Ashfords Solicitors - Significant Deals

Lloyds TSB Bank plc

Vendors: Woodbury Holdings Ltd and Rosanne Elizabeth Mansell

Buyer: Merehaven Investments Limited

Transaction: Purchase of Woodbury Park Hotel, Golf and Country Club Limited

Business: Hotel and Country Club.

Bank: Lloyds TSB Bank plc

Bank's Advisers: Ashfords (Taylor)

Vendors' Advisers: Statham Gill Davies

Buyers' Advisers: Michelmores

Tamares and Associates

Refinancing and contribution by a Gibraltar SPV of 1-6 Lombard Street, London EC3 Overlooking The Bank of England to a Jersey Unit Trust and subsequent sale of the Units of the Unit Trust to Canada Life for £46.3 Million

Lawyers: Simon Rous, Andrew Smith and Angus Bauer

Schlumberger Oilfield UK Plc (in The UK)

Schlumberger Oilfield UK Plc (In The UK) And Schlumberger Technology Corporation (In The USA)
Transaction: Kyrogen Joint Venture
Business: Development and Commercialisation of new Technology
Investment: US$20M at Stage 1
Legal Advisors to Schlumberger: Ashfords
Legal Advisors to Minority: Paull & Williamsons

Lawyers: Simon Rous, Jonathan Kelt, (Corporate) Carl Steel (IT) & Angus Bauer (Corporate Tax)

DML (Devonport Management Limited)

Transaction: Shipbuilding contract
Buyer: Royal National Lifeboat Institute (A charity registered in England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland)
Business: Marine - Shipbuilding
Deal Features: Contract for the building of 9 Tamar Class lifeboats

Completed: 9th October 2007
Lawyers: Charles Hattersley and Ashley Axten

Innovation Centre

Transaction: Acting on the integrated project for the provision of a re-launched Innovation Centre at the University of Exeter. This involved the funding of the construction of Phase ll along with the restructuring of the property interests of Phase l to facilitate the appointment of an operator of the Centre, procured competitively using the European procurement rules.

Deal Features: This was a complex transaction involving a number of stakeholders and included the production of an innovative suite of documents in relation to the partnering, funding, operating and property aspects of the deal.

Lawyers: Andrew MacMillan-Scott & Ruth Murray

CRS WarnerKugel and Hanson Renouf

Transaction: Freezing Injunction with Disclosure Order made against assets situated in Jersey, amounting to over AUD$3 million on behalf of the Trustee in Bankruptcy, Anthony Warner of CRS Warner Kugel.
Features: Application made and order granted within 24 hours

Client Advisers: Ashfords
Other Advisers: Hanson Renouf, Jersey

Completed: 24 August 2007
Lawyers: Alan Bennett and Andrew Pay

Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance Ltd

Transaction: Advising Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance Limited (James Hester) on a suite of Asset-Backed Lending (ABL) facilities for the purpose of financing a management buy-out of Plant & Engineering Services Limited.

Lawyer: Andrew Smith

Abbey Manor Group Limited

Transaction: Acquistion of 8.64 acres of land at West Wick Business Park for the purpose of commercial development.
Vendors: Locking Castle Limited
Buyer: Abbey Manor Group Limited
Business: Property Development
Client Advisers: Ashfords
Other Advisers: Davies and Partners
Price: Plus £4,000,000

Lawyers: Andrew Rothwell, John Bosworth and Joanna Clarke

GMO Limited

Transaction: Admission to AIM by way of Placing of GMO Limited a joint venture company between Green Packet, mTouche Technology and OSK Ventures International
Business: Mobile and Wireless Value Added Services in China
Deal Features: Raising £5M new money
Client Advisers: Ashfords (Solicitors to the Company), Corporate Synergy Plc (Nominated Adviser and Broker), Cheang & Ariff (Malaysian Solicitors to the Company)
Other Advisers: Howarth Clark Whitehill LLP (Reporting Accountants) Osborne Clarke (Solicitors to Corporate Synergy Plc)
Price: Market capitalisation at the Placing Price £20M

Lawyer: Simon Rous

Keston Boilers Limited

Vendors: Shareholders of Keston Holdings Limited and Keston Boilers Limited
Buyer: Caradon Plumbing Limited
Transaction: Sale by tender of shares for an undisclosed sum in cash and bank guaranteed Loan Notes
Business: Domestic and commercial boiler manufacture with factory and work force in Romania and headquarters, sales and distribution in the UK
Vendors’ Advisers: Ashfords, Nash Fitzwilliam Limited and Baulf & Co.
Caradon’s Advisers: Clifford Chance, Warburg Pincus and Ernst & Young
Price: Undisclosed (£ tens of millions) in cash and fixed guaranteed Loan Notes.

Lawyers: Simon Rous, Stuart Mathews & Rachael Morgan

Lets Go Travel Limited

Share sale of award winning travel agents with 35 outlets across the South West for an undisclosed sum to Harvey World Travel (UK) Limited and acting on the property aspects of the sale.

Lawyers: Simon Rous, Stuart Mathews, Angus Bauer, Andrew MacMillan-Scott, Colin Wright & Tracyann Tweedie

Viridor Waste Management Limited

Waste PPP with Somerset County Council involving long term services contract and strategic partnering arrangement, provision of a new waste treatment facility and the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Wyvern Waste Services Limited for £25m.

Lawyers: Mark Lomas & Ruth Murray

Viridor Waste Management Limited

Corporate advice relating to the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Brett Waste Management Limited a waste management business

Lawyer: Mark Lomas

Viridor Waste Management Limited

Advice on the PFI joint venture for the integrated waste management contract (investment value £300 million) with Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority

Lawyers: Mark Lomas & Ruth Murray

University of Exeter

Acting for the University and advising on the re-financing of Auextics Limited.

Lawyers: Mark Lomas and Andrew Betteridge

Schlumberger

Sale of BCO disaster recovery Business serving Governments, Banks and major Corporations from 40 sites globally, including France, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, UK and the USA by sale of shares to IBM

Lawyers: Simon Rous, Antony Lee and Andrew Rothwell