Ropes, Kirkland Guide $5.2B Novo Nordisk Liver Disease Deal

By Al Barbarino

Novo Nordisk said on Thursday it will acquire U.S.-based Akero Therapeutics for up to $5.2 billion in cash, expanding its portfolio into metabolic liver disease in a deal steered by Ropes & Gray LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP. 

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HSBC To Privatize Hang Seng Bank In $14B Deal

By Najiyya Budaly

HSBC Holdings PLC said Thursday that it plans to pull Hang Seng Bank Ltd. from Hong Kong's stock exchange in a HK$106 billion ($13.6 billion) deal, as the British lender seeks to broaden its footprint in Asia.

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Roundup

Q3 Notches Biggest Megadeal Quarter In Three Years

By Al Barbarino

The value of global mergers and acquisitions worth $10 billion or more hit $289.5 billion in the third quarter, the highest since the second quarter of 2022, according to a report provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence on Thursday.

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Brief

Nordic Capital, Permira $3B Vaccine Biz Buy Wins EU Nod

By Tom Fish

The European Commission has approved the all-cash 19 billion Danish kroner ($2.95 billion) takeover of Bavarian Nordic A/S by private equity firms Nordic Capital and Permira, the vaccine maker said Thursday.

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Deals Rumor Mill

Paramount Eyes $60B Warner Bid, And Other Rumors

By Al Barbarino

Paramount Skydance is in talks with private equity firms including Apollo Global Management as it mulls a potential $60 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. Another mega-deal that's further along its path to closing — Mars' $36 billion bid to acquire Kellanova — is set to win European antitrust approval. And Armani has approached potential buyers to sell a minority stake in the first phase of late designer Giorgio Armani's wishes.

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Vestis Shareholder Alleges Deception Before Aramark Spinoff

By Sydney Price

Executives and directors of uniform supplier Vestis Corp. were hit this week with a shareholder's derivative suit accusing them of concealing Vestis was underfunded prior to being spun off by food services giant Aramark in 2023, leaving Vestis unable to grow its revenue and retain customers.

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Voyager Judge Won't Dismiss Contract Claims In Binance Suit

By Alex Wittenberg

A New York bankruptcy judge said Thursday he expected to deny a request by Binance.US to dismiss Voyager Digital's breach of contract claims stemming from a collapsed asset purchase agreement between the two cryptocurrency ventures.

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Tivity Health Investors Seek Final OK Of $17M Settlement

By Emilie Ruscoe

An investor in fitness program administrator Tivity Health Inc. has asked a Nashville federal judge for a final nod for an over $17 million deal ending claims the company misled investors about its financial prospects after its $1.3 billion acquisition of troubled weight-loss meal delivery company Nutrisystem.

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Teamsters Want Court To Reconsider Maverick Gaming Sale

By Emlyn Cameron

A Teamsters local asked a Texas bankruptcy judge to rethink his order permitting RunItOneTime LLC to sell assets to a company managed by one of its founders, saying the bankruptcy court lacked jurisdiction to decide that the two weren't essentially the same business.

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Brief

Big Lots Gets OK For $6.5M Deal On Exec Claims

By Rick Archer

A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved a $6.5 million settlement between retail chain Big Lots and its directors and officers, resolving claims by unsecured creditors that the company's board bungled an attempt to sell the company last year.

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Greenberg Traurig's Singapore Office Gains 6 More Attys

By Andrea Keckley

Greenberg Traurig LLP announced on Wednesday that its Singapore location has added the former leader of Simmons & Simmons LLP's Asian investment funds practice, along with five other attorneys.

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Series

Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Painting trains me to see both the fine detail and the whole composition at once, enabling me to identify friction points while keeping sight of a client's bigger vision, but the most significant lesson I've brought to my legal work has been the value of originality, says Jana Gouchev at Gouchev Law.

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Sullivan & Cromwell Impersonators Hit With NY Fraud Claims

By Emily Sawicki

New York Attorney General Letitia James is attempting to take down a slew of businesses whose names are variants of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, accusing them of attempting a scheme to fraudulently redirect checks meant for the global corporate law firm.

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Analysis

False-Statement Case Puts Comey In Rare Company

By Phillip Bantz

Former FBI director James Comey is the latest addition to the relatively short list of government officials who have been criminally charged over the past several decades with making false statements to Congress.

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NY Atty General Indicted Following Pressure From Trump

By Lauren Berg

New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted in Virginia federal court Thursday on charges related to mortgage fraud, three weeks after President Donald Trump wrote a social media post encouraging U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action because James and two other political opponents were "guilty as hell."

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Tort Report: Nuked 'Nuclear Verdict' Stays, Texas Justices Say

By Y. Peter Kang

The fate of a "nuclear verdict" that was used to jump-start tort reform campaigns across the country and a settlement of a suit over a Kiss guitar technician's death lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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Jenn Mascott Of WH Counsel's Office Confirmed To 3rd Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 50-47 on Thursday to confirm Jenn Mascott, currently serving in the White House Counsel's Office, to the Delaware seat on the Third Circuit.

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7th Circ. Nominee Taibleson Advances To Full Senate

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced on party lines the nomination of Rebecca Taibleson, a federal prosecutor in Wisconsin, to serve on the Seventh Circuit, as well as four district judicial nominees and five U.S. attorney nominees.

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Baldoni Atty Faces LA Malpractice Suit Over Client 'Betrayal'

By Emily Sawicki

Entertainment attorney Bryan Freedman has been accused in Los Angeles County Superior Court of turning his back on a former client, allegedly convincing him to sign an unfavorable settlement on trademark claims against "It Ends With Us" star Justin Baldoni, only to later begin representing the actor and director.

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Calif. Supreme Court Justice Martin Jenkins To Retire

By James Mills

California Supreme Court Justice Martin J. Jenkins, the first openly gay man and the third African American man to sit on the bench, will retire at the end of October, the court announced Thursday.

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Weinstein Says Jurors Traded Threats, Tainting Verdict

By Cara Salvatore

Harvey Weinstein's legal team said his June sexual assault convictions were tainted by juror misconduct, including physical threats and an unfounded bribery claim, arguing in a motion for a new trial that a judge refused to properly investigate.

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