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Mergers & Acquisitions
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April 04, 2024
Large-Cap PE Specialist Moves To Sidley From Paul Weiss
A veteran private equity attorney has joined Sidley Austin LLP's mergers and acquisitions and private equity practice in New York from Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, where he told Law360 in a Thursday interview that he will continue representing large cap private equity firms amid an anticipated uptick in both platform acquisitions and exits.
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April 04, 2024
Boston Scientific's $3.7B Axonics Buy Under FTC Microscope
Biomedical engineering company Boston Scientific Corp. on Thursday disclosed that the Federal Trade Commission requested more information on its planned $3.7 billion acquisition of medical technology company Axonics, which will result in a delay in the deal's closing.
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April 04, 2024
Ex-CEO Reaches Legal Fee Agreement With Trump-Tied SPAC
A Delaware vice chancellor has signed off on an agreement between Donald Trump-tied Digital World Acquisition Corp. and its former CEO to have the venture pay his legal costs related to federal probes and litigation in multiple states.
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April 04, 2024
Top M&A Advisers Of Q1 Include Kirkland, Skadden
Global law firms Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, Goodwin Procter LLP and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz were among the most active legal counsel providers for global mergers and acquisitions in the first quarter of this year, according to a new report from the London Stock Exchange Group.
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April 04, 2024
Del. Justices Reverse Chancery On Match.com Deal Fairness
Delaware's Supreme Court on Thursday undid a Chancery Court dismissal of a challenge to Match.com's 2019 reverse-spinoff from Barry Diller-controlled IAC Interactive, in a closely watched case rejecting the lower court's finding that Match had justified the use of a less onerous fairness test.
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April 04, 2024
Deals Rumor Mill: Alphabet, Honeywell, Syngenta IPO
Google parent Alphabet is exploring whether to make an offer to acquire software company HubSpot; Chinese regulators encouraged pesticides giant Syngenta to pull its $9 billion IPO over concerns it could unsettle China's volatile market, and Honeywell wants to sell its personal protective equipment unit. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors from the past week.
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April 04, 2024
Insurer Resolution Life To Buy New Zealand Biz For $247M
Resolution Life said on Thursday that its Australasian arm has agreed to buy Asteron Life, an insurer based in New Zealand, for 410 million New Zealand dollars ($247 million), as the global group eyes entry into the country's growing insurance sector.
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April 04, 2024
Mondi £5.1B Offer Deadline For DS Smith Extended
Packaging business DS Smith said Thursday that its rival Mondi PLC has been granted extra time to make a £5.1 billion ($6.5 billion) all-share offer as a bidding war for DS with International Paper Co. continues.
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April 04, 2024
UK Deepens Probe Into Vodafone-Three Telecoms Merger
Britain's antitrust authority said Thursday that it has launched an in-depth probe into plans by Vodafone and Three to merge their U.K. telecommunications networks to create a £16.5 billion ($21 billion) mobile operator after the companies failed to alleviate competition concerns.
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April 03, 2024
Antitrust Suits Remain Low Despite Slight 2023 Spike
Federal enforcers and private plaintiffs filed more new antitrust cases last year than the year before but the slight uptick still kept 2023 as the second lowest in a decade, according to a new Lex Machina report.
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April 03, 2024
Accused 'Shadow Trader' Takes Stand To Slam SEC's Case
A former Medivation executive accused of "shadow trading" when he purchased stock in rival Incyte testified in his California federal civil trial Wednesday that he didn't base that decision on confidential information, and he didn't think even "for one second" that he was violating securities laws.
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April 03, 2024
Israel-Hamas War No Excuse To Skip Discovery: Ch. 11 Judge
A Florida bankruptcy judge on Wednesday penalized an Israeli creditor pursuing a roughly $13 million Chapter 11 claim against a California-based air purifier maker, finding the conflict between Israel and Hamas is not a valid excuse for repeatedly missing discovery deadlines.
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April 03, 2024
Hawaii Bio Power Co. Can't Add Merger-Based Antitrust Claims
A Hawaii federal magistrate judge has refused to permit the addition of new allegations, based on a 2017 fossil fuel plant acquisition, to a recently restarted lawsuit accusing the state's largest power company of anticompetitively canceling a contract for a new biomass energy plant.
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April 03, 2024
AT&T Faces Investor Suit Over $43B WarnerMedia Spinoff
A Warner Bros. Discovery shareholder accused AT&T and its CEO John Stankey of hiding how serious the company's problems were as it spun off its $43 billion WarnerMedia unit, alleging that caused Discovery to pay far too much when it merged with its fellow news and entertainment giant.
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April 03, 2024
NC AG Greenlights New Monitor For HCA Hospital Amid Probe
A new organization has taken up the baton to monitor whether HCA Healthcare is in compliance with the agreement that cemented its $1.5 billion acquisition of a North Carolina health system, a pact that is the focus of ongoing litigation between HCA and the state's attorney general.
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April 03, 2024
FIS Didn't Lie To Itself About Short-Lived Merger, Execs Say
Fidelity National's top brass recently urged a Florida federal court to toss an investor's lawsuit over a $46 billion market cap drop resulting from spinning off a payment business it had acquired a few years prior, arguing the company can't "be deceived by its own statements," which a pension fund alleged artificially inflated share prices.
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April 03, 2024
Investors Want $1.5B Penalty Awarded After PE Buyout
A group of investors is seeking to enforce a $1.5 billion judgment stemming from a 2005 private equity acquisition of Greece-based Tim Hellas Telecommunications SA that it claims ultimately enriched PE firms TPG Inc. and Apax Partners LLP to the detriment of other investors.
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April 03, 2024
Genmab Builds Oncology Portfolio With $1.8B Deal
Danish biotechnology company Genmab announced Wednesday that it would acquire private cancer drugmaker ProfoundBio for $1.8 billion in cash, a move set to beef up Genmab's oncology portfolio and position the company as a competitor to other biotech companies that have made similar deals in the antibody drug conjugate space in recent months.
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April 03, 2024
OpenText Belongs In Merger Suit Coverage Row, Insurer Says
OpenText belongs in a dispute over coverage for a class action alleging Covisint's shareholders got a bad deal when it merged with OpenText in 2017, Covisint's insurer told a Michigan federal judge, arguing OpenText has a vested interest because it may have indemnification obligations if no coverage exists.
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April 03, 2024
Top 10 Deals Of Q1 Led By GE Energy Spinoff, Capital One
It may be wishful thinking to imagine that earlier hopes for a major rebound in 2024 mergers and acquisitions activity will pan out, but by many indications the year was at least off to a better start than 2023.
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April 03, 2024
Blue Owl Buying Kuvare Asset Management For Up To $1B
Alternative asset manager Blue Owl Capital Inc., advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, on Wednesday unveiled plans to buy Sidley Austin LLP-led Kuvare Asset Management for up to $1 billion in a cash-and-stock transaction.
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April 03, 2024
Disney Thwarts Trian Revolt, Retaining All 12 Board Members
Walt Disney Co. shareholders reelected the entertainment company's 12 current board members at a shareholder meeting Wednesday afternoon, rejecting all nominees pushed by activist investors Trian Fund Management and Blackwells Capital.
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April 03, 2024
Truth Social Investors Cop To Fraud In $23M Insider Case
Two Florida venture capitalists on Wednesday admitted to insider trading on confidential plans to take former President Donald Trump's media company public, after prosecutors charged that the Truth Social fraud netted them and a third defendant $23 million.
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April 03, 2024
Casa Systems Files For Ch. 11 With $316M Debt, Plans Sale
Communications equipment company Casa Systems Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware, with plans to sell its 5G mobile core and RAN business to software company Lumine Group.
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April 03, 2024
UK Vehicle Testing Co. Buys US Rival For Up To $30M
AB Dynamics PLC, a specialist in testing transportation products and services, said on Wednesday it has bought Venshure Test Services LLC for up to $30 million, as it seeks to expand its electric vehicle battery expertise.
Expert Analysis
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'
The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.
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New DOJ Roles Underscore National Security Focus
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent creation of two new leadership positions signals to the private sector that federal law enforcement is pouring resources into corporate investigations to identify potential national security violations, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
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How To Navigate The FTC's New Private Equity Frontier
The Federal Trade Commission's recent district court complaint against an anesthesia firm and its private equity partner tests key bounds of the agency's stand-alone authority, and defense strategies can include challenges to both the geographic and the service market fronts, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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Opinion
Newman Suspension Shows Need For Judicial Reform
The recent suspension of U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman following her alleged refusal to participate in a disability inquiry reveals the need for judicial misconduct reforms to ensure that judges step down when they can no longer serve effectively, says Aliza Shatzman at The Legal Accountability Project.
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Practicing Under DOJ 'Safe Harbor' Policy For M&As
The U.S. Justice Department's recently announced safe harbor policy for mergers and acquisitions offers greater specificity and predictability for acquiring companies that need time to self-report violations, but it's important to remember that the new window is not endless, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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SEC's Life Sciences Actions Utilize Novel Tools And Theories
Recent enforcement actions show that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is employing new forms of data analytics and noteworthy applications of insider trading laws in its scrutiny of fraud within the life sciences and health industries, say Edward Imperatore and Jina Choi at MoFo.
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How And Why Your Firm Should Implement Fixed-Fee Billing
Amid rising burnout in the legal industry and client efforts to curtail spending, pivoting to a fixed-fee billing model may improve client-attorney relationships and offer lawyers financial, logistical and stress relief — while still maintaining profit margins, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
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Opinion
SEC Actions Against Musk Are Constitutionally Defective
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent subpoena enforcement action against Elon Musk may be constitutionally and statutorily deficient — and the commission staff who issued the subpoenas and the action may have been unconstitutionally appointed, say Alex Lipman at Lipman Law and Justin Weddle at Weddle Law.
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Series
Conn. Banking Brief: The Notable Compliance Updates In Q3
The most notable legal changes affecting Connecticut financial institutions in the third quarter of 2023 included increased regulatory protections for consumers, an expansion of state financial assistance for underserved communities, and a panoply of tweaks to existing laws, says Brian Rich at Barclay Damon.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Needs Defense Amid Political Threats
Amid recent and historic challenges to the judiciary from political forces, safeguarding judicial independence and maintaining the integrity of the legal system is increasingly urgent, says Robert Peck at the Center for Constitutional Litigation.
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How Law Firms Can Use Account-Based Marketing Strategies
Amid several evolving legal industry trends, account-based marketing can help law firms uncover additional revenue-generating opportunities with existing clients, with key considerations ranging from data analytics to relationship building, say Jennifer Ramsey at stage LLC and consultant Gina Sponzilli.
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Strategic Succession Planning At Law Firms Is Crucial
Senior partners' reluctance to retire, the rise of the nonequity partner tier and generational differences in expectations are all contributing to an increasing number of departures from BigLaw, making it imperative for firms to encourage retirement among senior ranks and provide clearer leadership pathways to junior attorneys, says Laura Leopard at Leopard Solutions.
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The Impact Of Proposed HSR Form Changes On Agency Staff
The Federal Trade Commission's recent proposed changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Notification and Report Form will have the unintended effect of drastically increasing the burden on agency staff without an appreciable increase in their ability to detect potentially anti-competitive transactions, say Amanda Wait and Andrew Eklund at Norton Rose.
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FTC's Health Co. Suit Indicates Agency's Private Equity Focus
The Federal Trade Commission's latest lawsuit against an anesthesia company and its private equity investor highlights the agency's willingness to regulate the health care industry even when relevant acquisitions are relatively dated or when the controlling entity's economic interest is under 50%, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Top 4 Antitrust Enforcement Issues In Health Care Today
The Federal Trade Commission's recent lawsuit against U.S. Anesthesia Partners exemplifies antitrust enforcement authorities' efforts to aggressively reshape the health care industry, ranging from new proposed rules to withdrawals of previous guidance, say attorneys at Fried Frank.