In Brief (October 2014)

1) Slaughter and May advised Mothercare on the deal, alongside NY-based Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, which advised on the US aspects, while Hogan Lovells advised HSBC, JPMorgan Cazenove and Numis Securities as joint bookrunners and the latter two as sponsors on the issue. The Slaughters team was led by John Papanichola and Gavin Brown, tax partner Gareth Miles and pensions and employment partner Jonathan Fenn. The Hogan Lovells team was led by London UK capital markets partner Maegen Morrison and Peter Kohl. 

2) Stephenson Harwood advised transport company Govia in its bid to form a railway franchise joining Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern railways, approved and launched on 14 September as the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise. Govia is a joint venture between transport companies Go-Ahead and Keolis, implying, an approval of UK competition authorities and generating a merger notification for the deal to proceed. 

3) Linklaters’ M&A Swedish office advised Microsoft, and Mannheimer Swartling represented Mojang, the creators of hit game Minecraft, in the USD2.5 billion deal to buy the Swedish game company. Mojang was represented by Swedish firm Mannheimer Se firm and Microsoft. The firm represented the company in litigation matters as well as other M&A deals. This is the biggest takeover deal for the US company, since Microsoft took over Nokia’s mobile phone unit last year for USD4 billion with advice from Covington & Burling, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.