Cleary Gottlieb represented global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield plc and its principal shareholders, a consortium comprised of TPG, PAG Asia Capital, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, in the company’s $765 million initial public offering of 45 million of its ordinary shares.
Cleary also represented the company in a concurrent primary private placement investment by Vanke Service (HongKong) Co., Limited, a subsidiary of China Vanke Co., Ltd., in a 4.9 percent ownership stake in the company. In connection with the IPO, a corporate restructuring of the company and its subsidiaries was undertaken which resulted in a new English public limited company, Cushman & Wakefield plc, becoming the parent company of the group. In restructuring to an English parent company, Cleary advised the company on a number of U.K. stamp duty implications.
The shares were sold by the company and will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on August 2, 2018, under the ticker symbol “CWK.” Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs & Co., and UBS Investment Bank are acting as joint lead book running managers in the IPO. In connection with the offering, the company granted the underwriters a 30-day overallotment option of up to an additional 6,750,000 ordinary shares ($114.8 million).