4 Firms Build Defense Tech Co. Shield's $5.3B Echodyne Buy

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Defense technology company Shield on Thursday announced plans to buy radar company Echodyne Corp. in a $5.3 billion deal that was built by four law firms.

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Wendy's Rejects $1.4B Trian-Led Take-Private Offer

By Al Barbarino

Wendy's said Thursday that an independent committee of its board unanimously rejected a $1.4 billion Trian Fund Management-led buyout offer that was made public last week, adopting a shareholder rights plan to deter the group from acquiring additional shares without board approval.

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Kirkland Guides DTE Energy On $3B Non-Utility Business Sale

By Nate Beck

Detroit, Michigan-based DTE Energy said Thursday it has agreed to sell its DTE Vantage business for about $3 billion to institutional investors with advice from Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

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Analysis

Blue Congress, Red Regulators: 5 FinReg Predictions

By Jon Hill & Sarah Jarvis

Lawmakers are set to return to Washington, D.C., next week for the final stretch of Republican control on Capitol Hill before Democrats take over, a reversal that is reshaping the outlook for financial services oversight in the remainder of President Donald Trump's term.

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Deals Rumor Mill

Oracle Scraps $7B China Chip Deal Under Pressure, And More

By Al Barbarino

Oracle has called off a $7 billion microchip leasing deal with China's Tencent, a tungsten mining company affiliated with President Donald Trump's sons is planning to go public at a $2 billion valuation, and Clayton Dubilier & Rice is exploring the purchase of the $40 billion payments processor Global Payments. 

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Brief

Linklaters, Cyril Amarchand Lead Adani's $2.9B Evos Buy

By Nate Beck

India-based Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. said Thursday that it plans to acquire Evos BV, a liquid storage operator based in the Netherlands, in a $2.9 billion deal advised by Linklaters LLP and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

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5 Firms Guide Brains Bioceutical's $750M SPAC Merger

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Cannabinoid life sciences and pharmaceutical company Brains Bioceutical Corp. on Thursday unveiled plans to go public by merging with special purpose acquisition company Armada Acquisition Corp. III in a deal that values it at roughly $750 million and that was built by five law firms.

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DOJ Says Willow Bridge's RealPage Deal Needs No Tweaks

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice responded to commenters pushing for changes to the rent price-fixing settlement it reached with Willow Bridge Property Co. LLC, arguing there's no need to add a distinction in the deal between rent renewals and first-time leases.

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Chancery Won't Allow Redo Of Fight Over Fund's $9M In Cash

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday declined to revise rulings in a yearslong dispute over a distressed credit fund's records and more than $9 million of withheld cash, disagreeing with arguments that the fund's former managers and controllers had been improperly swept into the orders.

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Tax Court Denies Partnerships' $46.1M Charitable Deductions

By Zak Kostro

Two Georgia partnerships that formed to buy adjacent tracts of rural, mountainous land in Tennessee improperly claimed charitable contribution deductions of about $26.7 million and $19.4 million, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Thursday, saying the companies failed to obtain a qualified appraisal.

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Sullivan & Cromwell Brings On Weil Capital Markets Leader

By Isaac Monterose

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP has hired the co-leader of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP's capital markets team for a capital markets partner role in its New York City office, the firm announced Thursday.

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Justices' Intel Ruling Could Aid 401(k) Alternative Asset Push

Following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent oral arguments in Anderson v. Intel, a decision favoring Intel over a prudence claim against fiduciaries based on underperformance by comparing two funds that aren't meaningfully similar would undercut the most common litigation theory against including alternative investments in 401(k) plans, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

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6 Ways RE Projects Can Balance Campus, Commercial Needs

Recent mixed-use campus developments show that housing, research, hospitality, retail and recreation can share infrastructure and institutional identity while operating under diverse requirements, as long as the underlying agreement structures are carefully thought out and drafted, says Bob Burton at Winstead.

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Series

Open-Water Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Swimming long distances in open waters is not necessarily an escape from my intellectual property practice, but a complementary discipline that similarly rewards sustained attention, intellectual curiosity, resilience and the ability to pursue a distant objective without losing command of the immediate task, says Christina MacDougall at Morgan Lewis.

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Controversial DOJ Civil Rights Division Leader Steps Down

By Alison Knezevich

Harmeet K. Dhillon, a U.S. Department of Justice official who instituted dramatic changes as leader of the Civil Rights Division, has stepped down from her role.

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Analysis

Racing Against Whistleblowers Could Cost Companies

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice's new cash rewards program for tips on criminal fraud threatens to ramp up the pressure on companies to hurry internal investigations and quickly report suspected misconduct to the government before whistleblowers do, which could backfire in some cases, according to experts.

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Judge Albright's Do's And Don'ts For Patent Trials

By Dani Kass

Two months after former ​U.S. District Judge Alan Albright returned to private practice, he regaled a room of attorneys at the University of Texas School of Law on Thursday with lessons from his time on the bench.

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Trump's Hush Money Conviction Examined By Wary NY Panel

By Frank G. Runyeon

A New York State appellate court Thursday quizzed attorneys for President Donald Trump and state prosecutors over his hush-money conviction, exploring defense counsel's claims that the district attorney trespassed into federal jurisdiction by charging election violations and trampled on presidential immunity in a case "infected with multiple fatal errors."

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