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Switzerland Banking/Finance

10 May 2010

Double IPO breakthrough for Bär

Bär & Karrer has worked on the first two initial public offerings (IPOs) to hit the Swiss market in the last two years.

 

The most recent deal launched last week (5 May) and saw Petroplus Holdings place new shares valued at CHF151m (€105.8m). The shares were underwritten by a syndicate of banks comprising Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, ING, Nomura International, Société Générale and UBS Investment Bank.

Bär acted as Swiss legal adviser to Petroplus through Michael Trippel (pictured). Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was international counsel while Homburger and Cravath Swaine & Moore acted for the banks.

 

The Petroplus float was only the second IPO in Switzerland since May 2008. The drought was ended in late April when Orior listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The company was informed on 5 May that the over-allotment option has been exercised in full.

 

The Orior IPO issued 1,675,000 shares and 2,263,750 secondary shares. It valued the company at CHF284m (€199m). A banking syndicate made up of Credit Suisse, Bank Vontobel and Zürcher Kantonalbank backed the deal.

 

Bär acted for the banking syndicate with a team led by Thomas Reutter. The issuer’s counsel is unconfirmed.