Baker & McKenzie advises Hanco and Alliance Holding Company

Legal Advisors in association with Baker & McKenzie has advised Hanco, as part of a consortium, on the USD163.35 million acquisition of a 75 per cent stake in Byrne Investments from Dubai-based Havenvest Private Equity Middle East Partnership. Baker & McKenzie also advised on the acquisition finance raised for the transaction. Byrne Investments is an equipment leasing firm with 450 employees and 13 offices across the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The Baker & McKenzie acquisiton team was led by Karim Nassar supported by Zahi Younes, Omar Iqbal, and the acquisition finance team was led by Ian Siddell supported by Delwar Hossain.

Baker & McKenzie has advised Alliance Holding Company on its divestment together with other sellers (including the Carlyle Group) of a majority stake in General Lighting Company (GLC), a Saudi closed joint stock company, to Koninklijke Philip N.V. (Philips). Alliance Holding will continue to participate in GLC with a 49 per cent stake. The total value of the deal is USD235 million.

Under the terms of the deal, Philips current lighting activities in Saudi Arabia will be combined with GLCs activities and the joint venture company will focus on LED products, systems and services for the lighting market. It will also manufacture and distribute professional LED lighting fixtures across the value chain. The transaction was signed on 16 March 2014 and, subject to customary regulatory approval, is expected to close later this year. A cross-border team of lawyers from Baker & McKenzie's offices in Riyadh, Chicago, Dubai, Amsterdam, London and Kuala Lumpur advised on the deal and was led by partner Karim Nassar (Riyadh) and associate Omar Iqbal (Riyadh).