Rosenblatt acts for Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell Group on the acquisition of Channel Five for in excess of £100 million

Rosenblatt Solicitors, the leading City law firm, acted on behalf of Richard Desmond on the acquisition of Channel Five for in excess of £100 million.

The transaction was completed on Friday 23 July following 10 days of intensive negotiations between the parties and their advisors.

The auction process saw the other bidders fall away as they were not able to match the deal terms or speed of closure that Northern & Shell and its advisors were able to offer.

RTL wanted an unconditional sale so Northern & Shell agreed to take on the regulatory risk as part of the transaction. Clearance applications are now being prepared for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and Ofcom.

The auction process started in May when interested parties were first invited to indicate their interest in bidding for Channel Five.

The process then involved submitting an initial offer in the middle of June giving a rough indication of the price bidders were prepared to pay for Five. During the auction process Rosenblatt was heavily involved in due diligence and data review.

Once the indicative offer was accepted, the process moved into the second phase at the end of which a firm offer was made. On 12 July Northern & Shell submitted its final offer, following which the parties began the detailed negotiation of the transaction.

Rosenblatt Solicitors has acted for Richard Desmond and the Northern & Shell Group for more than 20 years on a number of legal issues, including acquisitions, property acquisitions, banking and finance and litigation.

Founder and Senior Partner, Ian Rosenblatt led the negotiations while Corporate Partner, Jon Lovitt led the Rosenblatt deal team.

Ian Rosenblatt, Founder and Senior Partner at Rosenblatt Solicitors, said:

“This deal has further cemented our long-standing relationship with Richard Desmond. It was an extremely exciting and challenging deal to work on, partly due to the tactical nature of the auction process and partly due to the nature of the asset being purchased.

“We believe the speed with which we were able to transact secured the bid.”