In a month that saw the UK's FTSE 100 index fall to its lowest levels since 1997, Great Universal Stores' public sale of a 22.5% stake in clothing company Burberry was a welcome distraction for capital markets teams at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters.
But adverse market conditions forced Burberry to price at the lower end of its proposed range on July 11, with the shares sold at 230 pence each valuing the company at around £1.1 billion ($1.17 billion).
Corporate partner Tim Jones led the team from Freshfields advising joint sponsors and lead managers Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. Linklaters' Brigid Rentoul advised GUS.
Several offerings have been cancelled in recent weeks and, at the beginning of last month, a survey by accounts Pricewaterhouse Coopers recorded that only 54 companies had listed in the second quarter of 2002, a 42% drop from the same period in 2001.