Clifford Chance, Latham & Watkins and Allen & Overy have all landed mandates on Thai Union Frozen’s (TUF) US$903m acquisition of MWBrands, the French parent company of canned tuna producer John West.

TUF will pay a multiple of 8.2 times MW’s 2010 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – a relatively high price that reflects the rising interest from Asian investors in European assets.
 
“We’ve seen increasing interest from Asian investors in acquiring assets in Europe,” said Greg Brown, one of Allen & Overy’s lead partners on the deal. “This is a trend we expect to continue as confidence slowly builds in the market as Asian companies find themselves having avoided the worst of the fallout from the global financial crisis,” he said. Brown worked alongside fellow partners Sanjeev Dhuna and Adrian Mellor in advising the underwriters to the deal—Credit Agricole, Mizuho, Standard Chartered and Sumitomo.

A London-based Clifford Chance team led by partner Kathy Honeywood was retained by TUF while Latham & Watkins was tapped by MW Brands.

MWBrands was previously owned by Triatlantic Capital partners, the buy-out arm of the now defunct Lehman Brothers. It has one of the largest portfolios of tuna products in the world including Petit Navire and Mareblu. TUF will fund the acquisition through US$451m in loans from international banks and a further US$469m from Thai banks. It will also issue US$79.6m in convertible bonds.ALB

Thai Union Frozen – MWBrands Acquisition
US$903m
Synopsis Thai’s largest canned food processor TUF acquires French MWBrands, to make one of the world’s largest canned tuna companies
Firm
Client
Role
Clifford Chance[Lead partner: Kathy Honeywood]
Thai Union Frozen
International counsel
Allen & Overy [Lead partners: Greg Brown, Sanjeev Dhuna, Adrian Mellor, Nicholas Steichen]
Underwriters*
International counsel
Latham & Watkins [Lead partner: Thomas Forschbach]
MWBrands
 International counsel

Other related stories:


 

*Credit Agricole, Mizuho, Standard Chartered and Sumitomo