Mergers & Acquisitions

  • 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.

  • May 17, 2024

    Industry 'Emboldened' After Court Greenlights 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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 was formally relaxing restrictions on marijuana.

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 4 Takeaways From Biden's Crypto Mining Divestment Order

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    A May 13 executive order prohibiting the acquisition of real estate by a foreign investor on national security grounds — an enforcement first — shows the importance of understanding how the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States might profile cross-border transactions, even those that are non-notified, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Standardizing Early Case Appraisal In Securities Class Actions

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    While an initial economic assessment of securities class action litigation is far too often not undertaken, it's an important step in planning the defense strategy that can provide counsel, clients and insurers with a much clearer view of the case, and can be simplified through standardized analyses, says Assen Koev at SCA iPortal.

  • Del. Ruling Highlights M&A Deal Adviser Conflict Disclosures

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    The Delaware Supreme Court recently reversed the Court of Chancery's dismissal of challenges to Nordic Capital's acquisition of Inovalon, demonstrating the importance of full disclosure of financial adviser conflicts when a going-private merger seeks business judgment rule review, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Key Antitrust Class Certification Questions Remain Unclear

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    The U.S. Supreme Court, by recently rejecting certiorari in Visa v. National ATM, turned down the opportunity to clarify how to analyze disputed evidence bearing on the certification of antitrust class actions, leaving the applicable standards unclear instead of resolving this split of authority, says Jonathan Berman at Jones Day.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Dual-Track IPO-M&A Exit Strategies For Life Science Cos.

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    A dual-track process for life sciences companies offers a proven path to securing favorable deal terms for an exit, and strategic moves can include running a crossover financing round in the lead-up, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • PE In The Crosshairs Of Public And Private Antitrust Enforcers

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    A series of decisions from a California federal court in the recently settled Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal agencies, serve as a reminder that private equity firms may be exposed to liability for alleged anti-competitive conduct by their portfolio companies, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • A Recipe For Growth Equity Investing In A Slow M&A Market

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    Carl Marcellino at Ropes & Gray discusses the factors bolstering appetite for growth equity fundraising in a depressed M&A market, and walks through the deal terms and other ingredients that set growth equity transactions apart from bread-and-butter venture capital investing.

  • PE-Healthcare Mergers Should Prepare For Challenges

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    State and federal regulators are increasingly imposing new requirements on healthcare transactions involving private equity partners, with mergers that would have drawn little scrutiny a few years ago now requiring a multijurisdictional risk analysis during the deal formation process, say attorneys at Stinson.

  • Why RWI Insurers Should Consider Excluding PFAS

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    As regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances escalates, carriers providing representations and warranties insurance should reconsider providing PFAS coverage on a case-by-case basis, say Dave Bartoletti and Ina Avalon at Taft Stettinius.

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