Fareham: Chemring £100m deal advised by Blakes

Leading law firm Blake Lapthorn has provided legal advice to Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LBG) as the lead arranger and lender on the provision of loan facilities for Chemring Group plc, which is a leading defence organisation headquartered in Fareham, Hampshire.

The £100 million facility was provided in part to fund the acquisition of the entire issued stock capital of Hi-Shear Technology Corporation, a US public company that manufactures high reliability energetic solutions that perform critical functions in key US space and defence programmes.

Blake Lapthorn provided LBG with legal expertise in the areas of both corporate and banking. Claire Wheatley, a partner in the firm's Banking team, commented: "We were delighted to assist LBG in arranging this facility for a local Hampshire business. The acquisition of Hi-Shear was challenging because it involved the purchase of a US publically listed corporation by a UK public company and, although completion is conditional upon various matters including Hi-Shear shareholders' approval, Chemring needed to know it had a committed facility in place."

The Blake Lapthorn team comprised Michael Moore (Corporate Finance in Southampton) and Claire Wheatley (Banking in London).

Bond Pearce (Graham Jeffries) acted for Chemring.