Alberto Salvadè

I am one of Bird & Bird's founding partners in Italy and I focus on mergers and acquisitions, and private equity transactions. I also have experience in turnaround and restructuring deals.

As head of our corporate group in Italy and co-head of our International Corporate Department, I act for a number of Italian and international clients, including listed companies, especially in the life sciences, renewable energy and financial services sectors.

While I lead and coordinate my M&A and private equity team across the entire transaction, I work closely with clients in relation to the most sensitive topics of the deal, from structuring to negotiating the key contracts of the transaction, with a win-win approach.

Moreover, thanks to the combination of my M&A and restructuring and insolvency skills, I assist on acquisitions of distressed assets in the context of either recovery plans under the Italian Bankruptcy Law (articles 67 and 182-bis of R.D. n. 267/1942) or composition with creditors proceedings. In relation to restructuring and insolvency issues, I regularly assist banks and other financial lenders on negotiating the recovery of their receivables especially in complex turnaround situations.

Whatever type of transaction, I devote particular care to post-closing integration issues. While this implies the need to structure the due diligence review well for the target business with a multi-disciplinary approach in strict coordination with legal, employment, tax, financial and business teams involved in the transaction, it is also vital to clearly understand the business of the buyer, as well as carefully consider the role of key managers when closing the deal to ensure we meet the interests of all parties involved.

• I have advised a holding company in the sale of the whole share capital of one of the leading ammunition producers in the world to a NewCo incorporated by a private equity fund and in the simultaneous reinvestment of a portion of the relevant proceeds for the subscription of 40% of the NewCo's share capital. Our assistance ranged from the structuring of the deal, the negotiation of all the transaction contracts typical for a sizable private equity deal and any relevant regulatory aspect (including the coordination of US counsel involved in achieving the US regulatory approvals needed to implement the acquisition).
• I assisted the listed holding company of a leading Italian insurance group in negotiating and implementing a complex M&A deal with another leading Italian insurance company, acting as a buyer, aimed at creating Italy's second and Europe's fourth largest insurance group. The transaction was implemented through a capital increase for an amount of €339,541,776.02 reserved for subscription to the buyer and the subsequent complex merger of the two insurance groups. In addition to corporate, M&A and capital market issues, our assistance covered all regulatory topics of the deal, including the legal support in handling the relationships with regulators.
• I assisted an Italian listed company operating in the fashion sector in relation to the relevant debt restructuring process and its recapitalisation, also by means of a capital increase reserved to a professional investor. The transaction involved the issuance by our client of sophisticated financial instruments aimed at granting the investor and some financial creditors a particular waterfall on the envisaged future profits of the company and was the first of this kind to be executed in Italy by a listed company.