Clifford Chance

Strong results underline a year of strategic progress at Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance today announced its provisional results for the year ended 30 April 2011:

• Revenues amounted to £1,219 million, up 2% on the previous financial year (2010: £1,197 million)
• Partnership profit was £381 million, up 10% on the previous financial year (2010: £347 million)
• Profit per equity partner was £1,005,000, up 8% on the previous financial year (2010: £933,000)
• In US Dollars, these amounts are equivalent to revenues of $1,963 million, partnership profit of $613 million and profit per equity partner of $1,618,000 (2010: revenues $1,927 million, partnership profit $559 million and profit per equity partner $1,502,000)
• In Euro, these amounts are equivalent to revenues of €1,353 million, partnership profit of €423 million and profit per equity partner of €1,116,000 (2010: revenues €1,329 million, partnership profit €385 million and profit per equity partner €1,036,000) 

Audited figures will be published in the autumn.

Managing Partner, David Childs commented:

"This is a strong set of results which demonstrate how our investments over many years are delivering for the Firm and for our clients.  We are very pleased to be in growth mode again and to see our profitability further strengthened.

Our practices in Asia and the Middle East have again shown particularly impressive results and we have robust strategies in place to continue to build those businesses in line with what is very clear client demand for support in these regions.

Last year also saw increased stability in the more mature Western markets, in the US and in Europe. A number of our European offices have experienced sound growth this year, with a good return to form in Germany.

The year ahead looks exciting for our Firm.  Our breadth of high-quality practices across all the major financial markets, and our market-leading expertise in regulatory matters, make us extremely well positioned to support our clients' increasing need for cross-border advice, particularly in relation to the complex mass of legislative change resulting from the financial crisis."

Strategic highlights

• Clifford Chance continued its investment in key growth markets, including:
• Completing a three way merger with Australia's two leading corporate boutiques to create an immediate on the ground 14 partner practice in Sydney and Perth
• Expanding further its already strong base in the Middle East, opening an office in Qatar
• Tapping into the buoyant Turkish and South East European market with the opening of an office in Istanbul
• Promoting talent to support clients in critical growth regions – 12 out of 23 newly promoted partners this year are based in our Asia Pacific operations
• The Firm brought in nine high profile lateral partner hires in London, New York and Asia, with a further three partners joining the Firm this summer to support, in particular, the expansion of our M&A, High Yield and Asia Litigation and Arbitration capabilities
• The internationalisation of our business continues apace – 37 of our top 50 clients worked with us across 20 or more offices last year
• Efforts to improve the gender balance of our partnership began to show real progress, with women representing one third of this year's newly elected partners

Continued investment in improving the efficient and effective delivery of the Firm's services, including the launch of a number of pilot projects to improve processes and further expansion of the Firm's Knowledge Centre for Transaction and Case Support in India, which now numbers approximately 50 consultants

Highlights of client work

• The Firm worked on a number of landmark financial and capital markets transactions, including:
• Advising on the creation of the €440bn European Financial Stability Fund, on the EFSF's first loan to Ireland, its €27bn debt issuance programme, its inaugural €5bn bond issue and its most recent €8bn bond placement in support of Portugal.  This followed advising the European Commission in relation to the coordination and negotiation of the €80 billion stability support loan provided by euro area Member States to Greece
• Advising Volkswagen on its US$1.75bn bond issue
• Advising the underwriters on Glencore International's US$10bn IPO, the first dual London and Hong Kong admission
• Advising the underwriters on Prada's high-profile US$2bn IPO in Hong Kong
• Advising on the IPO of Nielsen Holdings BV, the world's largest audience measurement company and the largest ever Private Equity backed IPO in the US
• Advising China Investment Corp. in relation to its pre-IPO cornerstone equity investment in Brazil's largest independent investment bank, Banco BTG
• The Firm has continued to build on its success in key target industry sectors, including:
• TMT – representing Hearst in its negotiations for the purchase of French publishing group Lagardère's international magazines unit; advising Axel Springer on a joint venture with Ringier, creating one of the most important players in the media sector in Central and Eastern Europe
• Consumer Goods & Retail - advising Orangina Schweppes, a Suntory Group company, on the acquisition of the Sunny Delight beverages business in Europe and North Africa; advising Carrefour on the sale of its hypermarket business in Thailand and on the spinoff of its discount division Dia, with its subsequent planned listing on the Madrid Stock exchange
• Energy and resources - advising Total on all aspects of its US$9.6 billion joint venture with Saudi Aramco to construct, own and operate what will be Total's largest refinery globally; advising Iraq's West Qurna 2, on an agreement between Lukoil and Statoil for US$2bn of early works to bring the second largest unexplored oil field in the world to full production over the next seven years; advising Vale on its all-cash US$2.5bn acquisition of Simandou iron ore assets in Guinea from BSG Resources
• The Firm continued to reinforce its strong track record in transformational cross-border M&A, with work including advising:
• International Power on its combination with GDF Suez Energy International
• Man Group plc on the agreed US$1.6bn acquisition of NYSE-listed rival hedge fund, GLG Partners Inc, creating the world's largest hedge fund management company
• Siemens on a global strategic partnership between its IT Solutions and Services business and Atos Origin
• TAM, Brazil's largest airline, on its merger with Chilean carrier, LAN
• Our Litigation practice enjoyed significant victories in a number of important cases, including:
• Successfully representing JP Morgan in the long-running and precedent-setting $700m mis-selling claim brought by Springwell
• Defending Citibank in the criminal proceedings relating to market rigging in the Parmalat case before the Court of Milan in which the bank and its executives were fully acquitted
• Advising Bank of America Merrill Lynch on the pre-litigation settlement of claims by the limited partners in its US$2.65bn Asian Real Estate Opportunity Fund, and the subsequent sale of its control in the Asian fund to Blackstone
• Successfully representing our client Dexia Bank at the largest criminal trial Belgium has ever seen