Slaughter and May advised Pennon in relation to its £380 million acquisition of SES Water and its placing and related retail offer

Slaughter and May advised Pennon Group Plc (“Pennon”), owner of South West Water, Bristol Water and Bournemouth Water, in relation to its acquisition of Sumisho Osaka Gas Water UK Limited, the holding company of Sutton and East Surrey Water plc (“SES Water”) and certain other ancillary businesses, for £89 million, representing a total enterprise value of £380 million. SES Water is a drinking water-only supplier in the South East, supplying 160 million litres of clean water every day to around 745,000 customers across East Surrey, West Sussex, West Kent and South London.

Slaughter and May also advised Pennon on its equity raise announced on 10 January 2024, comprising a placing to raise gross proceeds of approximately £173 million (the “Placing”) and related retail offer conducted through the PrimaryBid platform to raise additional gross proceeds of approximately £7 million (the “Retail Offer”).  The successful Placing and Retail Offer were conducted at a discount of approximately 2.6%  to the closing market price of Pennon shares on 9 January 2024 and involved the issuance of approximately 9.4% of the existing ordinary share capital of Pennon to raise gross proceeds of approximately £180 million. The proceeds will be used to ensure that the pro forma leverage and capital structure for the enlarged Pennon group following the acquisition remains consistent with Pennon’s well-established water business gearing range of 55-65%.

Slaughter and May worked as part of an integrated team with the Pennon in-house legal team, led by Andrew Garard (Group General Counsel and Company Secretary).

Corporate
Paul Dickson Partner
Christian Boney Partner
Thomas Whitney Associate
Emily Hunter Associate
Mary Kiernan Associate
Luke Ong Associate
Competition
Alex Bulfin Associate
Alice Maldoom Associate
Bella Cameron Associate
Tax
Sarah Osprey Partner
Amy Motherwell Associate
Financing
Ed Fife Partner
Anna Mykhalova Associate
Pensions, Employment and Incentives
Phil Linnard Partner
Chris Sharpe Partner
Matthew Ward Associate
Katy Cross Associate
Real Estate
Jane Edwarde Partner - Real Estate
Richard Keczkes Head of Planning
Emily AlHamarneh Associate
IP/IT
Rob Sumroy Partner
Ioanna Antcheva Associate
Hilal Temel Associate
Financial Regulation
Nick Bonsall Partner
Rufus Sachdev-Wood Associate