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Mergers & Acquisitions
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March 20, 2024
Senators Want More Scrutiny For Defense M&A Deals
Two U.S. senators are calling on the Pentagon to shift the way it reviews defense industry mergers and dedicate more staff to the task, saying that contractor consolidation is jeopardizing national security and diminishing returns for taxpayer dollars.
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March 20, 2024
Law360 Announces The Members Of Its 2024 Editorial Boards
Law360 is pleased to announce the formation of its 2024 Editorial Advisory Boards.
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March 20, 2024
King & Spalding Adds Ex-PwC Tax Pro As Partner In NY
An experienced tax attorney has joined King & Spalding LLP in New York after working at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for six years.
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March 20, 2024
Petmate Strikes Debt-Slicing Deal In Takeover Led By 3 Firms
Milbank-advised Petmate said Wednesday it has reached an agreement with all of its lenders, represented by Gibson Dunn and Ropes & Gray, to eliminate more than $600 million of debt while picking up a total of $100 million in capital, in a deal that will result in the lenders owning 100% of the business.
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March 20, 2024
US Chamber's Litigation Funding Concerns Spur 2 State Laws
Amid concerns from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about third-party litigation funding, including from potentially hostile foreign entities, state legislatures in Indiana and West Virginia have recently passed bills imposing restrictions on the practice.
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March 19, 2024
Kirkland Restructuring Ace To Join Hilco Global As Vice Chair
James H.M. Sprayregen, the founder of Kirkland & Ellis' restructuring practice group and a well-known deal-maker in the corporate restructuring and mergers and acquisitions community, is set to join Hilco Global as a vice chair, the financial services holding company announced Tuesday.
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March 19, 2024
10th Circ. Mulls If $6.4M Judgment Is Tainted By Cannabis Biz
A Tenth Circuit panel pressed a cannabis entrepreneur Tuesday on his claim that a $6.4 million damages award for an ex-business partner amounts to "vindicating an interest" in federally illegal marijuana sales, with judges asking why the judgment can't be separated from the marijuana business.
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March 19, 2024
EU Accuses Kingspan Of Skirting Merger Review Demands
The European Commission on Tuesday accused construction materials supplier Kingspan Group of providing inaccurate or misleading information during the review for the company's planned purchase of Trimo before ultimately abandoning the deal.
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March 19, 2024
Nippon Steel Tries To Ease Worries Over $14.9B US Steel Deal
Nippon Steel Corp. pledged to move its North American headquarters to Pennsylvania in an attempt to assure the public that its proposed $14.9 billion acquisition of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel will ultimately be good for the domestic steel industry.
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March 19, 2024
Carlisle Buying Roofing Biz From PE Firm GreyLion For $410M
Dorsey & Whitney LLP-guided Carlisle Companies Inc. said Tuesday it had agreed to buy roofing component business MTL, which is represented by Latham & Watkins LLP, from private equity firm GreyLion Partners for $410 million in cash.
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March 19, 2024
Nixed JetBlue-Spirit Deal Moots Antitrust Case, 1st Circ. Told
The abandonment of JetBlue Airways Corp. and Spirit Airways Inc.'s $3.8 billion merger following a successful U.S. Department of Justice legal challenge moots a separate antitrust suit by air travelers seeking to block the tie-up, the airlines have argued to the First Circuit.
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March 19, 2024
Unilever To Spin Off Ice Cream Biz, Including Ben & Jerry's
European consumer goods giant Unilever on Tuesday unveiled plans to separate its ice cream business, which includes Ben & Jerry's, as part of an effort to simplify and "streamline" its operations.
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March 19, 2024
Ropes & Gray Adds Former Cooley Antitrust Partner In DC
Ropes & Gray LLP has added a longtime Cooley LLP partner who has helped guide some of the largest corporate mergers and acquisitions in recent years, some of which totaled multiple billions of dollars, the firm announced Monday.
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March 19, 2024
IFF Selling Pharma Unit To French Co. Roquette In $2.85B Deal
IFF, a maker of ingredients and additives for food, health and home-based products, said Tuesday it has agreed to sell its Pharma Solutions business to French plant-based ingredient maker Roquette at an enterprise value of up to $2.85 billion.
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March 19, 2024
Brokerage Owner Hid Compliance Woes Before Sale, Suit Says
Financial services company Arete Wealth Inc. has sued the previous owner of a brokerage firm it acquired, claiming the former owner papered over widespread compliance issues at his firm that ultimately led to an "onslaught of costly arbitrations" after the sale closed.
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March 19, 2024
Diversified Energy To Buy Gas Assets For $410M
U.S. oil producer Diversified Energy said Tuesday that it will buy natural gas assets from investment manager Oaktree Capital for $410 million, which will include hedging for protection against the fall in gas prices.
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March 19, 2024
Freshfields Guides AstraZeneca In $2.4B Pharma Co. Deal
AstraZeneca PLC said Tuesday that it will buy Fusion Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in oncology, for up to $2.4 billion in cash to help it transform cancer treatments.
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March 18, 2024
Ex-Autonomy CEO's Fraud Trial Over $11.7B HP Deal Kicks Off
Autonomy's former CEO Michael Lynch duped HP into buying his company at the inflated price of $11.7 billion, a federal prosecutor said Monday during opening statements in the British entrepreneur's criminal trial, while Lynch's lawyer countered his client had "all the money in the world" and no motive to commit fraud.
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March 18, 2024
SEC Fines Supervisor $47K Over Revenue Inflation Claims
A former finance director of water treatment company Evoqua Water Technologies Corp. will pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nearly $47,000 to resolve claims that he was part of a scheme to inflate the company's revenue by $36 million.
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March 18, 2024
Del. Suit Details Wrongful Takeover Of Telecom System Co.
The founder and former CEO of a Florida-headquartered telecommunications infrastructure building company has sued the head of an investment firm and others Monday in Delaware's Court of Chancery, accusing them of carrying out a "fraudulent scheme" to wrest control of the business.
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March 18, 2024
Minute Media Buys Rights To Publish Sports Illustrated
Digital content business Minute Media has purchased the publishing rights for Sports Illustrated, keeping alive a longtime brand that recently obliterated its newsroom with layoffs and shut down its betting platform, according to a Monday announcement.
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March 18, 2024
Paul Hastings-Led Francisco Partners To Pay $1.2B For Jama
Tech-focused private equity investor Francisco Partners has agreed to buy Portland, Oregon-based Jama Software from shareholders including Insight Partners and Madrona Ventures for $1.2 billion, the companies said Monday.
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March 18, 2024
Latham-Led Talos Sells Carbon Capture Co. In $148M Deal
Talos Energy, represented by Latham & Watkins LLP, announced Monday it sold its entire carbon capture and sequestration business to a U.S.-based subsidiary of French multinational TotalEnergies for $148 million, citing plans to use the proceeds for loan repayment and general corporate purposes.
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March 18, 2024
Nuvei's Stock Soars On Disclosure Of Potential PE Buyout
Canadian fintech Nuvei Corp. said it has formed a special committee to evaluate strategic options after reports indicated that private equity firm Advent International is pursuing a buyout, developments that led to a more than 33% jump in the company's stock Monday.
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March 18, 2024
NYSE Moves To Boot Wilbur Ross-Backed SPAC
Ross Acquisition Corp. II, a special-purpose acquisition company founded by former U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, disclosed Monday the New York Stock Exchange has suspended trading of its shares and began the delisting process after the SPAC failed to complete a merger within the required three-year time frame.
Expert Analysis
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Colorado Antitrust Reform Carries Broad State Impact
Colorado recently became the latest state to update and expand its antitrust laws, and the new act may significantly affect enforcement and private litigation, particularly when it comes to workers and consumers, says Diane Hazel at Foley & Lardner.
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Mootness Fees Are Losing Traction In Del. And Federal Courts
The Delaware Chancery's recent decision in Anderson v. Magellan Health deals a significant blow to plaintiffs attorneys seeking mootness fees for merger litigation brought in that state, and federal courts are trending in the same direction, say Paul Marino and Michael Fialkoff at Day Pitney.
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Opinion
Merger Guidelines Should Provide For Competition Trustees
Following the U.S. antitrust agencies' release of draft merger guidelines, retired U.S. Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Susan Braden suggests a court-appointed competition trustee would help ensure U.S. competition without impairing economic prosperity.
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Senate Hearing Highlights Antitrust Hazards In PGA-LIV Deal
The U.S. Senate's recent questioning of PGA Tour COO Ron Price on the proposed deal with LIV Golf and its release of a dossier of framework agreements covered a variety of issues that could exacerbate antitrust concerns, including the predatory purchasing theory of competitive harm, free-riding and alternate funding, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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Investors With ESG Aims Should Heed Antitrust Reporting Rules
As investors globally are embracing environmental, social and governance investing, regulatory agencies have made clear that ESG initiatives are not immune from antitrust scrutiny, and investors cannot count on receiving special exemptions from the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act reporting requirements, say Jonathan Gleklen and Francesca Pisano at Arnold & Porter.
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US Antitrust Approach Toward ESG Clashes With EU Stance
A comparison between how EU and U.S. antitrust enforcers have approached companies' cooperative environmental, social and corporate governance efforts highlights America's comparatively harsh stance, contributing to a difficult compliance climate for international businesses, say attorneys at Steptoe & Johnson.
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When Investment Banks Can Sell Real Estate In Calif.
When investment banks sell businesses that own property in California, they may run into trouble if they are not licensed real estate brokers, unless the property is merely incidental to the deal at hand, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Merger Guidelines' Broad Tack Ignores Recent Precedent
The U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission's new proposed merger guidelines are consistent with the Biden administration's expansive approach to antitrust enforcement, but they fail to grapple meaningfully with much of modern economic precedent and court decisions requiring greater agency rigor in merger analysis, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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Ch. 11 Ruling Informs On Social Media Ownership Rights
Social media users now have useful guidance regarding account ownership rights following a federal bankruptcy court's recent ruling in the Vital Pharmaceuticals Chapter 11 case, which rejected the notion that advertised content alone could create a presumption of ownership for the advertised business, say Deborah Enea and Thomas Dockery at Troutman Pepper.
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Parsing FTC's Intercontinental-Black Knight Merger Challenge
The Federal Trade Commission's recent Article III case challenging a merger between Intercontinental Exchange and Black Knight suggests the agency is using a structuralist approach to evaluate the merger's potential anti-competitive harm, says David Evans at Kelley Drye.
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Perspectives
Mallory Gives Plaintiffs A Better Shot At Justice
Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern claim it opens the door to litigation tourism, but the ruling simply gives plaintiffs more options — enabling them to seek justice against major corporations in the best possible court, say Rayna Kessler and Ethan Seidenberg at Robins Kaplan.
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FERC Order Affirms Increased Scrutiny Of Investor-Utility Ties
A recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order confirming more aggressive scrutiny of investors' exercise of control over public utilities through representation on their boards or the boards of companies holding interests in them means that both investors and utilities face significantly heightened compliance obligations, say attorneys at Akin.
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Effectual Relief Questions Linger After Section 363 Ruling
In the months since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in MOAC Mall Holdings, courts and practitioners must grapple with the issue of what effectual relief courts may grant upon an appeal of an unstayed sale order, says Monique Jewett-Brewster at Hopkins Carley.
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CFIUS Clampdown Will Deter Allied-Country Investment
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ recent redefinition of transaction "completion date" is the latest in a series of steps taken in the name of U.S. security that are likely to deter investments from friendly countries and increase capital costs for U.S. startups, says Stephen Heifetz at Wilson Sonsini.
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Important Generative AI Considerations In M&A
The recent surge of interest in generative artificial intelligence and its use of machine learning algorithms means there are novel concerns as well as inherent risks for those engaging in M&A activity, and acquirers should pay careful attention to a target’s scope of ownership and licensing rights, say attorneys at Davis Polk.