Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is advising Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (“CD&R”) and Brand Industrial Services (“BrandSafway” or “Company”), which announced a definitive agreement with Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) (TSX:BBU.UN) ("Brookfield"), for Brookfield to acquire half of CD&R’s ownership interest in BrandSafway. As a result of the investment, Brookfield and funds managed by CD&R will each own approximately 45% of the Company. BrandSafway management will continue to own a minority interest in the business. The transaction is subject to customary approvals and is anticipated to occur in the first quarter of 2020. For more information, please see Brookfield’s press release.
Debevoise also represented CD&R in its original acquisition in 2013 of Brand Energy and Infrastructure Services from First Reserve (see release) and in the simultaneous acquisition of the infrastructure division of Harsco corporation (see release), which were then combined in a novel $2.5 billion transaction to create the global leader in both specialized industrial services and forming & shoring. In 2017, CD&R and Brand once again turned to Debevoise to represent them in Brand’s transformational merger with Safway Group (see release) to form BrandSafway, the leading provider of specialized services to the global industrial, commercial and infrastructure end markets, with over $5 billion in annual sales.
CD&R is a private investment firm with an investment strategy predicated on producing financial returns by building stronger, more profitable businesses. Since its inception in 1978, CD&R has managed the investment of more than $27 billion in 83 companies with an aggregate transaction value of more than $125 billion. The Firm has offices in New York and London.
Brookfield Business Partners is the flagship listed business services and industrials company of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., a leading global alternative asset manager with more than $385 billion of assets under management.
BrandSafway provides the broadest range of solutions with the greatest depth of expertise to the industrial, commercial and infrastructure markets. BrandSafway supports maintenance and refurbishment projects as well as new construction and expansion plans with unmatched service from expert local labor and management.
The Debevoise team is led by M&A partners Uri Herzberg and Kevin Rinker and includes finance partner Scott Selinger, tax partner Erin Cleary, antitrust partner Timothy McIver, employee benefits partner Meir Katz, environmental counsel Stuart Hammer, M&A international counsel Andrew Rearick, M&A associates David Becker, Sean Foley, Emily Huang and Gabriel Pollack, antitrust associate Anne-Mette Heemsoth, employee benefits associates David Deutsch and Wendy Widman, tax associate Lena Smith, investment management associate Paul Laszlo, intellectual property associate Jose Angel Lamarque and finance associate Brett Novick.
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a premier law firm with market-leading practices, a global perspective and strong New York roots. We deliver effective solutions to our clients’ most important legal challenges, applying clear commercial judgment and a distinctively collaborative approach.