Slaughter and May is advising DS Smith on its proposed acquisition of Europac with fully underwritten standby rights issue and associated new debt facility

Slaughter and May is advising DS Smith plc, a leading international packaging business, on the proposed acquisition of Papeles y Cartones de Europa, S.A., known as “Europac”, a leading Western European integrated packaging business (the “Acquisition”). 

The Acquisition was announced on 4 June 2018 and will be structured by way of voluntary cash tender offer for the entire share capital of Europac, listed on the stock markets of Madrid and Barcelona. The offer price of €16.80 per share values Europac at €1,667 million (£1,453 million).

DS Smith intends to finance the Acquisition from a rights issue to raise approximately £1,000 million (c.€1,148 million) net of expenses, which has been fully underwritten on a standby basis, and a new committed debt facility of €740 million (c.£645 million). DS Smith expects to publish a circular, including the notice of general meeting, and prospectus launching the rights issue at the time of the announcement of its full year results in June 2018. Subject to the satisfaction of the conditions to the Acquisition, including the receipt of regulatory approvals, the Acquisition is anticipated to complete during Q4 2018.

Slaughter and May is supporting the in-house legal team at DS Smith, led by Iain Simm (General Counsel and Company Secretary), and working as an integrated team with Pérez-Llorca, which is advising in relation to the Spanish law aspects of the Acquisition.

Pérez-Llorca team:Pedro Pérez-Llorca,Javier Carvajal,Javier Gómez,Isabel Moya,Jaime de Blas,Francisco García

Jennifer Nice Associate
Mike Lane Partner
Tanja Velling PSL Counsel
Charles Osborne Partner