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© 2012 Dorsey & Whitney LLP

  • Frances was a finalist at the prestigious Phillip C Jessup International Moot Competition in 1993. This is the annual mooting competition held by the International Law Students Association in Washington DC.
  • According to Legal 500 2008 and 2011, the "friendly and highly capable" Frances Doherty heads the "excellent" Dorsey & Whitney Venture Capital practice group in London.

  • University of Strathclyde (Diploma in Legal Practice, 1993)
  • University of Strathclyde (Bachelor of Laws, with Honors (2:1), 1992)

  • England & Wales
  • Scotland

  • French

Frances P. Doherty

Partner
London
P: +44 (0)20 7826 4517
F: +44 (0)20 7588 0555
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Frances is a Partner in Dorsey’s Corporate practice group. She specialises in corporate and international finance work including, in particular:

  • venture capital and private equity;
  • technology transfer;
  • public offerings and private placements of equity and debt securities;
  • private and public company M&A transactional work including a number of cross border transactions;
  • international joint ventures;
  • international banking and finance work including corporate borrowing and acquisition finance.
Alongside her extensive technology work, Frances has advised clients in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, oil and gas exploration, mining, motor vehicle manufacture and distribution, financial services, film production and financing and medical devices. She represents a number of substantial clients in the Scandinavian region.

Representative Work

Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Sale of substantial intellectual property assets by HeliSwirl Technologies;
  • Advising End2End Holdings Limited on the sale of its business to WP Roaming V Sarl for consideration of €52 million;
  • Advising target, IDS Group Plc in a contested takeover bid. The target was eventually acquired for a consideration of £19.1 million by Schroder Ventures;
  • Advising Guinness Peat Group Limited in its contested takeover bid for Bluebird Toys Plc. The target was eventually acquired by Mattel Inc for a total consideration of £46 million;
  • Advising Investec Group on the acquisitions and subsequent merger of the banking businesses of Investec Bank (UK) and Guinness Mahon & Co.;
  • Advising Investec Group on its acquisition of Guinness Mahon Holdings Plc from the Bank of Yokahama for £95 million;
  • Advising Investec Group Limited on its recommended cash offer for Hambros PLC for £428 million.

Joint Ventures
  • Advising Norwegian paint manufacturer Jotun A/S on its vertically integrating joint venture with COSCO International Holdings Limited, a Chinese shipbuilder;
  • Advising National Grid International Limited and National Grid Holdings Limited on the proposed joint venture with Edison Capital International, and acting in their consortium bid for Compania Nacional Transmission Electrica S.A. (national electricity supply company for Chile);
  • Advising Neste Oil & Gas in its proposed joint venture with Statoil to combine their petrol service stations in eastern Europe and Russia.

International Banking and Finance
  • Advising Petters Group Worldwide on the European aspects of its acquisition finance for its merger with Polaroid Holding Company for $426 million;
  • Advising Storebrand Bank ASA on its €200 million Revolving Back-Stop Liquidity Facility;
  • Advising Wells Fargo Bank on its financing of the recommended cash offer for ECSoft Group plc by CIBER (UK) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of CIBER Inc. The offer was for £34 million;
  • Advising Jotun A/S on its NOK 1 billion syndicated loan refinancing;
  • Advising Storebrand Livsforskring AS on the rescheduling of its $200 million Perpetual Step-Up Subordinated Floating Rate Notes;
  • Advising Kvaerner ASA in its debt restructuring and refinancing.

Corporate Finance
  • Advising Subsea 7 Inc. on its offering of US$3 billion 2.80 per cent, Subsea 7 Inc. convertible notes;
  • Advising Renewable Energy Corporation Inc. on its IPO on the Oslo Børse, raising NOK 7.87 billion;
  • Advising Toumaz Technology Limited on its reverse takeover by Nanoscience Inc (listed and trading on AIM), valuing the company at £17.7 million, and a placing raising £7.1 million;
  • Advising Enskilda Securities and ABG Sundal Collier on the initial public offering and listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange of Oslo Areal ASA raising approximately NOK 297 million;
  • Advising Enskilda Securities and ABG Sundal Collier on the initial public offering and listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange of NorGani Hotels, raising approximately NOK 400 million.

Representative Clients

  • Veryan Medical Limited;
  • Microsaic Systems Limited;
  • HeliSwirl Technologies Limited;
  • Stanmore Implants Worldwide Limited;
  • Toumaz Technologies Limited;
  • Toumaz Holdings Limited;
  • DNA Electronics Limited;
  • Photobiotics Limited;
  • Cambridge Consultants Limited;
  • Control Solutions Limited;
  • LiverCyte Limited;
  • OmniCyte Limited;
  • Emcision Limited;
  • Smart Targeting Limited;
  • Vaxtate Limited;
  • Ziva Bioscience Limited;
  • Biocommercialisation India Limited

Attorney Articles

May 24, 2007
"A Guide to the Companies Act 2006," Taxation
July 6, 2005
The Prospectus Directive: A New Regime for Europe