UK: Slaughter and Weil will lead in Bain’s £1.2b Esure bid

Slaughter and May and Weil Gotshal & Manges have won roles on Bain Capital’s £1.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) bid for insurance company Esure.

Weil is advising Bain on the proposed take-private, which would see the private equity player acquire, via its Blue (BC) Bidco subsidiary, all shares in the motor and home insurer for £2.8 per share. The Weil team is led by private equity partner Marco Compagnoni and senior consultant Ian Hamilton.

The mandate is significant for a firm which has historically acted for Bain in conjunction with Advent International on multiple payment processor transactions. These include the US$745 million acquisition of Concardis and its subsequent merger with NETS in 2017, a US$1 billion deal to acquire the payments units of Intesa Sanpaolo Banking Group in 2016, as well as the acquisition and subsequent London listing of Worldpay in 2015.

Slaughter, meanwhile, acted for Esure in a continuation of its longstanding relationship with the company. The firm’s corporate team was led by partners John Papanichola and Robert Innes.

A Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom team led by London corporate partner Scott Hopkins advised the joint financial advisers to Bain Capital: Goldman Sachs; Cenkos Securities and Dean Street Advisers.

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