Steven Worthington
- +971 2 611 3400 (Abu Dhabi)
- +44 20 7532 1591 (London)
Biography
“Steve Worthington is ‘always on’ and is incredibly accessible. His legal knowledge is of course exemplary; however his real skill is being able to translate it in to pithy recommendations and advice which takes in to account commercial realities and local market norms. His background in the UK market enables him to bridge difficult aspects of multi-jurisdiction deals (and expectations from various parties). He’s very comfortable having the tough conversations with the other side, so as to preserve the principal-to-principal relationship. Great guy.” (The Legal 500 2024, Commercial, Corporate and M&A (UAE))
Overview
Steven co-leads the Firm's financial sponsor practice in the Middle East and North Africa and heads up the corporate and private equity practice in Abu Dhabi. Steven has led some of the most high profile transactions in EMEA in recent years and has extensive experience of advising sovereign wealth funds, private equity houses and corporate clients on all forms of M&A, including complex cross-border acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, leveraged buyouts, reorganisations and portfolio advice across all sectors.
Experience
Representative transactions include advising:
Food & beverage / agriculture / consumer
- Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund on behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on its acquisition of 35.43% of Singapore-based commodity trader, Olam Agri Holdings, for US$1.24 billion.
- the sellers on the sale of the entire business of Mumzworld to a subsidiary of the Tamer Group. Mumzworld is a leading regional e-commerce company that describes itself as the “#1 mother, baby and child site in the Middle East”.
- Manzanita Capital, a family office investor, in the acquisition of Susanne Kaufmann Kosmetik, a luxury natural cosmetics brand.
- Tennor Holdings, global investment holding company, in its GBP40 million acquisition of a minority shareholding in Ralph & Russo Limited, luxury clothing retailer and manufacturer.
- Paradise Capital (the Sallam family's investment office) on the disposal of 30% of its interest in B-Tech, one of Egypt's leading retailers and distributors of house hold appliances and consumer electricals to African Development Partners (a subsidiary of DPI).
Fast growth
- Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, a joint venture between Mubadala and Falcon Edge Capital on:
- its US$25 million investment in MEASA Partners Ltd. MEASA Partners is an investment manager that aims to provide institutional access to companies that focus on sustainable development in the Middle East, Africa and Southern Asia.
- on its investment into Exos Financial LLC. Exos, a New York-based fintech company, is building a platform to support a full service institutional finance firm.
- on its US$50 million Series F investment into Lookout Inc., a fast-growing Silicon Valley-based cyber security company with a pre-money valuation of approximately US$1.5 billion
- in its participation in the Series B Funding round for Securrency, Inc.
- Mubadala Investment Company PJSC in its investment a fast growth carbon exchange business.
- Vortex Energy IV, LP (an ADGM based fund) on its acquisition of a c.12% stake in EO Charging Limited, a UK-based electric fleet charging technology and software company.
- Portman Global Partners Limited with respect to the subscription for shares in their wholly-owned subsidiary, Alphastream Limited, by Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners.
- Tier Mobility GmbH acquired 100% of the share capital of Innohub Electric Scooters, a Dubai-based electric scooter company.
- TruKKer in its Series B debt & equity funding round, and its US$70m+ Series C funding round. TruKKer is the largest digital freight platform in the Middle East and Central Asia region with a large enterprise consumer base across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Bahrain, Jordan, Oman and Turkey, and operating a fleet of more than 40,000 trucks.
Healthcare, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology
- Bridgepoint on its disposal of Diaverum, a leading renal healthcare and dialysis company, to M42, a newly created healthcare joint venture between G42 Healthcare and Mubadala Health.
- CVC on its acquisition of a minority stake in FutureLife a.s., an assisted reproduction and genetics business headquartered in the Czech Republic and with clinics across the CEE, Netherlands, Finland, the UK, Ireland, Romania and Estonia.
- Mubadala Investment Company PJSC in connection with numerous healthcare, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology investments.
- Alvogen Inc., a global generic pharmaceuticals company and portfolio company of CVC Capital Partners, on the sale of Alvogen's CEE business to Zentiva.
- FutureLife a.s., a pan-European provider of IVF and related services, on its acquisition of London IVF clinic The Centre for Reproductive and Genetic Health (CRGH).
- CVC on its acquisition of The Assisted Conception Unit Limited, a London based clinic providing a full range of reproductive investigation and fertility treatments as well as genetic services.
- Diaverum, a leading renal healthcare and dialysis company, in connection with:
- a pre-exit intra-group reorganisation.
- the sale of its Australian and New Zealand divisions to B. Braun.
- the acquisition of a 50% stake in the Diaverum Arabia Company Limited from the Nazer group.
- Diaverum Holding AB, a wholly owned subsidiary of Diaverum AB, in its acquisition of Advance Renal Care (Asia) Pte. Ltd. and its subsidiaries, a group engaged in the provision of dialysis services and dialysis centre management services in Singapore and Malaysia.
- Hintsa Performance Oy, a leading international coaching company established in Finland, on the joint venture in Abu Dhabi with Sno Wellness Medical Center, a specialized mental health center in Abu Dhabi.
- GHO Capital on its acquisition of EnvisionPharma, a medical communication and software company.
- a leading US pharmaceutical company on its corporate reorganisation to establish a centralised IP and strategic decision making function in Malta.
Energy
- Blue Water Energy (Bluewater) on the sale of engineering portfolio company, Kent, to Nesma & Partners.
- Kentech (now Kent plc), an energy & industrial services support company based in the UAE and portfolio company of Blue Water Energy, on its acquisition of the oil & gas and engineering & consulting business of SNC-Lavalin, the Canadian listed services company, for US$2 billion.
- The Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's multi-million dollar acquisition of a 30% stake by way of share subscription in Saudi District Cooling Company CJSC (Saudi Tabreed), one of the largest district cooling businesses in the Kingdom which services projects such as the King Khalid International Airport and King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh.
- Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (TAQA) in the acquisition of 25% stakes in each of: (i) the company holding 40% of TAPCO, the project company for the ‘Taweelah B’ power and desalination complex in Abu Dhabi; and (ii) the O & M Contractor Company providing services to TAPCO.
- TAQA on its acquisition of Mirfa IWPP (a UAE-based water and power company) from SHUAA.
- HYCAP, a fund seeking to drive sustainable hydrogen industry in the UK by investing in the emerging green hydrogen economy, on its separation from Vedra Wealth Holding Limited and buy-out of Vedra Partners and its related parties from the HYCAP structure.
- Johnson Matthey PLC (a FTSE 100 listed speciality chemicals company) on its sale of Finex Oy (a Finnish chromatographic resin producing company), to the Jacobi Group, a material subsidiary of the Tokyo Stock Exchange listed Osaka GasChemical Co.
- EWEC on the corporate aspects of the Fujairah F3 Independent Power Project.
- IDB Infrastructure Fund L.P. on the disposal of its indirect 23.381% interest in AES Jordan, which owns and operates a 370MW dual fired combined cycle gas power plant in Jordan, to Qatar Electricity & Water Q.S.C.*
Real Estate / infrastructure
- Alpha Bank on its disposal (by competitive auction) of a portfolio of real estate assets to an investor consortium led by consortium comprising Dimand S.A. and Premia Properties REIC
- Arjun Infrastructure Partners on its circa £45 million acquisition of a 7.6% stake in Viridian, a leading independent energy company in Ireland, from I Squared.
- Arjun Infrastructure Partners on its acquisition of a significant minority stake in Appia Group Limited, which owns and operates the Welcome Break motorway service areas, from ING European Infrastructure Sarl and Whitehelm Capital Pty Limited.
- Qatar Holding LLC on the carve-out of The Savoy Hotel from a wider transaction concerning QIA and Kingdom Hotels' sale of the Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel brands to AccorHotels;
- Qatar Holding LLC on the €600m acquisition of Smeralda Holding, a luxury resort portfolio on the Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, from Colony Capital LLC;*
- Triton on the combination of DSI (Triton's construction, mining and tunnelling products Portfolio Company) with Jennmar (a Pittsburgh family owned mining products company).
- Cerberus on the £2.5bn acquisition of Capital Homes Limited;*
- Qatar Investment Authority on the recapitalisation of Chelsfield Partners LLP*
Professional services
- Mubadala Investment Company PJSC in connection with numerous investments within the professional services sector.
- Inflexion Private Equity Partners and its portfolio company Ocorian, provider of trustee administration and fiduciary services, on their leveraged buyout of Bridgepoint’s portfolio company, Estera, a provider of trustee services.
- Richard Attias on the repurchase of 49% of his UAE headquartered global strategy and consulting business, Richard Attias & Associates, from WPP for a consideration of up to US$20 million.
Technology, telecommunications & media
- FAB as the lead co-investors on Brookfield's £2.2 billion recommended offer for Network International Holdings plc.
- CVC on its investment in the Packets Group, a leading e-commerce logistics business in the Czech Republic.
- Mubadala Investment Company PJSC in connection with numerous investments in the technology, software, cybersecurity and cloud computing sectors.
- Accor S.A., a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties, in its subscription for a minority stake in Rotana Music Group, the largest record label and music repertoire holder in the Arab world.
- ATP Media Holdings Limited on multiple reorganisations of its shareholding structure.
- ATP Media, in the establishment of a new joint venture structure with the ATP Tennis Tour (Tennis Data Innovations) for the exploitation and monetisation of certain data licensing arrangements relating to tennis.
- Avast on:
- its sale of a 35% interest in Jumpshot, the US-based digital intelligence company to Ascential, a UK-based media group.
- the US$500,000 acquisition of certain IP assets from Steel Mountain Systems Corp.
- the acquisition of Piriform, a provider of PC and mobile optimization software including the Cleaner product.
- Game Lounge Sweden AB, an affiliate of Bridgepoint, on its acquisition of Panorama Partners, a company which owns and operates the online-based platform Bettingmetrics, which collects, analyses and shares the betting data of its users and connects its users to a number of bookmakers.
- Rollic Games, a subsidiary of Zynga Inc. and a game developer and publisher focused on free-to-play hyper-casual games, in its acquisition of 100% shares in Uncosoft Yazılım, a mobile game developer and creator of chart topping hyper-casual titles High Heels!, Repair My Car!, and award winning casual game 9PM Football Managers.
- Al Nahda Investments on its co-investment with Mubadala in Jio Platforms Limited.
Transport
- Mubadala Investment Company PJSC on its confidential acquisition of an Asian infrastructure asset.
- DP World on its acquisition of 100% of syncreon, a leading U.S. logistics provider.
- Red Sea Cruise Company (a wholly-owned subsidiary of PIF) in its joint venture with the Aman luxury group, set-up for the purpose of launching a new super luxury cruise line in the Red Sea.
- the managers of D-Marin, a leading global marina network, on their management incentive plan. This role was designated by CVC, the leading global private equity investor, following their investment in D-Marin in May 2020
- Rhône Capital, a global private equity firm, on its US$200 million investment in VistaJet Group Holding Limited, the leading global provider of luxury private aviation travel services.
- Marlink Group (a portfolio company of Apax Partners), a pioneer of business critical communication solutions for customers operating in remote environments, in its acquisition of Livewire Connections Limited (a company that provides an array of goods/services to companies responsible for the management of super yachts).
- Bridgepoint on its acquisition of Zenith Group from HgCapital and its acquisition of Contract Vehicles Holdings Limited Group from its shareholders;
Financial Institutions
- The Attachmate Group, Inc. (a consortium of US-based financial sponsors) on the £1.2bn reverse takeover of Micro Focus International plc;*
- Friends Life Group on the £316m disposal of Lombard International to The Blackstone Group and its subsequent share buy-back programme;*
- The Royal Bank of Scotland plc on the £15bn disposal of its structured investor products and equity derivatives business to BNP Paribas S.A.;*
- Julius Baer Group Ltd. on the US$840m acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.'s non-US private wealth management business;*
- Lloyds TSB Bank plc on the disposal of its onshore banking business in the UAE to HSBC Bank Middle East Limited;*
- International Bank of Qatar Q.S.C. on the disposal of the corporate aspects of Al Yusr, its Islamic banking operations in Qatar, to Qatar Islamic Bank Q.S.C. and the disposal of the retail aspects of Al Yusr to Barwa Bank Q.S.C.;*
- The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V. on the disposal of its UAE based International Diamond & Jewellery Group business to ABN Amro (Hong Kong Branch)*
- PIMCO on the establishment of a joint venture vehicle with Oaktree for the subsequent acquisition of a stake in Echo Investment.*
Manufacturing
- Curver Netherlands BV and its subsidiary Allibert Sanitaire SAS in relation to a quasi-management buy-in by a new management team of 30% of the share capital of Allibert Sanitaire SAS.
- Keter Group, the world's largest producer of quality resin consumer products on the acquisition by BC Partners Ltd and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board of a majority stake in the group from the Sagol family.
- A FTSE 100 listed speciality chemicals company on its sale of a Finnish chromatographic resin producing company, to a Purchaser whose ultimate parent company is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
- The Smithfield Group LLP on its sale of Innovia Group.
*Indicates experience prior to joining White & Case
Leading Individual: Corporate M&A: Abu Dhabi-based (UAE), Chambers Global 2024
"Up & Coming" Partner – Chambers Global, 2023
"Rising Star" – Next generation of private equity talent (London), Legal Week 2018
"Steven is very commercial in his approach, direct and to the point, but at the same time very good at finding solutions to quite complicated issues. He also coordinates advice very consistently across their global network." (Chambers Global 2024, Corporate/M&A (UAE))
"Steven Worthington [is] available 24/7, [is] always incredibly responsive and can get the right answer from the right person in the right office unbelievably quickly." (The Legal 500 2024, Commercial, Corporate and M&A (UAE))