Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has advised new client Terra Firma on its $1bn (£760m) sale of Odeon and UCI cinemas to AMC Theatres.
Corporate partners Charlie Geffen and Nigel Stacey won Terra Firma as a new client for Gibson Dunn, with the private equity firm deciding to sell the European cinema chain to US company AMC.
Ashurst is understood to have lost out on a place on the transaction. Terra Firma had long been a client of Ashurst and both Geffen and Stacey are former Ashurst partners.
AMC will become the largest movie theatre operator in the world as a result of the purchase. It turned to Pinsent Masons’ City private equity partner Tom Leman, head of UK corporate John Tyerman and partner Tom Johnson.
The team worked alongside Husch Blackwell, which advised on US elements of the transaction. Partners Jim Ash and Kirstin Salzman, as well as senior counsel Shari Wright led from the US.
Weil Gotshal & Manges advised AMC on the financing of the transaction, with a team led by Dallas partner Courtney Marcus and New York partner Corey Chivers.
Osborne Clarke also won a role on the deal, working with the management team of Odeon and UCI. Its team was led by partner Greg Leyshon, supported by tax partner Michael Bell.
The deal had to be renegotiated after the UK referendum vote and is understood to be one of the largest M&A deals that has been announced since Brexit.
Background to the deal
Geffen and Stacey advised Terra Firma in 2004 when Terra Firma first bought the two separate businesses of UCI and Odeon. The pair advised the private equity house while at Ashurst, winning the instruction following a conflict at Linklaters.
Both Geffen and Stacey left Ashurst for Gibson Dunn in 2014 and this is their first mandate for Terra Firma at their new firm, as well as Gibson Dunn as a whole.
AMC Theatres has recently merged with Carmike Cinemas, turning to Husch Blackwell for legal counsel. Husch Blackwell won a role working on the US aspects of the most recent acquisition, alongside Pinsent Masons.
