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  • September 10, 2009 |

    Mystery surrounds sacking of Bank of America GC

    The Bank of America (BoA) fired its general counsel last December, it emerged this week, in the middle of its controversial merger with Merrill Lynch, writes Corporate Counsel. News of the move, which emerged this week in US press reports, has been met with surprise. BoA spokesperson Robert Stickler said the firing of general counsel Tim Mayopoulos was not related either to performance issues or "to any advice he was giving on the Merrill Lynch merger.

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  • August 28, 2009 |

    Herbert Smith wins role alongside Davis Polk on $3bn pharma M&A deal

    Herbert Smith has picked up a role advising drug company Warner Chilcott on the UK aspects of its $3.1bn (£1.8bn) acquisition of the pharmaceutical business of Procter & Gamble (P&G). The City firm advised regular client Warner Chilcott alongside Davis Polk & Wardwell, with the deal approved earlier this week (24 August).

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  • August 27, 2009 |

    America – another country, legally another world

    I guess it's the same whatever industry you work in, but it's amazing the extent to which...

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  • August 20, 2009 |

    US firms unite to oppose shareholder nominations to corporate boards

    Seven elite US law firms have come together to lobby the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on how the agency should implement a proposal to allow shareholders to nominate company directors. Lawyers involved in drafting the letter acknowledge it was rare for one letter to come from all the firms, which included Cravath Swaine & Moore, Sullivan & Cromwell and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz. At least four of the firms also sent separate letters addressing concerns with the policy direction the SEC is taking.

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  • August 10, 2009 |

    Linklaters takes top spot in Euro debt and equity capital markets rankings

    Linklaters has topped the Thomson Reuters European debt and equity capital markets rankings, advising managers on twice as many equity deals over the first half of 2009 as its nearest rival and overtaking Allen & Overy (A&O) in the debt rankings. The magic circle firm advised underwriters on 21 European equity capital markets (ECM) deals worth $36.9bn (£22.2bn) during the first six months of this year, with key deals including a role advising JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs on HSBC's £12.5bn rights issue - the largest so far this year.

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  • July 30, 2009 |

    Covering all the bases

    "I have not followed every opportunity that came along in my career," says Thomas Werlen, general counsel of Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis. "But in hindsight I was right not to, and I have also been right about the opportunities I have pursued." Werlen is referring, in the first instance, to the offers he passed up in the 1990s as a junior lawyer with New York leader Cravath Swaine & Moore to move into investment banking ("short term, it would have been great money; long term, it would have hindered my development as a lawyer") and, more recently, to his decision to leave Allen & Overy's (A&O's) London office three years ago to take up his current position.

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  • July 22, 2009 |

    Simpson, Cravath and Bredin Prat line up on KKR merger deal

    A trio of international firms have advised on private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co's (KKR's) merger with its European affiliate KKR Private Equity Investors (KPE), reports The Am Law Daily. The transaction has been approved by directors at KKR and KPE and will be completed on 1 October if a majority of KPE unit holders agree to the merger during voting in the third quarter. The deal could bring KKR one step closer to a public listing in New York, which it delayed last year amid turmoil in the credit markets.

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  • July 9, 2009 |

    Santander and JP Morgan put legal advisers under review

    Banco Santander is finalising a shake-up of its external advisers in the UK, as JP Morgan has launched a review of its preferred law firms. Santander has turned to procurement company Aquanima for the first review of its merged UK panel, which covers the legacy Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley brands.

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  • June 9, 2009 |

    Davis Polk to close Frankfurt office as local chief steps down

    Davis Polk & Wardwell has opted to close its Frankfurt office when resident partner Patrick Kenadjian retires at the end of August, reports The Am Law Daily. Kenadjian informed the firm earlier this spring that he intended to retire at the end of this year. In the meantime, the office's designated successor, London-based partner Harald Halbhuber, decided to leave the firm for personal reasons, according to managing partner John Ettinger. The Frankfurt office, which was launched in 1991, has long focused on cross-border securities and M&A work. In January, Kenadjian headed a team advising Oesterreichische Kontrollbank on its offering of $1.25bn (£770m) in global notes.

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  • June 5, 2009 |

    Elite firms take lead roles on Rio's $15bn rights issue and BHP JV

    Linklaters, Slaughter and May and Herbert Smith have all advised on Rio Tinto's $15.2bn (£9.5bn) rights issue and joint venture with one-time merger partner BHP Billiton. The roles come in the wake of this week's collapse of Rio's $19.5bn (£12.1bn) deal with Chinese resource giant Chinalco, with Rio opting against a tie-up after shareholder concerns that the deal was not in the best interests of the mining company.

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