WINNER - UK
DEAL: MetLife, Inc. acquires Aviva Czech Life, Aviva Hungary Life, Aviva Romania Life and Aviva Romania Pensions from Aviva
NAME: Chris Southorn COMPANY: CMS Cameron McKenna POSITION: Corporate Partner TEL: +44 20 7367 3603 EMAIL:
chris.southorn@
cms-cmck.com
BIO:
Chris Southorn is a Partner in the CMS Cameron McKenna Corporate department.
Chris has extensive experience in all areas of company law. He advises a range of clients on the full spectrum of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, fund raisings, corporate finance, investments, joint ventures and reorganisations. He has particular focus on the financial services sector and leads our insurance sector corporate team.
DEAL OVERVIEW:
CMS advised MetLife, Inc. on its acquisition from Aviva of its life assurance and pensions administration subsidiaries in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania.
Chris Southorn was the UK partner leading the transaction at CMS acting for MetLife. The transactions were negotiated using English law contracts which were negotiated in London. Teams in our local CMS offices in the three countries advised on domestic legal issues, due diligence, regulatory aspects and transaction execution.
The project called for project management and teamwork between and across principals and legal teams in four different countries
Transactional challenges arose from the involvement of differing businesses in multiple jurisdictions, each subject to its own legal system and regulatory frame- work. We had to address individual timetables and process requirements for each target, whilst retaining the ability to manage all together as a single project.
The project called for project management and teamwork between and across principals and legal teams in four different countries. In the end, contracts on all transactions exchanged simultaneously, and the acquisitions of the life company targets in the three countries completed together in July 2012.
Chris works extensively as a transactional partner in our financial services practice, working with insurers, institutional investors, investment managers and banks. Much of our work in the sector
is international, with a particular focus on Europe, and we have a prominent role in Central and Eastern Europe, reflecting our longstanding presence in and commitment to the region.
Going forward into 2013 and beyond we anticipate economic and regulatory challenges will remain strong, but in the insurance sector in particular that is likely to continue to drive transactional and reorganisation activity. We are also seeing new entrants and innovative investment propositions in the field of investment management.
Despite the tough economic climate, 2012 has been a busy year for our award-winning Corporate team in all our key sectors: Consumer Products, Construction and Development, Energy and Utilities, Lifesciences, Financial Institutions and Services, Infrastructure and Project Finance, Hotels, Leisure and Sport and TMT; we ended last year at the top of M&A league table rankings: 1st in Europe, 2nd in the UK and 4th globally (source: Bloomberg, 2011, by deal count).
We have 700 corporate lawyers worldwide, including more lawyers across Europe than any other organisation. Our unrivalled pan-European network draws on the best local legal talent enabling us to offer our clients high-quality, integrated and co-ordinated legal advice across Europe and in particular on cross border transactions – ably demonstrated by the MetLife, Inc./Aviva transaction.
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