Herbert Smith has advised Citi, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch, as joint bookrunners, in relation to the rights issue and international offering of shares by Marfin Investment Group ("MIG"). MIG is listed on the Athens Stock Exchange and is the Greek private equity unit of Marfin Popular Bank ("MPB").
The €5.19 billion capital raising is the largest rights issue ever in Greece and the largest public capital raising for an investment company globally to date.
MPB, which owned approximately 97% of the shares before the rights offering, has not exercised its right to take up shares in the rights offer. MPB's unsubscribed shares (together with shares which were not subscribed by other shareholders in the rights offering) were offered to institutional investors in a global offering and will bring MPB's holding in MIG at the conclusion of the transaction to approximately 6.5%. Strong support from domestic and international investors led MIG to conclude the roadshow for the global offering ahead of schedule.
Greg Mulley, Nigel Farr and Alex Bafi led for Herbert Smith. Their team comprised Roberta Markovina (US), Jennifer Shen (US), Carla Sheehy, Will Normand, Jonathan Barkey (US) and Mike McClure.
Greg Mulley commented:
"This is the latest high-profile capital markets mandate for us in Europe and adds to our impressive list of investment company offerings. Citi, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch are important clients and we are delighted to be working with them on this transaction."
Nigel Farr added:
"This fund raising is a hugely impressive achievement and demonstrates just how much appetite there is from investors internationally when a manager with an impressive track record catches the imagination with an attractive investment proposition - in this case a combination of regional focus and expertise, investment flexibility and financial resources."
The joint bookrunners were advised by Karatzas & Partners in relation to Greek law.
Marfin was advised by Allen & Overy LLP.
Notes to editors
1. Our recent investment company and funds offerings experience include advising:
- Boussard & Gavaudan Holding Limited on the IPO of a Guernsey domiciled single manager hedge fund feeder listed on Euronext. This was the first ever single manager permanent capital hedge fund. We also advised it on its secondary fund raising
- MW TOPS Limited on the IPO of a Guernsey investment company managed by Marshall Wace investing in listed European equities using their TOPS process listed on Euronext. This was the largest ever IPO of a closed-ended investment company
2. We also advised the following fund managers on their own IPOs
- BlueBay Asset Management plc, one of Europe's largest independent managers of fixed income credit funds, on its admission to the Official List and £571 million listing on the London Stock Exchange
- Polar Capital Holdings plc, the specialist fund manager, on its admission to trading on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange
3. Herbert Smith LLP is an international legal practice with 1100 lawyers (including over 200 partners) and a network of offices in Europe and Asia. It has a formal alliance with leading German firm Gleiss Lutz and leading Dutch and Belgian firm Stibbe. On 1 April 2005 Herbert Smith became Herbert Smith LLP, a limited liability partnership. www.herbertsmith.com
4. For further information please contact Greg Mulley on +44 20 7466 2771, Nigel Farr on +44 20 7466 2360, or Alex Charlwood in the communications team on +44 20 7466 3917
5. High-resolution photographs of most of our partners may be downloaded from our website and reproduced for the purposes of reporting on this news release. Visit the resources section of our website at www.herbertsmith.com/news/imagebank/