High-tech instruments manufacturer Spectris said on Wednesday that it has given its backing to a £4.1 billion ($5.6 billion) takeover by U.S. private equity giant KKR, which has outbid a £3.8 billion offer by another PE firm, Advent.
Law360
Mergers & Acquisitions
THURSDAY, JULY 3, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

GettyImages-2212073979.jpg

Kirkland, Simpson Thacher Guide KKR's £4.1B Spectris Bid

By Najiyya Budaly

High-tech instruments manufacturer Spectris said on Wednesday that it has given its backing to a £4.1 billion ($5.6 billion) takeover by U.S. private equity giant KKR, which has outbid a £3.8 billion offer by another PE firm, Advent.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Latham Guides Odyssey On $1.3B Applied Technical Exit

By Al Barbarino

Latham & Watkins LLP-advised private equity firm Odyssey Investment Partners has agreed to sell Applied Technical Services Inc. to Swiss testing and inspection giant SGS SA for about $1.33 billion, the firms said Wednesday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Atkins Says SEC Is Taking A Fresh Look At SPAC Regulations

By Tom Zanki

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said Wednesday that regulators are reviewing recently beefed-up rules governing special-purpose acquisition companies as part of a broader policy of increasing public listings.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SUPREME COURT

Feature

The Funniest Moments Of The Supreme Court's Term

By Jeff Overley

After justices and oral advocates spent much of an argument pummeling a lower court's writing talents, one attorney suggested it might be time to move on — only to be told the drubbing had barely begun. Here, Law360 showcases the standout jests and wisecracks from the 2024-25 U.S. Supreme Court term.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

POLICY

Dems Condemn Paramount's $16M Settlement With Trump

By Courtney Bublé

Democratic lawmakers are incensed that CBS News' parent Paramount Global agreed to a $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over his "60 Minutes" lawsuit, which came as the media company is seeking approval of an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DEALS

EQV Ventures' Upsized IPO Tops 4 Listings Totaling $830M

By Tom Zanki

Energy-focused special purpose acquisition company EQV Ventures Acquisition Corp. II began trading Wednesday after pricing an upsized $420 million initial public offering, in the largest of four SPAC IPOs totaling $830 million.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ingersoll Rand Buys Italy's Termomeccanica For $188M

By Al Barbarino

Ingersoll Rand Inc. has acquired Termomeccanica Industrial Compressors SpA and its subsidiary Adicomp SpA in a €160 million ($188 million) deal aimed at expanding its presence in the renewable natural gas and industrial compressor markets.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Outgoing US Steel GC To Leave With $29M After Nippon Deal

By Sue Reisinger

U.S. Steel Corp.'s former general counsel Duane Holloway will leave his special adviser job on July 18 about $29 million richer, thanks to the company's recent sale to Nippon Steel, according to a recent company filing.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

LITIGATION

Investor Says Pot Shop Owner 'Absconded' With Sale Funds

By Julie Manganis

A key investor in a Massachusetts cannabis dispensary says the shop's owner sold part of the business out from under her after she sought to exercise an ownership option, then failed to turn over proceeds from the sale, according to a suit filed in state court.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

BANKRUPTCY

Canned Food Group Del Monte Hits Ch. 11 With $1.2B Debt

By Clara Geoghegan

Packaged foods giant Del Monte is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey with plans for a sale after a liability management transaction last year failed to sufficiently reduce borrowing costs from its $1.23 billion of secured debt.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

PEOPLE

Greenberg Traurig Adds Willkie Private Equity Pro In Houston

By Lynn LaRowe

Greenberg Traurig LLP has added a corporate shareholder in Houston from Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, furthering the firm's expansion of its private equity and mergers and acquisitions practices.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

EXPERT ANALYSIS

Assessing New Changes To Texas Officer Exculpation Law

Consistent with Texas' recent modernization of its corporate law, the recently passed S.B. 2411 allows officer exculpation, streamlines certificate of formation amendments, authorizes representatives to act on shareholders' behalf in mergers and makes other changes aimed toward companies seeking a more codified, statutory model of corporate governance, say attorneys at Bracewell.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

LEGAL INDUSTRY

GOP Reps. Want Probe Of RI Judge Blocking Funding Freeze

By Jack Karp

Two Republican U.S. House members have asked the First Circuit to investigate a Rhode Island federal judge who blocked a Trump administration spending freeze, claiming the judge's link to a funding recipient constitutes a conflict of interest, one of those congressmen's office confirmed to Law360 Pulse on Wednesday.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Trump Announces 1st And 9th Circ. Nominees

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced nominations for judges on the First and Ninth circuit courts on Wednesday evening.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Girardi Asks To Remain Free During Fraud Appeal

By Lauren Berg

Disbarred attorney Tom Girardi asked a California federal judge on Wednesday to remain free on bond while he appeals his wire fraud conviction, saying he's not a flight risk or danger to the community and there are several issues on appeal that could result in reversal or resentencing.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ill. Judge Asks Deere Rivals To Stop Pestering Court Staff

By Nadia Dreid

The judge overseeing the FTC's antitrust enforcement action against farm machinery maker Deere & Co. has penned a light-hearted order calling out another judge and asking equipment manufacturers to stop calling his staff to ask for advice.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Amazon Judge Presses FTC On Bid For 'Bad Faith' Finding

By Rachel Riley

As the Federal Trade Commission insisted Wednesday that Amazon should be punished with a bad faith finding for mislabeling documents as privileged in a case over the company's Prime subscription practices, a Washington federal judge questioned why the agency wasn't "made whole" when the court granted its sanctions bid.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOJ, HHS Form New False Claims Act Enforcement Group

By Gianna Ferrarin

Lead attorneys at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Justice Department will head a working group focused on enforcement of the False Claims Act, government officials announced Wednesday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Segal McCambridge Hit With Age Bias, Retaliation Suit

By Jake Maher

A former secretary is suing Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney Ltd. in New York federal court alleging that the firm excluded her from work emails, falsely accused her of failing to perform her work duties and ultimately fired her based on her age.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Wisconsin High Court Narrowly Blocks 1849 Abortion Ban

By Dan McKay

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday narrowly struck down an 1849 statute criminalizing abortion, finding that the law has been effectively replaced by more modern legislation regulating the procedure.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOJ, Defenders Alums Chosen As EDNY Magistrate Judges

By Andrea Keckley

The Board of Judges of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has announced the appointment of two new magistrate judges: a former federal prosecutor and a Federal Defenders of New York alum.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Litigation Funder Seeks Exit From NJ Suit Over Crash Funding

By Emily Sawicki

A litigation funder has asked a New Jersey state court to remove it from a suit alleging it worked with two law firms to unlawfully steer a former client into high-interest loans amid a vehicle injury suit, arguing its funding agreements are not loans and therefore are not governed by the Consumer Fraud Act.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

Amid DEI Uncertainty, Cos. Face Pressure From All Sides

By Sarah Jarvis

Attorneys have been analyzing the Trump administration's many pronouncements against diversity, equity and inclusion programs over the past several months, only to be left with questions as to what exactly "illegal DEI" is and what the government will do to police it.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Calif. Man Charged In Plot To Murder Fed. Judge, Senator

By Lauren Berg

A California man allegedly belonging to an online-based terrorist group is accused of soliciting the murders of a federal judge, a U.S. senator, a former U.S. attorney and other officials the organization deemed to be obstructing their white supremacist aims, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

Hub Hires: Crowell & Moring, Greenberg Traurig, Kirkland

By Chris Villani

There will be more than a few Boston-area attorneys celebrating new jobs while attending Fourth of July cookouts this year.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Promo that reads Law360 400 Promo that reads 2025 Law360 Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Ashurst LLP

Bracewell LLP

Cleary Gottlieb

Clement & Murphy

Cole Schotz

Cooley LLP

Covington & Burling

Crowell & Moring

DLA Piper

Davis Wright Tremaine

Debevoise & Plimpton

Dechert LLP

Ellenoff Grossman

Fox Rothschild

Gibson Dunn

Girardi & Keese

Goodwin Procter

Greenbaum Rowe

Greenberg Traurig

Herbert Smith Freehills

Hogan Lovells

Hueston Hennigan

Jones Day

K&L Gates

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Lee & Lin

Loeb & Loeb

Milbank LLP

Morrison Foerster

Nixon Peabody

Paul Hastings

Pierce Atwood

Pierson Ferdinand LLP

Potomac Law Group

Quinn Emanuel

Segal McCambridge

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Slaughter and May

Todd & Weld

Troutman

Venable LLP

Weil Gotshal

Willkie Farr

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Advent International Corp.

Amazon.com Inc.

Applied Technical Services Inc.

Ascena Retail Group Inc.

BTIG LLC

Brooklyn Law School

CBS Interactive Inc.

Caesars Entertainment Inc.

Cantor Fitzgerald LP

CoreLogic Inc.

Deere & Co.

Del Monte Foods Inc.

DraftKings Inc.

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.

Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc.

Harvard University

Ingersoll-Rand Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

KKR & Co. Inc.

LinkedIn Corp.

London Stock Exchange Group PLC

Maples Group

McDonald's Corp.

NVIDIA Corp.

New York University

Odyssey Investment Partners LLC

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

PacifiCorp

Paramount Global

Planned Parenthood Federation

Rothschild & Co. SCA

SGS SA

Skydance Media LLC

Spectris PLC

Stanford University

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The New York Times Co.

ThinkEquity LLC

United States Steel Corp.

University of Virginia

Walmart Inc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Delaware Court of Chancery

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

European Union

Federal Bureau of Prisons

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Trade Commission

Food and Drug Administration

New Jersey Court

Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

US Office of Management and Budget

Wisconsin Department of Justice

Wisconsin Supreme Court