Mergers & Acquisitions

  • August 09, 2024

    News Corp. Mulls Sale Of Australia's Foxtel Group

    Media conglomerate News Corp. disclosed in its fourth-quarter earnings report that it is entertaining external interest in its majority-owned Foxtel Group, the Australian pay television company that provides cable, satellite and on-demand television services.

  • August 09, 2024

    Algonquin Power Selling Renewable Business For Up To $2.5B

    Gibson Dunn-led Canadian utility Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has agreed to sell its renewable energy business to a wholly owned subsidiary of Milbank-advised LS Power for up to $2.5 billion, the companies said in statements Friday. 

  • August 09, 2024

    Food Tech Biz JBT's Investors Approve €3.5B Deal With Rival

    JBT Corp. shareholders have approved plans to buy out Iceland-based rival Marel HF for €3.5 billion ($3.8 billion), as the U.S. food processing technology giant moves to expand the company.

  • August 09, 2024

    Hargreaves Lansdown Agrees To £5.4B CVC Takeover Offer

    Hargreaves Lansdown PLC said Friday that its board has agreed to a £5.4 billion ($6.9 billion) take-private offer from a consortium of private equity companies, including CVC and the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi.

  • August 08, 2024

    SPAC Investors Can't Sue Lucid Over Merger, 9th Circ. Says

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday refused to revive investors' proposed class action alleging that Lucid duped them into buying stock in a special purpose acquisition company ahead of the electric-vehicle maker's $11.75 billion merger, saying an acquiring company's investors can't sue the target company over its alleged misstatements before the merger.

  • August 08, 2024

    Mass. Atty, 2 Others Settle SEC Insider Trading Claims

    A Massachusetts business lawyer, his friend and his friend's father have agreed to collectively pay more than $230,000 to settle the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's allegations they used intel to trade ahead of an announcement made by the biotechnology company Frequency Therapeutics Inc., the SEC said Thursday.

  • August 08, 2024

    Fla. Judge Won't Pause E-Scooter Co.'s Ch. 11 Plan

    California plaintiffs with tort claims against Bird Global Inc. can't stop a Chapter 11 plan for the bankrupt e-bike and e-scooter rental company while they appeal its confirmation because of the plan's third-party releases, a Florida bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday.

  • August 08, 2024

    'Unclean Hands' Doom Colo. Dispute Over Cannabis Biz Sale

    A Colorado state appeals court on Thursday affirmed the dismissal of a dispute over the sale of a cannabis business, saying the would-be buyer can't pursue its claims because the sale agreement was an illegal attempt to get around the state's licensing laws.

  • August 08, 2024

    Nasdaq Seeks To Step Up Delistings For Cheap, Risky Stocks

    Nasdaq is proposing to accelerate delisting procedures for companies whose shares fall below $1 for extended periods by tightening compliance deadlines and cracking down on those companies that seek to avoid delisting by enacting reverse stock splits, marking the exchange's latest effort to combat risky stocks.

  • August 08, 2024

    Pitney Bowes Spins Off E-Commerce Biz Into Ch. 11

    A former unit of shipping company Pitney Bowes Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection Thursday in Texas bankruptcy court with more than $100 million in debt and plans to liquidate its assets.

  • August 08, 2024

    Apollo Stockholder Suit Held Until Del. Justices Hear Moelis

    Both sides in a Delaware Court of Chancery challenge to an Apollo Global Management Inc. stockholder agreement adopted in 2022 have agreed to a litigation pause, citing the import of a possible Delaware Supreme Court appeal targeting a case that upended state corporate law on similar pacts.

  • August 08, 2024

    Wilson Sonsini, A&O Shearman Guide $688M Biotech Merger

    Salt Lake City-based Recursion said Thursday it has inked a deal to purchase fellow drug design and development company Exscientia for approximately $688 million, under the guidance of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC. 

  • August 08, 2024

    Block & Leviton, Bernstein Litowitz To Lead WWE-UFC Suit

    Block & Leviton LLP and Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP pinned down counsel leadership duties Thursday for a pending, high-profile Delaware Court of Chancery stockholder challenge to World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.'s $21.4 billion merger with Ultimate Fighting Championship.

  • August 08, 2024

    Dechert Says Merger Abandonments Are Way Up This Year

    In what's shaping up to be a banner year for antitrust enforcers, U.S. merger abandonments hit historic levels in the first half of 2024, according to a new report from Dechert LLP.

  • August 08, 2024

    Monroe, Triad Team Up In $300M Collab To Buy Rental Loans

    Asset manager Monroe Capital LLC, advised by Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, and Triad Financial Services Inc. on Thursday announced that they have formed a partnership with a roughly $300 million asset-based financing pool to originate and buy commercial community rental loans made to owners of manufactured housing communities.

  • August 08, 2024

    Deals Rumor Mill: Roche, Thoma Bravo, Klarna

    Roche is considering divesting cancer data specialist Flatiron Health, Thoma Bravo is exploring a sale of compliance software maker Cority, and fintech startup Klarna is preparing a secondary-share sale ahead of a planned IPO. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors from the past week.

  • August 08, 2024

    KKR Plans $4B Buyout Of Japan's Fuji Soft

    Private equity firm KKR said Thursday that FK Co. Ltd., an entity owned by investment funds managed by KKR, plans to make a tender offer to acquire all the outstanding shares of Japan's Fuji Soft Inc.

  • August 08, 2024

    Paul Weiss Adds Asset Management M&A Duo From Skadden

    Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP announced Thursday that it has hired a Skadden duo it calls "two of the nation's leading asset management M&A lawyers," one of whom it has appointed to its practice leadership.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • 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.  

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease

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    This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.

  • Opinion

    Aviation Watch: Not All Airline Mergers Hurt The Public

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's actions to block recent attempted airline mergers have been touted as serving the interests of the consumers — but given the realities of the deregulated air travel market, a tie-up like the one proposed between JetBlue and Spirit might have been a win for the public, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.

  • The Merger Cases That Will Matter At ABA Antitrust Meeting

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    While the American Bar Association's Antitrust Spring Meeting this week will cover all types of competition law issues in the U.S. and abroad, expect the federal agencies' recent track record in merger enforcement to be a key area of focus on the official panels and in cocktail party chatter, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Calif. Verdict Showcases SEC's New 'Shadow Trading' Theory

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    Last week's insider trading verdict, delivered against biopharmaceutical executive Matthew Panuwat by a California federal jury, signals open season on a new area of regulatory enforcement enabled by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's shadow trading theory, say Perrie Weiner and Aaron Goodman at Baker McKenzie.

  • Climate Disclosure Mandates Demand A Big-Picture Approach

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    As carbon emissions disclosure requirements from the European Union, California and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission take effect, the best practice for companies is not targeted compliance with a given reporting regime, but rather a comprehensive approach to systems assessment and management, says David Smith at Manatt.

  • Series

    Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.

  • Considerations For Evaluating IP Risks In Cannabis M&A

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    Due to the patchwork of state cannabis laws in the U.S., investors and businesses acquiring intellectual property must assess whether a trademark portfolio possesses any vulnerabilities, such as marks that are considered attractive to children or third-party claims of trademark infringement, say Mary Shapiro and Nicole Katsin at Evoke Law.

  • A Snapshot Of The Evolving Restrictive Covenant Landscape

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    Rachael Martinez and Brooke Bahlinger at Foley highlight recent trends in the hotly contested regulation and enforcement of noncompetition and related nonsolicitation covenants, and provide guidance on drafting such provisions within the context of stand-alone employment agreements and merger or acquisition transactions.

  • For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill

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    A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • Private Capital Considerations Amid Market Revival

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    As improved market conditions position traditional financing to regain lost market share, it's also worth considering the pace and structure of private credit and other forms of private capital, especially when seeking to set unique terms or build new corporate relationships, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Opinion

    Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea

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    A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.

  • 4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best

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    As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.

  • Flexibility Is Key In Hybrid Capital Investment Strategies

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    Flexible or hybrid capital funds have become a solution for some owners adverse to private debt or requiring short-term capital support not otherwise available in the market, but the complexity and possible range of structures available means that principals need to consider how they may work in different scenarios and outcomes, says Daniel Mathias at Cohen Gresser.

  • The Tricky Implications Of New Calif. Noncompete Laws

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    Two new California noncompete laws that ban certain out-of-state agreements and require employers to notify certain workers raise novel issues related to mergers and acquisitions, and pose particular challenges for technology companies, says John Viola at Thompson Coburn.

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