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Mergers & Acquisitions
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May 17, 2024
Cantor, Lutnick Strike Deal With Window SPAC Investors
Shareholders of a special purpose acquisition company that took a now-bankrupt smart window manufacturer public have reached a tentative agreement to settle their proposed Delaware Chancery Court class action against Cantor Fitzgerald LP and its billionaire chair and CEO Howard Lutnick.
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May 17, 2024
Industry Emboldened After Justices Galvanize Agency Attacks
In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court said "extraordinary" and "far-reaching" attacks on administrative enforcers can skip agency tribunals and go straight to federal district court, ambitious challenges to regulatory powers are rapidly gaining traction, and the high court is poised to put them on an even firmer footing.
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May 17, 2024
4 Firms Build $2.55B Sale Of Avangrid To Spain's Iberdrola
Spanish renewable energy company Iberdrola SA and its portfolio company, sustainable energy business Avangrid, on Friday announced that they have reached an agreement for Iberdrola to take Avangrid private by purchasing the remaining issued and outstanding shares it does not already own in a $2.55 billion deal built by four firms.
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May 17, 2024
Calif. Man Who Cooperated In $5M Insider Case Avoids Prison
A Manhattan federal judge on Friday allowed a California information technology pro to avoid prison for his role in a $5 million insider-trading ring involving laser company Lumentum Holdings Inc.'s secret merger plans, citing his extensive cooperation with prosecutors.
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May 17, 2024
Debevoise Hires Former Clifford Chance US Antitrust Head
Tim Cornell, former head of the U.S. antitrust group at Clifford Chance LLP, will join Debevoise & Plimpton LLP's Washington, D.C., office as partner, Debevoise announced Friday.
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May 17, 2024
McDermott Adds Dechert Blockchain Ace In Calif. Offices
McDermott Will & Emery LLP is growing its transactions team, announcing Friday it is bringing in a Dechert LLP blockchain and digital assets expert as a partner in its Orange County and Silicon Valley offices.
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May 17, 2024
Winston & Strawn Leads Asia-Focused SPAC $100M IPO
Shares of RF Acquisition II, a special-purpose acquisition company targeting the technology sector in Asia, began trading publicly on Friday following the company's $100 million initial public offering.
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May 17, 2024
Blackstone Leads $7.5B Financing For AI-Focused CoreWeave
Artificial intelligence-focused infrastructure provider CoreWeave said Friday it had secured an agreement for a $7.5 billion debt financing facility provided by Blackstone with strategic participation from hedge fund Magnetar Capital, the co-lead investor, and tech investor Coatue.
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May 17, 2024
Tilray To Raise Money For Deals Amid US Pot Policy Change
Cannabis lifestyle and consumer packaged goods company Tilray Brands Inc. on Friday said it plans to raise money to fund future acquisitions and expansion, in an announcement that comes just one day after President Joe Biden revealed that his administration is formally relaxing restrictions on marijuana.
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May 17, 2024
Glass Lewis, ISS Split On Chevron-Hess Deal Guidance
Hess Corp. shareholders got mixed advice from the two leading proxy advisory firms on whether to vote in favor of a $53 billion takeover by Chevron Corp., further muddling the oil and gas giants' path to closing the mega-deal amid an ongoing dispute with Exxon Mobil Corp.
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May 17, 2024
Concord Drops Bid For Music Rights Rival Hipgnosis
Concord has "unanimously decided" to pull out of the bidding war to buy its rival operator, Hipgnosis Songs Fund, leaving private equity giant Blackstone in pole position to buy the music rights company.
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May 16, 2024
Klobuchar Reintroduces Sweeping Antitrust Reform Bill
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., reintroduced sweeping legislation Thursday aimed at restoring competition by strengthening antitrust laws to help enforcers better deal with harmful conduct and mergers, garnering support from the American Antitrust Institute, Consumer Reports and others.
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May 16, 2024
FTC Can't Make Albertsons, Kroger Produce Divestiture Docs
An administrative law judge on Thursday denied the Federal Trade Commission's "premature" bid to compel Kroger and Albertsons to fork over documents related to negotiations for the companies' expanded divestiture plan amid the commission's in-house challenge to the grocers' merger.
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May 16, 2024
Deals Rumor Mill: Shein IPO, Kraft Heinz, Cinven-Jaggaer
Online fashion giant Shein is shifting IPO plans from the U.S. to London amid resistance from U.S. lawmakers and Chinese regulators, Kraft Heinz wants to sell its Oscar Mayer business, and private equity firm Cinven hopes to divest software firm Jaggaer for $3 billion. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors from the past week.
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May 16, 2024
MoneyLion Beats Investor Suit Over Reverse Stock Split
A New York federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by shareholders of digital finance platform MoneyLion, who allege the company and its directors approved a reverse stock split that stripped preferred shareholders of their rights, saying the investors should have known the consequences of the vote.
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May 16, 2024
No Relief For Struggling SPACs Under Buyback Tax Proposal
Special-purpose acquisition companies won't get sought-after relief from a new 1% tax on stock buybacks under a recent Treasury Department proposal that otherwise provides helpful clarity on the tax's implications for the subdued SPAC market, lawyers say.
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May 16, 2024
In-House Manufacturing Ace Rejoins K&L Gates In Pittsburgh
A top executive at metals manufacturer Arconic Corp. has rejoined K&L Gates LLP as a corporate mergers and acquisitions partner in Pittsburgh, the firm said Thursday.
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May 16, 2024
Top Linklaters Attys See PE Rebound In Run-Up To Elections
After a subtle uptick in private equity deal values in the first quarter, the global chair of Linklaters LLP's corporate department in New York, George Casey, and one of its top PE dealmakers in London, Alex Woodward, believe the pace of transactions is picking up and the market is primed for a comeback.
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May 16, 2024
3 Firms Assist As AIG Sells $3.8B Corebridge Stake To Nippon
Latham & Watkins LLP is guiding Japan's Nippon Life Insurance Co. on a new deal to buy 120 million shares of Corebridge Financial Inc. common stock from AIG for $3.8 billion, with Debevoise & Plimpton LLP guiding Corebridge and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz representing AIG, the purveyors of insurance products said Thursday.
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May 16, 2024
V&E Guides Crescent Energy On $2.1B SilverBow Buy
Vinson & Elkins LLP is guiding Crescent Energy Co. on a new agreement to purchase Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP-led SilverBow Resources Inc. in a transaction valued at $2.1 billion, the Houston-based energy companies said Thursday.
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May 16, 2024
Siemens Selling Innomotics Unit To PE Firm KPS In $3.8B Deal
German tech conglomerate Siemens AG said Thursday it has agreed to sell its Innomotics large motors and drives unit to New York City-based private equity firm KPS Capital Partners at an enterprise value of €3.5 billion, or roughly $3.8 billion.
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May 15, 2024
Chancery Nixes BuzzFeed Worker Arbitration Bid
Delaware's Court of Chancery dismissed from an arbitration access dispute on Wednesday 85 BuzzFeed Media Enterprises employees who sued for arbitration of a stock conversion right, rejecting claims that company employment agreements require Delaware courts to handle the issue.
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May 15, 2024
UnitedHealth Concealed DOJ Merger Investigation, Suit Says
UnitedHealth Group has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging that it failed to disclose that the U.S. Department of Justice had reopened an antitrust investigation into the health insurance giant following its acquisition of a healthcare data company, and that top executives had sold more than $120 million of shares knowing about the investigation before a news report revealed it to the public.
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May 15, 2024
FTC Chair Khan Defends Request For 25% Budget Increase
Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina M. Khan defended a 25% budget increase request during a House appropriations hearing Wednesday, calling it "healthy" that aggressive Biden administration merger enforcement has made antitrust considerations top of mind for companies mulling transactions.
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May 15, 2024
Ollie's Can Make $14.6M Stalking-Horse Bid For 99 Cents Only
Discount retail chain 99 Cents Only received approval Wednesday from a Delaware bankruptcy judge for a $14.6 million stalking-horse bid for 11 of its properties in Texas from Ollie's Bargain Outlet Inc., another discount retailer.
Expert Analysis
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Federal Courts And AI Standing Orders: Safety Or Overkill?
Several district court judges have issued standing orders regulating the use of artificial intelligence in their courts, but courts should consider following ordinary notice and comment procedures before implementing sweeping mandates that could be unnecessarily burdensome and counterproductive, say attorneys at Curtis.
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Time To Step Up PFAS Due Diligence In Cross-Border M&A
Regulations in the U.S. and EU governing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances will likely evolve to become global standards out of necessity and scale, so PFAS due diligence — particularly for buyers, sellers, and lenders and investors involved in multijurisdictional mergers and acquisitions — will be essential in 2024, say attorneys at Shipman & Goodwin.
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What Can Be Learned From Adobe-Figma Merger Termination
The Competition and Markets Authority’s role in the recent termination of the proposed Adobe-Figma merger deal indicates the regulator's intention to be seen as a strong enforcer in the technology sphere, and serves as a warning for companies to address antitrust risks early on in the merger process, say Deirdre Taylor and Molly Heslop at Gibson Dunn.
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Wachtell-X Ruling Highlights Trend On Arbitrability Question
A growing body of case law, including a California state court's recent decision in X Corp. v. Wachtell, holds that incorporation of specific arbitral body rules in an arbitration provision may in and of itself constitute clear and unmistakable evidence of delegation of arbitrability to an arbitrator, and thus such clauses should be drafted carefully, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
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7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond
The legal and technical issues of e-discovery now affect virtually every lawsuit, and in the year to come, practitioners can expect practices and policies to evolve in a number of ways, from the expanded use of relevancy redactions to mandated information security provisions in protective orders, say attorneys at Littler.
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Consider A Key Insurance Tool For Environmental M&A Deals
Transactional liability insurance can be a useful risk allocation tool for completing mergers and acquisitions in the renewable energy and climate and clean technology sectors, though policies must be structured carefully to achieve maximum coverage, say Joseph Castelluccio and Paul de Bernier at Mayer Brown.
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2 FCPA Settlements Illuminate Self-Disclosure, Disgorgement
Two of last year’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act settlements — with biomedical company Lifecore and mining company Corsa Coal — suggest that the government will be much more flexible in negotiating disgorgement amounts if an entity voluntarily self-discloses misconduct, say Michael Gilbert and Lucas Amodio at Sheppard Mullin.
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Opinion
Conflicts Abound When Activist Short-Sellers Publish Reports
The self-serving relationship between activist short-sellers and plaintiff-side litigators is conflict-ridden and hinders the fact finder's impartiality when a short report forms the basis for lead plaintiffs' allegations, say Nessim Mezrahi and Stephen Sigrist at SAR.
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Financing Healthcare Deals In Uncertain Markets This Year
As challenges to closing and financing new deals prevail into 2024, lenders in new healthcare transactions are talking about alternative approaches for sponsors to consider, such as private credit alternatives and utilization of junior capital, say attorneys at McDermott.
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Copyright And Generative AI Developments To Watch In 2024
This year could bring clarity to critical copyright issues raised by the recent surge of development in generative AI platforms, as Congress continues its legislative focus in this area and litigation tests theories of liability, say Joshua Weigensberg and Felicity Kohn at Pryor Cashman.
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5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2024
Over the next year and beyond, litigation funding will continue to evolve in ways that affect attorneys and the larger litigation landscape, from the growth of a secondary market for funded claims, to rising interest rates restricting the availability of capital, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.
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Antitrust And ESG: Maximizing Targets, Ensuring Compliance
Jennifer McAlpin at Verizon and Michaela Spero at Amadeus consider the convergence of antitrust and environmental, social and corporate governance factors, providing an executive overview of areas to watch, including mergers and acquisitions, as well as practical implementation tips for general counsel.
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4 Legal Ethics Considerations For The New Year
As attorneys and clients reset for a new year, now is a good time to take a step back and review some core ethical issues that attorneys should keep front of mind in 2024, including approaching generative artificial intelligence with caution and care, and avoiding pitfalls in outside counsel guidelines, say attorneys at HWG.
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SEC Case May Expand Scope Of Insider Trading Liability
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's first-of-its-kind enforcement action against an individual in a case involving "shadow trading" demarcates an expansion of insider trading liability to circumstances in which there is a market connection between the source of information and the issuer of the securities traded, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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What The Law Firm Of The Future Will Look Like
As the legal landscape shifts, it’s become increasingly clear that the BigLaw business model must adapt in four key ways to remain viable, from fostering workplace flexibility to embracing technology, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.