Categoria: PRESS RELEASE

Ughi e Nunziante partner Roberto Leccese assisted Rockhopper Exploration plc, an oil and gas company listed on the AIM with key interests in the North Falkland Basin and the Greater Mediterranean region, for the Italian law aspects of the disposal to Northern Petroleum Plc of certain assets including a portfolio of hydrocarbon licences.

The transaction shall consist in the transfer of a going concern from Rockhopper Italia S.p.A. to Rockhopper Civita Limited (both subsidiaries of Rockhopper Exploration), subject to standard regulatory approvals in Italy, and the subsequent sale of Rockhopper Civita Limited to Northern Petroleum. Ashurst LLP are advising Rockhopper Exploration plc in respect of English law matters relating to the transaction.

The Court of Ancona approved the procedure for the composition with creditors entailing the transfer of ISA – International Shipyards  Ancona’s business, a company active in the construction and refitting of luxury yachts. Following a long procedure involving several national and international players in the industry and complex trade union negotiations, the composition with creditors allowed for the restructuring of an overall debt of over 55 million euro and the transfer of the business, with around 100 employees, to the Palumbo Group, a leading player in the market with several shipyards in the Mediterranean.

Ughi e Nunziante, with a team composed of partners Marcello Gioscia and Gianluigi Pugliese, and associates Carmen Oriani and Anna Vanni, handled the legal issues connected to the procedure for the composition with creditors and the transfer of business. The Palumbo Group was assisted by Giorgio Filippi, together with Paolo Bortoluzzi and Luca De Bernardi.

Ughi e Nunziante assisted Bial, leading Portuguese multinational in the pharmaceutical sector, in the transfer of its immunotherapy Business to the German company Roxall. The transaction closed with the transfer to Roxall of Bial’s companies operating in Italy, Portugal and Spain in the immunotherapy sector.

Ughi e Nunziante, with a team composed of senior associate Benedetto Colosimo and associates Pietro Pastorello and Francesco Orlando, assisted Bial with regard to the transfer of the Italian subsidiary Bial-Aristegui Italia S.r.l. to Roxall.

Following the transfer of its immunotherapy business unit, Bial aims at increasing its presence in Italy in other strategic sectors of the pharmaceutical industry, by means of other subsidiaries which are already active in Italy.

Agostino Clemente, partner at Ughi e Nunziante, has been elected to the management board of ASIFA Italia, the Italian branch of the international association for authors, artists and professionals of animation.

Ughi e Nunziante assisted d’Amico Società di Navigazione S.p.A. in finalizing the transfer to the Marlink Group (owned by the private equity fund Apax Partners MidMarket SAS) of Compagnia Generale Telemar S.p.A., established in 1947 by some of the major Italian shipowners and leader in the maritime satellite communications sector.

The firm acted through a team led by partners Roberto Leccese and Giuseppe Coco. From a financial viewpoint, d’Amico was assisted by Tamburi Investment Partners.

With regard to corporate issues, Apax was assisted by Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and in relation to the financing of the transaction, by Holman Fenwick Willan LLP, together with Giliberti Triscornia e Associati, which managed all aspects of Italian law of the transaction, through partner Ilaria Zingali and associate Claudia Bonetti, for corporate aspects, and senior associate Davide Valli, for financing issues.

The lenders were assisted by Paul Hastings LLP.

The transaction followed the deal closed in May, through which Apax Partners purchased Marlink – another company at the forefront of the maritime satellite communications sector – with the intention of creating a world leader in the maritime communications sector, capable of generating an annual turnover of 450 million dollars with its 800 employees.

With a team composed of senior associate Benedetto Colosimo and associate Pietro Pastorello, as well as partners Marcello Gioscia and Gianluigi Pugliese, Ughi e Nunziante assisted Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (Bbva) and its Italian subsidiary Bbva Finanzia in the transfer from the latter to Link Financial Group of a portfolio of performing and sub-performing receivables worth 97 million euro in total. Such transfer falls within the wider framework of a securitization.

Ughi e Nunziante assisted Bbva from the start of the arrangement of the transaction, and subsequently went ahead with the drafting and negotiation of the relevant contracts.

The portfolio mainly consists of unsecured credits deriving from loan agreements entered into between Bbva Finanzia and natural persons or entrepreneurs.

Ughi e Nunziante strengthened its Milan office with the arrival of Avvocati Giovanni Maria Marini and Afra Mantoni from the international firm Jones Day.

Formerly a partner of Jones Day and a current member of the Milan and New York Bars, Giovanni Maria Marini practiced in leading law firms in Milan, Washington, London, Bruxelles and Paris, gaining a substantial experience in the corporate, finance and real estate sectors. Giovanni has now returned to Ughi e Nunziante, where he started his career as the right-hand man of Giovanni Maria Ughi, one of the founders of the Firm.

Giovanni represents several Italian and foreign clients in relation to mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganisations, financing and real estate.

Afra Mantoni practiced in several Italian and international law firms – most recently as senior associate at Jones Day – gaining a wide range experience in civil law and specializing in data protection. Afra joined Ughi e Nunziante as partner at the Milan Office and will be responsible for all the matters relating to data protection, including the development and implementation of worldwide policies and compliance procedures for the management and protection of personal and corporate data.

Ughi e Nunziante has assisted the European group Akka – which provides engineering and technology consulting services and counts 11,000 employees in three continents – in the acquisition of the company Epsco S.r.l., a well-established Italian business operating in the same sector, which recorded revenues of €18 million in 2014.

Partner Cristina Baglioni dealt with the labor aspects of the transaction, while corporate and contractual matters were handled by partners Roberto Leccese and Giuseppe Coco, with the support of senior associate Camilla Savarese.

Ughi e Nunziante cooperated with Akka’s legal department, headed by Jean-Philippe Laligand.

The acquisition, which is part of the Group’s growth strategy, has served to further strengthen its position in the Italian market, where Akka has now been active for nearly twenty years.

Within the framework of Ughi e Nunziante’s growth strategy, which has always paid particular attention to valuing its internal resources, the attorneys Giuseppe Coco and Andrea Marega have been nominated partners at the Rome office as of 1° January 2015. Both are former senior associates of the Firm.

Giuseppe Coco, who has been working at Ughi e Nunziante for over 10 years, has gained extensive experience in the fields of contract law and corporate law, specializing in private equity, M&A, as well as in the energy and natural resources sector; he is also an assistant lecturer of private law at the School of Law of the University LUISS – Guido Carli.

Andrea Marega, an expert in administrative law and antitrust, had already been part of Ughi e Nunziante as an associate from 2005 to 2007. After a five year experience at the Rome office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, in 2012 he returned to work at the Firm.

Following the recent entry of Filippo Mazza, who comes from McDermott Will & Emery, and with the nomination of Giuseppe Coco and Andrea Marega, the number of partners at Ughi e Nunziante has risen to 18, a figure that has more than doubled in just over two years.

The Rome office of Ughi e Nunziante grows further with the entrance of partner Filippo Mazza, who comes from McDermott Will & Emery.

Filippo, who has worked at Ughi e Nunziante as an associate from 1995 through to 2000, has gained extensive experience, both at national and international level, in general corporate, M&A, private equity and restructuring. With specific reference to the above sectors he assists clients in litigation, arbitration and contracts matters, both domestic and crossborder.

Filippo is a Lecturer of the Master program in IBL (International Business Law) at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” where he has been an Assistant Lecturer of civil law for years. He has held specialization courses on international commercial law and public offers at other Italian Universities. He is the author of numerous publications on commercial contracts and comparative law.

Filippo is described by Legal 500 EMEA 2014 as “always available and a smart negotiator”, by Legal 500 EMEA 2013 as a “highly professional lawyer” for Corporate and M&A. In addition to ranking in Chambers Global and Chambers Europe 2013, the services provided by Filippo and his team are described as “excellent” in the TopLegal Corporate and M&A survey 2013. Moreover, in a recent TopLegal survey Filippo is described by clients as “thorough and professional”. He is also mentioned by IFLR 1000 2012 and is ranked as a leader in M&A by Chambers Europe 2011.

Ughi e Nunziante currently counts 17 partners.