Mergers & AcquisitionsRSS

  • December 15, 2008

    Buyout Troubles Capped By Huntsman-Hexion Failure

    As the dramatic failure of a $6.5 billion merger between Huntsman Corp. and Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc. became official Monday — and Huntsman announced it would receive $1 billion as a consequence — mergers experts said it represented the highest-profile victim of the economic downturn.

  • December 15, 2008

    FTC Asks Court To Boot Whole Foods Counterattack

    The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has asked a court to toss a suit recently filed against it by Whole Foods Market Inc. challenging the commission's administrative proceedings, arguing that the court lacks jurisdiction.

  • December 16, 2008

    Competition Practice: Paul Hastings

    As more company transactions occur on a global scale, competition lawyers have to be on top of coordinating the review process for cross-border mergers and acquisitions, according to Hamilton Loeb, who heads Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP’s global competition practice.

  • December 12, 2008

    Judge OKs 1st-Day Motions In KB Toys Ch. 11

    A bankruptcy judge has granted KB Toys Inc.'s first-day Chapter 11 motions to draw on cash collateral, pay its employees and satisfy certain prepetition claims as the toy retailer prepares to close its doors for good.

  • December 12, 2008

    Belgian Court Suspends Fortis-BNP Paribas Deal

    A Belgian court has reportedly frozen the sale of Fortis NV's Belgian assets to French bank BNP Paribas SA as part of a government-led carve-up, ruling that Fortis' shareholders must be allowed to weigh in on the deal.

  • December 12, 2008

    Creditors, Trustee Object To WaMu Asset-Sale Plan

    Unsecured creditors and the U.S. trustee monitoring Washington Mutual Inc.'s Chapter 11 proceedings filed limited objections Thursday to the failed savings and loan's proposal to sell off some of its investment assets ahead of a hearing scheduled for next week.

  • December 12, 2008

    Role, Not Pay, May Be Behind Skadden Star's Jump

    With bankruptcy dockets busy and new cases popping up in many sectors of the U.S. economy, a top restructuring attorney from a top firm has jumped from legal work to the banking side — but it may have more to do with taking on a larger role in strategy than earning a higher salary.

  • December 15, 2008

    Retiree Buyouts Enjoined In Benefits Class Action

    A federal judge has thwarted the implementation of a voluntary retiree buyout program that some former employees of agricultural machinery maker Massey Ferguson Inc. say violates a 1998 settlement over health care benefits.

  • December 12, 2008

    Leaps & Bounds: Notable Firm News

    Lateral movement slowed considerably last week, new office openings were few and far between and law firm mergers were nowhere to be found. Energy lawyers were the exception; King & Spalding, Troutman Sanders and Davis Wright Tremaine all snagged energy teams.

  • December 11, 2008

    Group Drops Legal Fight Against Lloyds-HBOS Merger

    A group of more than 500 shareholders, businessmen and politicians that vehemently opposed Lloyds TSB's proposed takeover of HBOS PLC announced Thursday that it was dropping its legal challenge of the £12.2 billion merger of the two financial giants.

  • December 11, 2008

    Yahoo Alters Severance Plans To Settle Suits

    In order to settle shareholder litigation, Yahoo Inc. has agreed to amend controversial employee severance plans instated in February after Microsoft Corp.'s $44.6 billion takeover bid, which the troubled search engine repeatedly rejected.

  • December 11, 2008

    KB Toys Re-Enters Ch. 11, Plans To Close All Stores

    A sudden decline in consumer sales has sent KB Toys Inc., the nation's largest mall-based specialty toy chain, into bankruptcy protection, about three years after it emerged from an earlier Chapter 11 case under the ownership of Prentice Capital Management Inc.

  • December 11, 2008

    2nd Class OK'd In Sprint Suits Over Commissions

    A federal judge has certified a class of current and former employees of Sprint Nextel Corp. who allege that the company has been underpaying commissions since its 2005 merger with Nextel, less than a week after another judge certified a different class of Sprint retail employees making similar allegations.

  • December 11, 2008

    Zurich Financial To Pay $25M Over Reinsurance Deals

    Swiss insurer Zurich Financial Services Group AG is set to fork over $25 million to settle civil securities fraud charges by U.S. federal regulators relating to finite reinsurance transactions.

  • December 12, 2008

    National City To Sell 61 Branches In $5.6B PNC Deal

    PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and National City Corp. will sell 61 National City branch banking offices in western Pennsylvania in order to move forward with a nearly $5.6 billion deal to create the fifth-largest U.S. banking deposit franchise, federal antitrust authorities said.

  • December 10, 2008

    Morgan Lewis Snags Former Thelen Practice Head

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP has snapped up the former chairman of Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP's employee benefits practice group in the firm's latest acquisition from now-defunct Thelen.

  • December 10, 2008

    Bankruptcy Practice: Paul Hastings

    Without access to credit markets, many companies are going to be hitting the wall quicker than ever before, according to Richard A. Chesley, who chairs Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP’s Chicago office and specializes in restructuring litigation and bankruptcy transactions.

  • December 10, 2008

    Shareholders Fight Constellation Over Merger Plan

    A putative class of Constellation Energy Group Inc. shareholders has sued the company, accusing it of violating securities law in connection with its proposed sale to the Warren Buffett-controlled MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., which is also named as a defendant.

  • December 9, 2008

    Former Heller Antitrust Veteran Joins White & Case

    Competition lawyer Joseph Angland has landed as a partner in the New York office of global law firm White & Case LLP after the dissolution of his high-profile former employer, Heller Ehrman LLP, which met its end in September amid the recent financial crisis.

  • December 9, 2008

    Labor Leaders, Economists Push For $900B Stimulus

    A group of economists and labor leaders has proposed a $900 billion economic recovery plan, aiming to secure Congress’ support and have it ready for President-elect Barack Obama to sign his first day in office.