DLA Piper today announced that it has represented Appleton Papers in a US$675 million business combination with Hicks Acquisition Company II. Appleton is a leading manufacturer of specialty high value-added coated paper products and a provider of proprietary encapsulation applications. Hicks Acquisition Company II is a special purpose acquisition company founded and headed by Thomas O. Hicks with US$149.3 million of cash in trust.
Under the terms of the proposed business combination, Hicks Acquisition Company II will invest the cash held in trust to acquire an equity interest in Appleton. Proceeds from the transaction will be used by Appleton to reduce outstanding debt, invest in the company, buy back warrants or for other general corporate purposes.
The DLA Piper team was led by Neal Aizenstein (Chicago) with assistance from Andrew Weil (Chicago),Christopher Paci (New York) and Richard Ashley (Chicago).
