Leading international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Mercuria Energy Group in relation to the sale of Tailwind Energy Investments Ltd to Serica Energy plc for cash and share consideration of £367 million.
Mercuria, Tailwind’s largest shareholder and one of the world’s largest energy traders, will become a strategic investor in Serica with a 25.2% holding and will nominate two new non-executive directors to serve on the board. Serica will benefit from the availability of Mercuria’s financing and hedging capacity combined with its wide geographic reach.
“We are grateful for the ongoing support of HSF, whose sector focus and expertise have accompanied Mercuria in all of our transactions with Tailwind since the inaugural investment in 2017, and through to the intended transaction with Serica announced this week,” said David Haughie, Managing Director at Mercuria.
Herbert Smith Freehills’ London team was led by corporate partners Steven Dalton and Mark Bardell, and finance partner William Breeze, supported by senior associates Shaun Williamson and Laura Ackroyd and associates Luisa Giannone and Rajalakshmi Natarajan on the corporate aspects and associate Mika Morissette on the debt financing aspects. Additional support was provided by Isaac Zailer on tax matters.
Steven Dalton commented: “Mercuria is a longstanding client of the firm and we are delighted to support them on this transaction which will deliver Mercuria a significant shareholding interest in what will be one of the top ten UKCS producers, post-combination. Our role on this deal speaks to the deep experience Herbert Smith Freehills has across all aspects of the sector.”
