Mergers & Acquisitions

  • September 09, 2024

    A&O Shearman Guides OCI's $2.05B Methanol Biz Sale

    Dutch hydrogen producer OCI Global said Monday that it plans to sell an 85% holding in its global methanol business to Methanex Corp., a Canadian giant, for $2.05 billion, in a move to cut its debt and return cash to shareholders.

  • September 06, 2024

    Earthlink Investors Accept $85M Deal To End Merger Suit

    Earthlink investors who say they were duped into approving a $1.1 billion merger with failing telecommunications company Windstream Holdings Inc. told an Arkansas federal judge Friday that they've reached an $85 million deal to end the lawsuit two months before the case was scheduled to go to trial.

  • September 06, 2024

    AstraZeneca Unit Owes $130M In Chancery Scuttled-Drug Suit

    The Delaware Chancery Court awarded $130 million to former shareholders of biopharmaceutical company Syntimmune in their breach of contract fight against AstraZeneca PLC unit Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., finding that Alexion failed to make promised payments after it acquired Syntimmune in 2018 and breached key terms of their merger agreement.

  • September 06, 2024

    Ingersoll Rand Blocks Rival From Hiring Ex-Exec In NDA Fight

    A Colorado state court has preliminarily blocked the former chief executive of a company acquired by industrial products giant Ingersoll Rand Inc. from working for rival Avantor, finding Ingersoll Rand will likely win its claims that the executive specifically agreed not to work for Avantor as a condition of the acquisition.

  • September 06, 2024

    EU Antitrust Chief Charts Path Forward After Illumina Setback

    The European Union's top antitrust official said a recent ruling that found enforcers lacked authority to probe Illumina's $8 billion acquisition of Grail put an end to an important merger review tool and suggested legislation may be needed to plug the gap.

  • September 06, 2024

    Renewable Energy Biz Goes Public Via $386M SPAC Merger

    Renewable energy company EEW Renewables Ltd., advised by Seward & Kissel LLP, on Friday announced plans to go public by merging with Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP-led special purpose acquisition company Compass Digital Acquisition Corp. in a deal with a pro forma combined enterprise value of $386 million.

  • September 06, 2024

    Baker McKenzie M&A Partner Jumps To Bell Nunnally

    Dallas-based business law firm Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP has hired former Baker McKenzie partner Jonathan Farrokhnia, who told Law360 on Friday that his decision to join the firm was based on the advantages that come from working for a smaller firm.

  • September 06, 2024

    As Biden Looks To Block US Steel Deal, Rival Co. Weighs In

    Cleveland-Cliffs is lauding President Joe Biden's reported decision to block U.S. Steel's $14.9 billion planned merger with Nippon Steel and says it is ready to scoop up U.S. Steel's union assets, as the rival steelmaker weighed in on the matter following a flurry of quick developments this week indicating that the Nippon deal is all but dead.

  • September 06, 2024

    EU Gears Up For New Commission With A Plea: More Women

    European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is gearing up to distribute the top jobs in foreign trade, economics and antitrust among the new commissioners for their five-year mandate, but she is pressing countries in the bloc to nominate more female candidates.

  • September 06, 2024

    7-Eleven Parent Rejects Nearly $40B Buyout Offer

    The Tokyo-based parent company of convenience store chain 7-Eleven has turned down a nearly $40 billion nonbinding buyout offer from Couche-Tard, nudging the Canadian convenience store owner in a Friday letter to offer something better, and stating that the bid undervalues the business and fails to acknowledge regulatory concerns. 

  • September 06, 2024

    Taxation With Representation: Debevoise, Bennett, Orrick

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Verizon reaches a deal to absorb Frontier in a deal worth $20 billion, First Majestic agrees to buy Gatos Silver for $970 million, and Epam Systems inks a $630 million purchase of Neoris.

  • September 06, 2024

    CMA To Probe GXO's £762M Bid For Logistics Biz

    The antitrust authority of the U.K. on Friday launched the first phase of inquiry into the U.S.-based GXO Logistics Inc.'s £762 million ($950 million) takeover of British supply-chain group Wincanton PLC.

  • September 06, 2024

    SEC Accuses Esmark Of Lying About US Steel Bid

    A failed bid to acquire U.S. Steel has landed Pittsburgh-based Esmark Inc. in hot water with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which announced Friday that it had fined the company and its founder for falsely claiming they had the money to buy the manufacturing giant.

  • September 05, 2024

    NC County Says Hospital 'Monopoly' Led To ER Understaffing

    A North Carolina county has accused an Asheville hospital of driving up taxpayer-funded ambulance expenses by understaffing its emergency department and forcing paramedics to step into the roles of emergency physicians.

  • September 05, 2024

    FTC Staff Opposes Indiana Hospital Merger

    Federal Trade Commission staff on Thursday urged Indiana's health department to reject Union Health's planned purchase of Terre Haute Regional Hospital LP from HCA Healthcare Inc.

  • September 05, 2024

    Biden To Block US Steel-Nippon, And More Deal Rumors

    President Joe Biden is reportedly preparing to block the $14.9 billion merger of U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel, Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners may team up to buy Smartsheet, and Springer Nature is planning an initial public offering. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors reported over the past week.

  • September 05, 2024

    Colo. Cannabis Co. Manager Stole $150K, Suit Claims

    The two marijuana entrepreneurs behind the Euflora chain are once again back in court, with one of them accusing the other of stealing at least $150,000 from their enterprise, possibly to cover unpaid loans and taxes, according to a lawsuit filed in Colorado state court, which claimed the alleged theft comes after a string of erratic behavior.

  • September 05, 2024

    4 Firms Build First Majestic's $970M Buy Of Silver Mining Biz

    Silver and gold mining company First Majestic Silver Corp. on Thursday announced that it has agreed to buy Mexican silver exploration, development and production company Gatos Silver Inc. in a $970 million deal crafted by four law firms.

  • September 05, 2024

    Flyers Denied $34M Fee For JetBlue, Spirit Deal Challenge

    Airline passengers who launched an antitrust lawsuit over JetBlue's since-scrapped plan to merge with Spirit won't recoup any of the $34 million in legal fees they urged a Massachusetts federal court to award because the travelers can't be considered to have won on their claims, a federal judge in Boston said Thursday.

  • September 05, 2024

    Latham-Led Topgolf Plans Spinoff Into 2 Separate Cos.

    Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp., advised by Latham & Watkins LLP, has announced plans to spin off its golf entertainment business Topgolf into its own publicly traded company, creating two separate golf-focused businesses.

  • September 05, 2024

    Debevoise, Cravath Steer Verizon's $20B Frontier Takeover

    Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is guiding Verizon Communications Inc. on a deal disclosed Thursday that will see the telecommunications giant absorb Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP-advised Frontier Communications at a $20 billion enterprise value. 

  • September 12, 2024

    Bird & Bird Recruits M&A Partner In Frankfurt Amid Growth

    Bird & Bird LLP has hired a business expert as a partner in Frankfurt as the firm bolsters its growing corporate practice internationally, with a keen eye on its new office in Japan.

  • September 05, 2024

    Freshfields-Led Tech Co. To Buy Sensor Biz For €133M

    Spectris said Thursday that it has bought a subsidiary of AVL List, an Austrian automotive testing company, for €133.5 million ($148.1 million), as the U.K. precision tools supplier aims to bolster its market position in the auto, aerospace and industrial sectors.

  • September 05, 2024

    UK Probes Acerinox's $800M Bid For Haynes International

    Britain's antitrust authority said Thursday that it has launched a formal investigation into the planned $798 million takeover by stainless steel manufacturer Acerinox of Haynes International, which makes alloys, to assess whether the deal would weaken domestic competition.

  • September 04, 2024

    Albertsons CEO Takes Stand On Kroger Merger, Missing Texts

    Federal Trade Commision attorneys on Wednesday pressed Albertsons Cos. Inc. CEO Vivek Sankaran in Oregon federal court about why he had such dire predictions about the company's future without a merger with Kroger despite previous statements about how his company had been crushing the competition.

Expert Analysis

  • What 3rd Circ. Trust Ruling Means For Securitization Market

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    Mercedes Tunstall and Michael Gambro at Cadwalader break down the Third Circuit's March decision in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. National Collegiate Master Student Loan Trust, as well as predict next steps in the litigation and the implications of the decision for servicers and the securitization industry as a whole.

  • Ensuring Nonpublic Info Stays Private Amid SEC Crackdown

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    Companies and individuals must take steps to ensure material nonpublic information remains confidential while working outside the office, as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continues to take enforcement actions against those who trade on MNPI and don't comply with new off-channel communications rules in the remote work era, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Behind Indiana's Broad New Healthcare Transactions Law

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    The high materiality threshold in Indiana's recently passed healthcare transaction law, coupled with the inclusion of private equity in its definition of healthcare entities, makes it one of the broadest state review regulations to date, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Highlights From The 2024 ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting

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    U.S. merger enforcement and cartels figured heavily in this year's American Bar Association spring antitrust meeting, where one key takeaway included news that the Federal Trade Commission's anticipated changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino form may be less dramatic than many originally feared, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • What FERC's Disclosure Demands Mean For Cos., Investors

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    Two recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders reflect the commission's increasingly meticulous approach to reviewing corporate structures in applications for approval of proposed consolidations, acquisitions or changes in control — putting the onus on the regulated community to track and comply with ever-more-burdensome disclosure requirements, say attorneys at Willkie.

  • Del. Match.com Ruling Maintains Precedent In Time Of Change

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    Despite speculation that the Delaware Supreme Court could drive away corporations if it lowered the bar for business judgment review in its Match.com stockholder ruling, the court broke its recent run of controversial precedent-busting decisions by upholding, and arguably strengthening, minority stockholder protections against controller coercion, say Renee Zaytsev and Marc Ayala at Boies Schiller.

  • FDIC Bank Merger Reviews Could Get More Burdensome

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    Recently proposed changes to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. bank merger review process would expand the agency's administrative processes, impose new evidentiary burdens on parties around competitive effects and other statutory approval factors, and continue the trend of long and unpredictable processing periods, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Series

    Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.

  • Del. Lessons For Director-Nominees On Sharing With Activists

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    The Delaware Chancery Court's recent decision in Icahn Partners v. deSouza finding that a director wasn't permitted to share certain privileged information with the activist stockholders that nominated him shows the need for companies to consider imposing appropriate confidentiality requirements on directors, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener

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    As Earth Day approaches, law firms and attorneys should consider adopting more sustainable practices to reduce their carbon footprint — from minimizing single-use plastics to purchasing carbon offsets for air travel — which ultimately can also reduce costs for clients, say M’Lynn Phillips and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • New Proposal Signals Sharper Enforcement Focus At CFIUS

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    Last week's proposed rule aimed at broadening the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' enforcement authority over foreign investments and increasing penalties for violations signals that CFIUS intends to continue expanding its aggressive monitoring of national security issues, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • 4 Ways AI Tools Can Improve Traditional Merger Analyses

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    Government officials at the American Bar Association's annual antitrust spring meeting last week reinforced the view that competition cases will increasingly rely on sophisticated data analysis, so companies will likewise need to use Big Tech quantitative techniques to improve traditional merger analyses, say Patrick Bajari, Gianmarco Calanchi and Tega Akati-Udi at Keystone.

  • Oracle Ruling Underscores Trend Of Mootness Fee Denials

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    The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent refusal to make tech giant Oracle shoulder $5 million of plaintiff shareholders' attorney fees illustrates a trend of courts raising the standard for granting the mootness fee awards once ubiquitous in post-merger derivative disputes, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Blocked JetBlue-Spirit Deal Illustrates New Antitrust Approach

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent successful block of a merger between JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines demonstrates antitrust enforcers’ updated and disparate approach to out-of-market benefits versus out-of-market harms, say Lisa Rumin and Anthony Ferrara at McDermott.

  • Comparing Corporate Law In Delaware, Texas And Nevada

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    With Elon Musk's recent decision to reincorporate his companies outside of Delaware, and with more businesses increasingly considering Nevada and Texas as corporate homes, attorneys at Baker Botts look at each jurisdiction's foundation of corporate law, and how the differences can make each more or less appealing based on a corporation's needs.

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