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Mergers & Acquisitions
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August 08, 2024
UK Launches Formal Probe Into Amazon's $4B AI Investment
Britain's antitrust authority launched a formal probe on Thursday into Amazon's $4 billion investment in Anthropic, a U.S. artificial intelligence startup, as it seeks to establish whether it could harm competition in U.K. markets.
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August 07, 2024
Exec Unlikely To Get New Trial In SEC's 'Shadow Trading' Suit
A California federal judge said at a hearing Wednesday that he wasn't inclined to grant a new trial in a novel SEC "shadow trading" case, saying "there's no question" that a former executive of Medivation, a pharmaceutical company, knew that he was using inside information from his company when he purchased a rival's stock.
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August 07, 2024
Drone Co. Investors Seek Drag-Along Sale Shoot-Down In Del.
Stockholders of a company that makes tethered drones for surveillance or communications sued its directors, CEO and buyer in Delaware's Court of Chancery Tuesday, alleging unfair triggering of "drag-along" rights in a company sale that paid $1 per share for their once-$10 per share investment.
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August 07, 2024
Blackstone Buys Majority Stake In Renewable-Focused Firm
Blackstone Inc.-backed private equity funds have agreed to acquire a majority stake in renewable-energy focused engineering firm Westwood Professional Services Inc., under guidance from Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, marking Blackstone's latest bid to support energy transition, according to a Wednesday announcement.
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August 07, 2024
Dems Push For Scrutiny On Fox, ESPN, Warner Bros. JV
Three Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday urged the Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Department of Justice to investigate a proposed joint venture between Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney subsidiary ESPN that would create a new streaming service called Venu Sports, arguing the partnership would lead to higher prices and fewer choices for consumers.
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August 07, 2024
M&A Rebounds, But Success Hinges On Broader Economy
There was a promising uptick in mergers and acquisitions activity in the second quarter, but the rising uncertainty about the broader economy that fueled Monday's stock market free fall could cause some hesitancy among dealmakers.
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August 07, 2024
FTC Asks Courts To Pause $8.5B Handbag Merger
The Federal Trade Commission has asked a New York federal court to pause the planned $8.5 billion merger between the owners of Coach and Michael Kors while the agency conducts an in-house merger challenge.
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August 07, 2024
Davis Polk, Cooley Lead $1.5B Sale Of PetIQ
Pet medication company PetIQ Inc., advised by Cooley LLP, on Wednesday announced plans to go private following its acquisition by private investment firm Bansk Group, led by Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, in an all-cash deal valued at roughly $1.5 billion.
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August 07, 2024
3 Firms Steer $405M G1-Pharmacosmos Pharma Deal
G1 Therapeutics Inc., a North Carolina-based developer of cancer therapies, has agreed to sell the business to the U.S. subsidiary of Denmark's Pharmacosmos A/S, for approximately $405 million, the companies said Wednesday.
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August 07, 2024
PE Firm Gets Extension To Make £253M Bid For Payments Co.
Equals Group PLC said Wednesday that the U.K. authority on takeover and merger transactions has extended the deadline for private equity company TowerBrook and financial startup Railsr to officially confirm their proposed £253 million ($321 million) takeover offer, or walk away from it.
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August 07, 2024
KKR To Buy Majority Stake In Ad Group FGS In $775M Deal
Investment giant KKR & Co. Inc. said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy a majority stake in FGS Global, in an all-cash deal that values the global public relations firm at $1.7 billion.
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August 06, 2024
3 Firms Guide AI-Focused Semiconductor Maker's SPAC Deal
Special-purpose acquisition company byNordic Acquisition Corp. said Tuesday it plans to acquire and take public an artificial intelligence-focused subsidiary of Sivers Semiconductors AB through a deal advised by three law firms.
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August 06, 2024
Cannabis Co. Sued For Docs On Insider-Tied Note, Sale Plans
A stockholder of cannabis sourcing company Eaze Technologies Inc. — now facing a foreclosure auction — sued in Delaware's Court of Chancery Tuesday for books and records surrounding a founder- and insider-controlled note purchase and security agreement and alleged "take-under" sale scheme.
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August 06, 2024
Dem Lawmakers Back FTC's Kroger-Albertsons Challenge
A group of Democratic lawmakers is supporting the Federal Trade Commission in its suit to block Kroger's $25 billion acquisition of Albertsons, telling an Oregon federal judge in a friend-of-the-court brief that the agency's fears the deal would harm grocery workers and consumers are well-founded.
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August 06, 2024
Feds Seek $3.5M Premerger Penalty From Sporting Events Biz
Federal prosecutors have struck a deal requiring sports and entertainment event company Legends Hospitality to pay a $3.5 million penalty to settle allegations that it illegally conducted business with acquisition target ASM Global Inc. before finalizing the deal.
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August 06, 2024
Gibson Dunn Guiding Veritas On $2.45B Cloud Banking Buy
Gibson Dunn is advising Veritas Capital on a deal to purchase the cloud-based digital banking business of NCR Voyix Corp., represented by King & Spalding, for $2.45 billion in cash plus a potential future payment of up to $100 million, NCR Voyix said in a statement Tuesday.
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August 06, 2024
Luxembourg Telecoms Biz Weighs Investor's New $4.4B Bid
Millicom said Tuesday that a committee of independent directors is reviewing a revised $4.4 billion offer made by Atlas Investissement, after the Luxembourg-based telecommunications company rejected a $4.1 billion bid in July.
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August 06, 2024
Tate & Lyle Sugar Biz Deal Gets Provisional UK Nod
Britain's competition authority said Tuesday that it has provisionally cleared Tate & Lyle's planned acquisition of the U.K. business of Tereos, dissolving earlier antitrust concerns after it found that the loss-making producer of agricultural raw materials would probably fold if the deal does not go ahead.
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August 06, 2024
Brown & Brown Buys Trade Credit Insurance Specialist
Brown & Brown (Europe) Ltd. said Tuesday that it has bought trade credit insurance broker The CI Group Holdings Ltd. to expand its services for lenders and the small and midsized businesses in the U.K.
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August 05, 2024
Elon Musk Can't Beat Twitter Investors' Suit Over Bot Claim
A California federal judge on Monday denied Elon Musk's bid to escape a shareholder suit alleging he misled Twitter investors by claiming the company had to provide information on an alleged bot problem before he could move forward with his $44 billion acquisition, saying Musk leaned on already-rejected arguments.
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August 05, 2024
DXC Investor's Suit Says Execs Overhyped Integration Efforts
A DXC Technology investor filed a proposed class action in Virginia federal court Friday alleging the information technology giant over-touted its "transformation journey" and efforts to reduce restructuring and integration costs after acquiring several companies that caused investors to buy DXC common stock at artificially inflated prices.
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August 05, 2024
Spectrum, Assertio Hit With Double-Derivative Suit In Del.
Former Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. shareholders sued the company and its acquirer Assertio Inc. in Delaware's Court of Chancery on Monday, asserting double-derivative claims in connection with Spectrum's alleged misleading of investors regarding its development of the lung-cancer drug poziotinib.
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August 05, 2024
Poultry Co. Fights Bid For $217K In Legal Costs For Subpoena
A poultry rendering company suing Tyson Foods for allegedly deploying anticompetitive tactics in order to force a dramatically undervalued buyout is fighting a bid from Darling Ingredients, a nonparty in the suit, to recoup the money spent fighting a subpoena.
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August 05, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Sunken treasure, rock band discord, a wrestling competition, and more news about Elon Musk — all in all, a colorful week in Delaware's Court of Chancery. The First State's famous court of equity also pushed forward on disputes involving a famous social media app, Delaware's largest hospital system, an artificial intelligence company and a budding commodity futures exchange.
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August 05, 2024
JetBlue, Spirit Scoff At Flyers' $34M Fee Bid Over Nixed Deal
JetBlue and Spirit said air travelers who challenged their merger shouldn't get a cent of a late and exorbitant request for up to $34 million in attorney fees in a case where they simply "piggybacked" on the U.S. Department of Justice's successful effort to block the deal.
Expert Analysis
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What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.
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Fintech 'Prenups': Planning For A Card Program Breakup
After a year of economic downturns, some banks and their fintech partners are realizing they may have rushed to the altar without a good prenup, but planning ahead can curb both foreseeable and unexpected issues in the event of a termination of a bank-fintech card-issuing agreement, say Andrew Grant at Ketsal and Richard Malish at Community Federal Savings Bank.
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Decline In Same-Industry M&A Tells A Nuanced Policy Story
In light of newly available Hart-Scott-Rodino Act data suggesting that intraindustry mergers are down overall and pharmaceutical and hospital intraindustry transactions tend to face greater antitrust scrutiny than in the past, attorneys at Morgan Lewis explore whether Biden administration enforcement policies may be curbing pro-competitive strategic M&A.
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Behind The 'CVR Spin' Method Of Unlocking Assets In M&A
The spinoff of contingent value rights, or the CVR spin, can unlock secondary and noncore assets in public mergers and acquisitions, while resolving the market dislocation of some traditional divestitures, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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2nd Circ.'s Nine West Ruling Clarifies Safe Harbor Confusion
The Second Circuit’s recent ruling in Nine West’s Chapter 11 suit clarifies that courts in the circuit will apply a transfer-by-transfer analysis to determine the applicability of Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code, and that to be safe harbored, a financial institution must act as an agent with respect to the specific transfer at issue, says Leonardo Trivigno at Carter Ledyard.
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5 Models For Structuring Health Provider-Payor Partnerships
With recent data showing that the U.S. continues to spend more and get less for healthcare services compared to other industrialized nations, providers and payors should consider a variety of partnership structures that can help achieve the so-called triple aim of improving the health of individuals and populations while reducing per capita costs, says John Howard at Thompson Coburn.
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Del. Dispatch: How Moelis Upends Stockholder Agreements
The Delaware Court of Chancery's Moelis decision last month upended the standard corporate practice of providing governance rights in stockholder agreements and adds to a recent line of surprising decisions holding that long-standing, common market practices violate Delaware law, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
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Understanding Insurance Is Key To Limiting Antitrust Liability
As regulators signal their intent to continue last year's aggressive campaign of corporate antitrust litigation, businesses must make active management of their liability insurance policies, along with a firm knowledge of the limits of their coverage, central to their strategies for limiting the enormous financial risks of enforcement, say attorneys at Nossaman.
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What FTC's 'Killer Acquisition' Theory Means For Pharma Cos.
The Federal Trade Commission's recent lawsuit to block Sanofi's acquisition of a pharmaceutical treatment developed by Maze Therapeutics builds on previous enforcement actions and could indicate the agency's growing willingness to use its so-called killer acquisition theory against perceived attempts to eliminate nascent competition, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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How Advance Notice Bylaws Are Faring In Del. Courts
Recent decisions make it clear that the Delaware Chancery Court is carefully reviewing public companies' amended advance notice bylaws in order to balance the competing interests of boards and shareholders, and will likely strike down bylaws that improperly interfere with stockholder franchises, say attorneys at Olshan Frome.
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How New EU Tax And Transfer Pricing Rules May Affect M&A
Companies involved in mergers and acquisitions may need to adjust fiscal due diligence procedures to ensure they consider potential far-reaching effects of newly implemented transfer pricing measures, such as newly implemented global minimum tax and European Union anti-tax avoidance directives and proposals, says Patrick Tijhuis at BDO.
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Strategies For Single-Member Special Litigation Committees
The Delaware Supreme Court's recent order in the Baker Hughes derivative litigation allowing testimony from a single-member special litigation committee highlights the fact that, while single-member SLCs are subject to heightened scrutiny, they can also provide unique opportunities, says Josh Bloom at MoloLamken.