Analysis

FTC's Exxon-Pioneer Nod Sets New Tone For Oil & Gas M&A

By Al Barbarino

The close of Exxon Mobil Corp.'s $60 billion purchase of Pioneer Natural Resources shows that even the largest oil and gas deals can overcome heavy regulatory and political scrutiny, but an agreement Exxon struck with the Federal Trade Commission puts other energy companies pursuing deals on notice about their public communications.

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BBVA €12B Offer For TSB Owner Sabadell Turns Hostile

By Tom Fish

Spanish banking giant BBVA launched a hostile takeover of Banco de Sabadell on Thursday, approaching shareholders directly with a €12 billion ($12.8 billion) all-share deal after being rebuffed by the rival bank's board.

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Concord Won't Increase 'Final' $1.5B Bid For Rival Hipgnosis

By Tom Fish

Concord Chorus Ltd. said Thursday that it has ruled out raising its "final" all-cash offer of $1.25 per share for rival music rights company Hipgnosis Songs, which leaves only an improved bid by private equity firm Blackstone in the running to buy it.

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FTC Says Handbag Cos. Have Info Needed To Defend $8B Deal

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission assailed Tapestry and Capri on Wednesday for demanding more details on the market allegedly threatened by their planned $8.5 billion merger, which would pair the parent company of Coach and Kate Spade with that of Versace and Michael Kors, arguing the firms have the information they need.

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GOP Sens. Call Biden's Bluff On US Steel-Nippon

By Al Barbarino

Three Republican senators urged President Joe Biden on Thursday to block Nippon Steel's planned $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel, calling his prior comments opposing the deal "worthless" while claiming he has the authority to terminate the deal immediately under laws that address "a national emergency." 

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DOJ Task Force To Target Healthcare Monopoly, Collusion

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division sharpened its focus Thursday on healthcare platforms that combine doctors with insurers, data and more in what the administration's top competition official called the "alarming" accumulation of assets.

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Policies Bar Origis Investor Suit Coverage, Del. Judge Finds

By Hope Patti

A Delaware Superior Court judge dismissed most insurers from a renewable energy company and its now-former CEO's action seeking coverage for an underlying investor suit over devalued shares, saying Thursday that a "no action" clause in one set of policies and a prior acts exclusion in another preclude coverage.

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Masimo Makes Offer To End Activist Politan's Proxy Contest

By Elaine Briseño

Medical technology company Masimo Corp. revealed Thursday that it is willing to appoint one of the director nominees put forth by activist investment firm Politan Capital Management LP in exchange for the company dropping its proxy fight, though Politan signaled distaste with the proposed deal.

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Brightstar Capital Scores Slot Machine Supplier In $1.1B Deal

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Gaming supplier PlayAGS Inc., guided by Cooley LLP, on Thursday announced that it has agreed to be acquired by Kirkland & Ellis LLP-advised Brightstar Capital Partners in a $1.1 billion take-private transaction.

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Bain Capital Plugs $250M Into Professional Services Firm

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Technology-enabled professional services company Sikich LLC on Thursday announced that it has secured a $250 million minority growth investment from private equity giant Bain Capital in a transaction built by four firms.

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UK Luxury Watch Retailer Buys Italian Jewelry Biz For $130M

By Dawood Fakhir

Watches of Switzerland Group PLC said Thursday that it has acquired Italian jewelry company Roberto Coin Inc. for $130 million to expand its luxury branded jewelry strategy, building on their existing partnership.

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Deals Rumor Mill: Paramount, Peloton, International Paper

By Al Barbarino

Sony and Apollo plan to break up Paramount if their $26 billion bid prevails, private equity firms are eyeing a Peloton buyout, and International Paper gets a $15 billion bid from Brazil's Suzano. Here, Law360 breaks down the notable deal rumors from the past week.

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Skadden-Led Firm Nets $250M In May's Second SPAC Listing

By Tom Zanki

GP-Act III Acquisition Corp., a Skadden-led special-purpose acquisition company backed by multiple private investment firms, began trading on Thursday after completing a $250 million initial public offering, marking the second SPAC listing this month in an otherwise battered market.

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Musk Fights Latest Subpoena Over $44B Twitter Purchase

By Bonnie Eslinger

Elon Musk's counsel urged a California federal judge on Thursday to undo a magistrate judge's decision requiring the businessman to testify again before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about his $44 billion purchase of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, calling the subpoena overbroad and unconstitutional.

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Ex-Minor Leaguer Settles With SEC Over Del Taco Deal Tip Off

By Emilie Ruscoe

A former minor league baseball player has agreed to pay more than $58,000 to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission insider trading allegations involving burger chain Jack in the Box's $575 million acquisition of its fellow chain Del Taco.

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V&E Defends Its Enviva Work From Trustee's Conflict Claim

By Alex Wittenberg

Vinson & Elkins LLP urged a Virginia bankruptcy court on Thursday to reject "outrageous claims" by the U.S. Trustee's Office that the law firm shouldn't be allowed to represent Enviva in the wood-pellet maker's Chapter 11 because the firm also works for one of the debtor's major equity holders, arguing that there is no conflict of interest.

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

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.

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At-Large Suspect Charged With Murder Of Lewis Brisbois Atty

By Craig Clough

The Houston Police Department announced Thursday that it has charged a man in connection with the shooting death of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney Jeffrey Limmer, although the suspect remains at large. 

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Keller Rohrback's Derek Loeser

By Joyce Hanson

Derek Loeser's path to becoming one of the country's sharpest litigators, winning major cases against large corporations including Facebook and Wells Fargo, may very well have started at his family's dinner table when he was young.

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Fla. Justices Let More Law Grads Work Before Admission

By Madison Arnold

Certain graduates of accredited law schools can work for up to 18 months in Florida under the same restrictions as students from law school practice programs after the state Supreme Court ordered a rule change Thursday.

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9th Circ. Says Judge Defied Order To Revive Opioid Case

By Elliot Weld

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday again revived a nearly 7-year-old case against a California doctor for allegedly selling opioid prescriptions and ordered that the case be reassigned, saying the presiding judge had defied the plain language of a previous order to reinstate the indictment.

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Sen. Menendez's 2nd Bribery Trial: All You Need To Know

In the wake of a 2017 mistrial on bribery charges, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez reaffirmed his dedication to public service and vowed never to stop fighting for the people of New Jersey.

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Daniels Defiant As Trump Atty Attacks Hush Money Account

By Stewart Bishop, Rachel Scharf, and Frank Runyeon

Adult film star Stormy Daniels was defiant on Thursday in the face of a grueling cross-examination by counsel for Donald Trump in the Manhattan hush money trial, who sought to discredit her account of a 2006 sexual encounter with him at a celebrity golf tournament.

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Coverage Recap: Day 10 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

By Frank G. Runyeon

Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from day 10.

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3rd Circ. Rejects Hunter Biden Gun Appeal, Trial Set For June

By Hailey Konnath

The Third Circuit on Thursday refused to consider Hunter Biden's appeal of three Delaware federal court orders declining to dismiss felony firearm charges against him, an order issued the same day the lower court again refused to toss the indictment and scheduled the trial for June.

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3rd Circ. Judge Jordan To Retire In January 2025

By Christine DeRosa

Judge Kent A. Jordan will retire from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit next year after serving on that bench for nearly two decades, Law360 has learned.

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Biden Taps Housing Atty, 2 More For Tax Court

By Anna Scott Farrell

President Joe Biden nominated three attorneys Thursday to serve as judges on the U.S. Tax Court, including a housing attorney who specializes in federal low-income housing tax credits, a legislative counsel for the Joint Committee on Taxation and an IRS attorney.

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Sens. Press Colleagues For Public Defender Funding

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., a former public defender, led a letter Thursday to Senate appropriators calling for the federal public defender program to receive its full funding request for the upcoming fiscal year. 

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Oil Trader Sues BakerHostetler, Alleges Fake CIA Program Con

By Craig Clough

A Swiss-based oil trading company sanctioned last year by the United Kingdom for alleged ties to Russia has sued BakerHostetler in California court, alleging a con man posing as a CIA agent tried to steal control of the company as the law firm vouched for his legitimacy.

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Watchdog Seeks Texas Judge's Recusal In Noncompete Case

By Emily Sawicki

An industry watchdog is calling on U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker to step away from the U.S. Chamber's lawsuit in Texas federal court challenging the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's new noncompete rule, citing "ample financial conflicts" including his investments in Amazon, Apple and IBM, two of which are members of the Chamber.

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Texas Court Urged To Keep Alive Judge Romance Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

In a flurry of filings, a former shareholder in an engineering company has pushed a Texas federal court to reject bids to throw out his lawsuit over an ex-bankruptcy judge's secret relationship with a former Jackson Walker LLP attorney.

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Attys Want $102M In Fees In Stock Loan Antitrust Deal

By Sydney Price

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC attorneys asked for $102 million in fees for settling claims from investors that major banks colluded to avoid modernizing the stock loan market, saying the long and complex nature of the case warrants the payout.

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Chancery Tosses Qualcomm Investor's Diversity Suit

By Leslie A. Pappas

A shareholder who sued Qualcomm Inc. for allegedly misleading the public and investors about its efforts to diversify its board has failed to show that the company didn't consider diverse candidates, Delaware's Court of Chancery said Thursday, dismissing the shareholder's case.

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Denver Firm Gets $1.4M Fee For Elijah McClain Settlement

By Rose Krebs

A Colorado appellate court Thursday partially reversed a lower court decision awarding roughly $3.1 million to a Denver firm for its work on behalf of Elijah McClain's family in connection with a $15 million federal litigation settlement, ruling that the firm is only entitled to about $1.4 million.

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Houston Firm Can't Escape Litigation Funder's $2M Loan Suit

By Catherine Marfin

A Houston-based law firm doesn't have to turn over financial documents to a litigation funder that has alleged the firm failed to pay back a more than $2 million debt, but it does have to continue litigating the underlying matter, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.

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Attys Talk Stress, And Ways Forward, In NJ Wellness Push

By Jake Maher

At a panel sponsored by the New Jersey state judiciary on attorney mental health, current and former lawyers shared their experiences handling the stress of the legal profession.

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