Wachtell Lipton

1. Alcon Shareholder Drops Bid To Block Novartis Deal

Friday, Mar 19, 2010

A New York foundation that holds stock in Alcon Inc. has agreed to voluntarily dismiss its putative class action accusing Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG and Nestle AG of violating federal securities law through the sale of Nestle's shares in Alcon.

2. No Quick Trial In Airgas, Air Products Takeover Spat

Wednesday, Mar 17, 2010

A Delaware judge has refused to expedite a trial in Air Products and Chemicals Inc.'s tiff with the directors of rival Airgas Inc., whom Air Products sued for rebuffing its hostile takeover bid, saying the issue is developing outside the courtroom.

3. Aleris' Disclosure Statement Gets Go-Ahead

Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010

A bankruptcy judge has greenlighted Aleris International Inc.'s disclosure statement, which aims to launch the aluminum products and recycling firm out of Chapter 11 by the middle of 2010 after it emerges as a privately held venture.

4. Akin, Wachtell Advise Consol On $3.5B Dominion Deal

Monday, Mar 15, 2010

Consol Energy Inc. inked a deal Monday to purchase Dominion Resources Inc.'s Appalachian exploration and production business for $3.475 billion in cash, scoring the rights to develop nearly 500,000 acres in the Marcellus Shale formation.

5. Wachtell Advises PVH In $3B Hilfiger Acquisition

Monday, Mar 15, 2010

Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. has reached a deal to acquire Tommy Hilfiger BV for approximately €2.2 billion ($3 billion) in cash and stock, bringing the clothing company under the same roof as fellow retailers Calvin Klein, Bass and Izod.

6. Petitioners Seek Early Remand For Foreign-Cubed Case

Friday, Mar 12, 2010

Petitioners seeking to open U.S. courts to securities class actions brought by foreign plaintiffs against foreign defendants have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse and remand an appeals court decision without oral arguments following two recent high court decisions rejecting “drive-by jurisdictional rulings.”

7. Suit Over UBP Madoff Losses Tossed For Preemption

Thursday, Mar 11, 2010

A federal judge has thrown out a putative class action alleging Swiss bank Union Bancaire Privee and its officers and directors were liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in losses incurred by its funds in the wake of Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme.

8. Ambac Appeals Remaining Claims In Shareholder Suit

Tuesday, Mar 09, 2010

Ambac Financial Group Inc. is appealing a decision by a federal judge in New York to allow a shareholder class action against the bond insurer to go forward, in spite of the fact the judge already pared back some claims relating to a 2008 stock offering.

9. Airgas Fails To Oust Cravath From Air Products Fight

Friday, Mar 05, 2010

While Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP may never be back in Airgas Inc.’s good graces, the firm won’t be disqualified from representing Air Products & Chemicals Inc. in its hostile takeover fight for Airgas, a former client.

10. CF Tops Yara With $4.7B Bid For Fertilizer Rival

Tuesday, Mar 02, 2010

CF Industries Holdings Inc. on Tuesday launched a new effort to acquire rival fertilizer company Terra Industries Inc. with a $4.7 billion bid that tops a $4.1 billion offer by Yara International of Norway.

11. US No Place For Foreign-Cubed Cases: Chamber

Friday, Feb 26, 2010

In a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court Friday, the Chamber of Commerce urged the high court to reject a bid to open U.S. courts to securities class actions brought by foreign plaintiffs against foreign defendants.

12. Lehman, JPMorgan Bury Hatchet Over $7.68B Claim

Friday, Feb 26, 2010

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has penned a tentative deal with JPMorgan Chase & Co. that will lay to rest a $7.68 billion claim related to illiquid securities held as collateral by the bank after the investment firm's collapse.

13. $2.6B Brookfield Deal Would Split GGP Into 2 Parts

Wednesday, Feb 24, 2010

Mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. announced Wednesday that it had received a $2.63 billion proposed equity commitment from Brookfield Asset Management Inc. as part of a plan to divide the company in two as it exits bankruptcy.

14. Lack Of Raises For NY Judges Ruled Unconstitutional

Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010

New York's highest court ruled Tuesday that the failure of state lawmakers and governors to increase judicial pay for more than 10 years violates the separation-of-powers doctrine in the state constitution.

15. Claims Pared In Ambac Shareholder Class Action

Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010

A federal judge has trimmed some claims in a shareholder class action alleging that bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc. assured investors that the company was maintaining a cautious strategy while it was in fact insuring increasingly risky financial products.

16. Airgas Rejects Hostile Offer; Cravath Suit Stayed

Monday, Feb 22, 2010

Airgas Inc. has asked its shareholders not to give in to industrial packaged gas rival Air Products & Chemicals Inc.'s $7 billion, $60-per-share hostile takeover offer, while a Pennsylvania judge in Airgas' conflict-of-representation suit against Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP has cleared the decks for the battle over the deal to unfold fully in Delaware.

17. Ruling Looms On SEC Deal Over Merrill Losses

Friday, Feb 19, 2010

Acquiescing to a request from a federal judge, the New York Attorney General's Office has handed over testimony from its probe of Bank of America Corp.'s 2008 merger with Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., ahead of a promised Monday ruling on a settlement between BofA and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to the takeover.

18. Walgreen To Snap Up Duane Reade For $1.1B

Wednesday, Feb 17, 2010

Drugstore heavyweight Walgreen Co. has reached a deal to acquire New York-based pharmacy chain Duane Reade Holdings Inc. in a cash transaction valued at $1.075 billion, including the assumption of debt.

19. $10B Mall Merger Would Propel GGP Out Of Ch. 11

Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010

Mall operator Simon Property Group Inc. has made public a $10 billion offer to acquire bankrupt rival General Growth Properties Inc. and to provide its unsecured creditors with a 100 percent cash recovery.

20. Norwegian Fertilizer Giant Scoops Up Terra For $4.1B

Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010

Touting the deal as a boon for its shareholders, Terra Industries Inc. said Tuesday that Yara International ASA would acquire the U.S.-based nitrogen products producer in a deal with an equity value of roughly $4.1 billion.