International law firm Clifford Chance has advised Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (“CD&R”), the U.S. based private investment firm, on its US$4bn public to private bid for UDG Healthcare plc (“UDG”) a leading player in healthcare medical affairs, marketing and advisory services, and in pharma packaging. CD&R intends to combine UDG with Huntsworth, its existing portfolio company acquired in a P2P last year, on which Clifford Chance also advised, to create a set of global solutions to support Pharma and Biotech clients across the life cycle of a drug, from development to launch and beyond patent expiry, across all therapeutic areas.
The bid for UDG is the latest in a series of high profile public transactions that Clifford Chance has advised on, including CD&R’s acquisition of Huntsworth plc and the CD&R PIPE into SIG plc and Blackstone’s acquisition of the Dutch bank, NIBC. It is also a highly unusual take private of a London listed company but carried out under the Irish Takeover Code as post-Brexit the UK Takeover Panel no longer has jurisdiction over companies such as UDG which are registered in Ireland.
The bid demonstrates the strength of Clifford Chance’s integrated and cross-border offering with lawyers and teams involved from the firm’s offices in London, New York, Washington and Luxembourg. The team in London was led by Private Equity and Global Relationship Partner Simon Tinkler, Corporate Partner Katherine Moir and Antitrust Partner Jenny Storey. The team was supported by Corporate and Private Equity Lawyers Faeezah Tailor, Abi Birch, Tom Cowie and Julia Lee, Antitrust Lawyers Stavroula Vryna and Kabya Chaharia plus US colleagues Tim Cornell, Abby Cessna, Eva Kurban, Daryl Fairbairn and Jen Saionz. William Fry partners Myra Garrett, Brian Butterwick and Lyn Brennan advised CD&R in relation to all Irish aspects of the transaction, and Debevoise & Plimpton partners Jeff Ross and Paul Laszlo advised CD&R on debt and funds.
