Clifford Chance lands EQT mandate on $2bn McGill buyout

Clifford Chance is advising private equity giant EQT on its $2 billion acquisition of London-based insurance broker McGill, in the latest mandate for the firm from the Swedish PE giant.

EQT is acquiring majority control of McGill from New York buyout house Warburg Pincus. The deal values McGill at around $2 billion including debt, with the company's management retaining a stake in the business.

Clifford Chance's team is led by London-based head of private equity Spencer Baylin, alongside London partners Graham Phillips and Thomas Fisher.

The mandate comes after Clifford Chance - which already had a longstanding relationship with EQT - was appointed earlier this summer to the PE firm’s “platinum” panel for its biggest global mandates, alongside Freshfields, Ropes & Gray and Simpson Thacher.

Freshfields takes the other side

Freshfields is advising McGill and majority shareholder Warburg Pincus, with a team led by London private equity partner Patrick Ko and senior associate Alex Collins.

The firm is also bringing in partners Alastair Mordaunt on competition, Peter Clements on tax and James Smethurst on financial services regulation.

Mayer Brown is separately advising McGill's management, led by London corporate partners Rebecca Bothamley and James West.

Also of interest: Unity Advisory, the Big Four challenger launched last year with $300 million of backing from Warburg Pincus is advising McGill.

Led by former PwC UK managing partner Marissa Thomas and former EY UK chair Steve Varley, it’s one of a new crop of PE-backed professional services firms being closely watched.

Another big EQT deal

The acquisition marks another major UK deal for EQT, which earlier this year acquired FTSE 100 testing and inspection group Intertek for around £11 billion.

That transaction, one of the UK's biggest takeovers of the year, saw Freshfields advise EQT and Slaughter and May act for Intertek.