ESG work comes to prominence in our role advising on the Structured Finance and Securitisation Deal of the Year, the MUFG ESG CLO. Clifford Chance picked up the Covid-19 Response Deal of the Year award for its work on the Nordic Investment Bank response bonds.

In awarding David Bickerton, Partner, Clifford Chance the Lifetime Achievement Award, IFLR noted David's "instrumental role in defining the frameworks, approaches and instruments for the financing of infrastructure projects across a range of sectors in the UK and Europe. In one highlight, David designed and developed the European Investment Bank’s Project Bond Credit Enhancement product. This award reflects a remarkable 30 year plus career in Clifford Chance."

Accepting the Award, David said, "I am very proud to accept this award and humbled to be in the august company of the previous recipients. I would like to thank the clients and counterparts with whom I have worked for their friendship and support and my wonderful colleagues across the Clifford Chance global network for making my legal career such good fun."

The far-reaching success follows recent recognition for Clifford Chance as Europe-wide Law Firm of the Year, France Law Firm of the Year, Germany Law Firm of the Year and Poland Law Firm of the Year at the Chambers Europe Awards 2021.

The full list of Clifford Chance recognition at the IFLR Europe Awards 2021 is as follows:

• Equity Team of the Year
• Financial Services Regulatory Team of the Year
• Luxembourg Firm of the Year
• France Banking & Finance Firm of the Year
• Luxembourg Banking & Finance Firm of the Year
• Netherlands Banking & Finance Firm of the Year
• Spain Private Equity Firm of the Year
• Covid-19 Response deal of the year: Nordic Investment Bank response bonds
• Equity deal of the year: JDE Peets IPO
• High-yield deal of the year: SYNLAB refinancing and debt extension
• Restructuring deal of the year: Virgin Atlantic
• Structured finance and securitisation deal of the year: MUFG ESG CLO
• Lifetime Achievement Award: David Bickerton, Partner, Clifford Chance

Regional Managing Partner for UK, Michael Bates, comments: "We are hugely proud of this comprehensive market recognition for our work and for our clients. Congratulations to David Bickerton on his hugely well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award as David embarks on a new and exciting chapter in his illustrious career."

Regional Managing Partner for Continental Europe, Charles Adams, adds: "This further recognition of our outstanding capability across Europe, immediately following that of Chambers last week, further underlines Clifford Chance's position as the leading pan-European legal platform."

IFLR commentary in full

IFLR Europe Awards Editor James Wilson said of Clifford Chance’s success:

Clifford Chance clocked up 41 shortlist appearances and an unassailable 13 award wins in the 22nd annual IFLR Europe Awards. It was another clear demonstration of the firm’s influence on cross-border deal structuring across European markets and across disciplines.

Clifford Chance had roles on four of the shortlisted equity capital markets deals of the year. Among its highlights, UK, pan-European and US teams led by Adrian Cartwright advised The Hut Group (THG) and Allegro on their landmark IPOs. THG represented the largest e-commerce IPO to date in the UK and required sophisticated structures around the settlement procedure and direct subscription agreement, as well as deft handling for a pre-IPO corporate reorganisation and to navigate Covid-19 challenges. The Allegro IPO gave the market a ground-breaking listing structure with a retail offering in Poland, at the same time as creating new ways of interacting with investors.

The firm worked on the first PIPE (private investment in a public company) transaction in the UK since 2009, advising Clayton Dubilier & Rice on its investment in LSE-listed SIG. It also picked up the award for the JDE Peet’s IPO, the winning equity deal of the year, where Clifford Chance advised selling shareholder Mondelez. Another role saw the firm act for the banks on the shortlisted IPO by Italian healthcare company GVS. This roster of innovative work helped the firm win the prestigious Equity team of the year award.

Clifford Chance’s high yield practice reaffirmed its place as one of the most innovative in Europe, winning High yield deal of the year for Synlab’s multi-phase refinancing and debt maturity extension transaction of May 2020. A team led by Michael Dakin and Andrew Kelly advised Synlab and its owner Cinven on the US, English, Belgian, French, German, Italian, Dutch and Spanish law aspects of its refinancing. The highlight innovation in the deal was the structuring of a first-of-its-kind non-distressed note-to-loan exchange offer.

Clifford Chance also picked up the award for the Restructuring deal of the year of Virgin Atlantic. The firm represented lessors under 24 operating leases and 11 finance leases. The case was the UK’s first ever restructuring plan under Part 26A of the Companies Act and set multiple precedents that influenced a series of other high-profile restructuring cases in 2020. It is worth highlighting that the Clifford Chance team also worked on two shortlisted cases, advising Nordic Aviation Capital DAC and Codere on restructurings that set new market standards.

The winning structured finance and securitisation deal of the year was MUFG’s ESG collateralized loan obligation (CLO), otherwise known as North Westerly VI. Clifford Chance, with a team led by Jessica Littlewood and Julia Tsybina, advised collateral manager and retention holder NIBC. This was an instrumental role which drove the deal and led to the first-ever fully ESG compliant European CLO. Crucially, the deal structure allows for continuous monitoring and re-assessment of the portfolio to grade obligors and industries based on the level of ESG risk. This deal complimented Clifford Chance’s work on the shortlisted Coventry Building Society Master Issuer Programme and AMCO – Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena NPE securitisation.

Clifford Chance picked up the Covid-19 response deal of the year award for its work on the Nordic Investment Bank response bonds. David Dunnigan led a team to advise Danske Bank and the joint lead managers on a deal without precedents. The transaction was pieced together very early in 2020. The response bond framework and reporting mechanism were created from scratch, importing structures from instruments such as social and green bonds, and executed quickly.

The Financial services regulatory firm of the year award went to Clifford Chance. The firm has a well-established leading practice across Europe with few rivals matching its breadth and depth. The firm’s most interesting work in 2020 revolved around Brexit, and the team advised many of Europe’s biggest financial institutions on possible Brexit-related corporate restructurings, licensing and regulatory issues. In one Brexit induced highlight, the team advised Goldman Sachs on the landmark launch of a new trading venue in France. These roles paralleled the team's work on policy implications and thought leadership. Another key area was fintech. In one example, London, Luxembourg and Brussels teams advised HQLAᵡ and Deutsche Börse on their jointly-developed distributed ledger technology (DLT) solution for frictionless collateral swaps in the securities lending market. The firm was also heavily involved on IBOR transition projects.

Clifford Chance France also picked up the France Banking & finance firm of the year award. This award reflects the firm’s work on financing transactions as well as more broadly its banking and finance regulatory work. The firm excelled in both areas. On the transactional side a team advised the borrowers on the financing of Fécamp 497 MW offshore wind farm. Fécampe is only the second offshore wind farm project ever in France. The team also advised Vauban Infrastructure Partners on a novel financing for Bouygues Telecom’s acquisition of rights of use from Orange of existing and new optical fibre lines. The regulatory practice’s highlight saw partner Frédérick Lacroix lead a team to advise Goldman Sachs Paris Inc et Cie on launching the Sigma X Europe MTF platform, a new trading venue.

Clifford Chance also picked up Luxembourg firm of the year and Luxembourg Banking & finance firm of the year. The team registered a series of market firsts for Luxembourg, including some ground-breaking work with the European Investment Bank (EIB). Among the highlights was a synthetic securitisation transaction – the first of its kind in the Baltics – between Luminor and the EIB Group that relied on the recently enacted Luxembourg Law on professional payment guarantees. Another was the EIB’s first financing into the new space industry, which supported Spire Global’s nanosatellite launches and related infrastructure. The firm advised on a Luxembourg securitisation vehicle by Cromwell European REIT (CEREIT) that represented the first time a globally operating real estate fund has used Luxembourg law for raising its entire financing needs. Another highlight was its role advising HQLAx and Deutsche Börse on their distributed ledger technology (DLT) solution for frictionless collateral swaps, marking a milestone for DLT implementation in the securities lending market.

Clifford Chance’s impressive Amsterdam-based team stood out across the board and picked up Banking & finance firm of the year for The Netherlands. Among its most novel mandates, the firm, led by Titus de Vries, advised a syndicate of lenders on the €1 billion sustainability-linked revolving credit facility (RCF) for Ahold Delhaize. It was an exemplary deal which reflected the team’s broad work on ESG over 2020 but also incorporated mechanisms to pre-empt the discontinuation of the US dollar interbank benchmark interest rate. Led by Hein Tonnaer and Liesbeth Buiter, the firm also advised the lenders on the unique Windpark Zeewolde onshore windfarm, which was initiated by residents and entrepreneurs in the project area and on which work began in 2018. The finance practice also had a hand in the hugely innovative acquisition of Eneco by Mitsubishi Corporation and Chubu Electric, one of the single most interesting transactions in the award review period.

Clifford Chance’s Spain team picked up Private equity firm of the year for Spain. The firm, led by partners Luis Alonso and Javier García de Enterría, advised Masmovil Ibercom on its public-to-private takeover acquisition by KKR, Cinven and Providence. The deal entailed a vast cross-border effort and significantly, was the first private equity-driven acquisition of a listed target in Europe to navigate the volatile and unpredictable challenges thrown up by Covid-19. In a second highlight, Javier Amantegui led a team that worked on a highly bespoke and novel dual-track M&A transaction, advising KKR on a bolt-on acquisition by Telxius (of which KKR is a controlling shareholder) of mobile sites in Germany owned by Telefonica, alongside a capital increase in Telxius.

Finally, the IFLR Lifetime achievement award went to David Bickerton, former managing partner of Clifford Chance London and head of the firm’s public sector practice in the UK. David specialises in capital markets and infrastructure and recently advised the UK government on its first green gilt. He played an instrumental role in defining the frameworks, approaches and instruments for the financing of infrastructure projects across a range of sectors in the UK and Europe. In one highlight, David designed and developed the European Investment Bank’s Project Bond Credit Enhancement product. This award reflects a remarkable 30 year plus career in Clifford Chance.