Ashurst has advised Unicredit Bank AG, Munich and DZ BANK AG,
Frankfurt, on the refinancing of the initially all equity financed
acquisition of homeshopping tv station Home Shopping Europe GmbH,
by private equity investor AXA Private Equity and the management.
The acquisition of the former subsidiary of insolvent mail order
holding Primondo (Arcandor group) took place at the end of 2009.
The
Munich loan markets team was led by
partner
Dr Bernd Egbers and comprised the associates Simon Stadtmann and Richard
Schulze-Muth as well as paralegal Susanne Kasnitz. Advice on
tax aspects was
provided by Frankfurt senior associate Dr Malte Strüber. Initially,
DZ BANK has been advised from
Frankfurt by international
finance/loan markets partner
Dr Tom Beckerhoff.
Later on, the Munich team took over and coordinated the
advice of both banks.
In May 2009, Bernd Egbers had relocated from Frankfurt to the
Ashurst office in Munich, to establish a loan markets practice and
strengthen the business with banks and private equity funds located
on site. Unicredit is one of his team's newly acquired
clients.