Greenberg Traurig Represents Liberty Acquisition Holdings (International) in its Purchase of UK’s Pearl Group and Opal Reassurance

NEW YORK -

- Transactions valued at approximately US$6.7 billion

The international law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP today announced that it has served as counsel to Liberty Acquisition Holdings (International) Company in connection with its purchase of Pearl Group Limited, the largest closed life and pension fund consolidator in the U.K. and Opal Reassurance Limited, a re-insurance company that re-insures certain annuity liabilities of Pearl. The transactions, valued at approximately US$6.7 billion, were overwhelmingly approved by Liberty’s shareholders on July 24th and completed in London on September 2nd. Liberty Acquisition has changed its name to Pearl Group, with a new Euronext ticker of PEARL (www.thepearlgroup.com).

Greenberg Traurig has served as counsel to Liberty and its founders, Nicolas Berggruen, President and CEO of Liberty and founder of Berggruen Holdings, and Martin E. Franklin, Chairman of Liberty since Liberty’s formation as the largest (US$868 million) blank check or special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) IPO in 2008 and one of only two such deals done on the EURONEXT for the purpose of acquiring an operating business.

The legal work on the transaction was done by a cross-office Greenberg Traurig team led by Fort Lauderdale corporate attorneys Bruce March and Donn Beloff and New York corporate attorneys Alan Annex and Kenneth Gerasimovich.

“The Liberty-Pearl transaction was another great example of the extraordinary value of GT’s global team approach,” said Bruce March, Chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Fort Lauderdale Corporate Practice Group, “having brought together 60 lawyers from various offices with the necessary interdisciplinary experience to handle complex, cross-border transactions.”

Donn Beloff, Chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Fort Lauderdale Securities Practice Group, added, “The number and complexity of transactions required GT attorneys with experience in the fields of SPACs, international tax, international mergers and acquisitions, banking, litigation, securities, antitrust and insurance.”

Alan Annex, Co-Chair of Greenberg Traurig’s New York Corporate and Securities Group, who has extensive experience working with SPACs, noted that, “Liberty was led by an experienced team with proven private equity, mergers and acquisitions and operating experience with a track record of identifying unique opportunities to enhance shareholder value.

“Liberty’s ability to complete a transaction of this nature in today’s financial environment is outstanding. Greenberg Traurig has been involved in many such high profile transactions and is a recognized leader in closing deals in this arena,” he said.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, full-service law firm with approximately 1750 attorneys serving clients from more than 30 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. In the U.S., the firm has more offices than any other among the Top 20 on The National Law Journal’s 2008 NLJ 250. In the U.K., the firm operates as Greenberg Traurig Maher LLP. For additional information, please visit www.gtlaw.com.

Source: Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Lourdes Brezo-Martinez, +1-305-579-0776