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  • September 29, 2008 |

    US legal elite lead on Citi's Wachovia buy-out

    Four leading Wall Street firms have advised on the latest grand-scale banking rescue as Wachovia joins the ranks of banking giants to fall victim to the credit crunch. Davis Polk & Wardwell and Sullivan & Cromwell took the lead roles on Citi's acquisition of Wachovia's banking operations for $2.16bn (£1.16bn). Citi will take on around $53bn (£29bn) worth of Wachovia debt in the rescue deal, backed by the US Government.Sullivan advised Wachovia on the deal, while Davis Polk advised Citi, led by M&A partners John Ettinger and Phillip Mills and financial institutions partner Randall Guynn.

    1 minute read

  • September 26, 2008 |

    Sullivan acts on JPMorgan's $1.9bn WaMu buy-out

    Sullivan & Cromwell has taken the lead role on JPMorgan's $1.9bn (£1bn) purchase of Washington Mutual (WaMu) assets, following the US Government seizing the savings and loan association last night (25 September). Sullivan advised JPMorgan, led by chairman Rodgin Cohen and flanked by finance and M&A partner Mitch Eitel. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is understood to have taken the lead mandate advising Washington Mutual.Cravath Swaine & Moore also took a role as JPMorgan simultaneously launched a $10bn (£5.4bn) fundraising, selling common stock to the public to add capital to its balance sheet. New York-based corporate partner William Fogg led the Cravath team.

    1 minute read

  • September 24, 2008 | International Edition

    Commentary: Linklaters finds many silver linings on Wall St's cloud

    With every day last week seemingly heralding news, or at the least rumours, of another shock bank collapse/rescue, there are clearly better times to be a lawyer in the financial services sector. But for Linklaters it seems this particular cloud has a silver lining. Rafts of firms have managed to win substantive roles in the transactions but in the UK, only Linklaters has managed to secure key positions on all three deals to date.The firm has a team of around 20 partners acting for PricewaterhouseCoopers as UK administrator on Lehman Brothers' collapse in addition to a separate team advising Lloyds TSB on its takeover of HBOS. The firm is also advising Merrill Lynch on UK aspects of its takeover by Bank of America.

    1 minute read

  • September 24, 2008 |

    Commentary: Linklaters finds many silver linings on Wall St's cloud

    With every day last week seemingly heralding news, or at the least rumours, of another shock bank collapse/rescue, there are clearly better times to be a lawyer in the financial services sector. But for Linklaters it seems this particular cloud has a silver lining. Rafts of firms have managed to win substantive roles in the transactions but in the UK, only Linklaters has managed to secure key positions on all three deals to date.The firm has a team of around 20 partners acting for PricewaterhouseCoopers as UK administrator on Lehman Brothers' collapse in addition to a separate team advising Lloyds TSB on its takeover of HBOS. The firm is also advising Merrill Lynch on UK aspects of its takeover by Bank of America.

    1 minute read

  • September 24, 2008 |

    It's bonus time

    Since bonuses were introduced by law firms in the late 1990s as a way to limit the long-term effects of salary inflation, amounts paid out - and the hoops that assistants have to jump through in order to get their hands on the cash - have varied wildly between firms. Some firms give tens of thousands of pounds to assistants regardless of individual performance, while others require Olympian levels of all-round commitment in return for sums that could probably be more easily obtained through a few after hours' shifts at the local pub.

    1 minute read

  • September 22, 2008 |

    New Lehman sell-off hands lead roles to US trio

    Just days after Lehman Brothers sold off $1.75bn (£950m) in assets to Barclays, the bankrupt giant is in talks to sell its investment-management unit to private equity firms Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman, according to sources familiar with the deal. A lawyer familiar with the deal says Weil Gotshal & Manges, Lehman's bankruptcy counsel, is handling the deal for Lehman. The source says Ropes & Gray is representing Bain, a longtime Ropes client.

    1 minute read

  • September 17, 2008 |

    CC advises Barclays on $1.75bn Lehman assets purchase

    Clifford Chance (CC) has advised longstanding client Barclays on its purchase of a $1.75bn (£1bn) chunk of collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers. CC, which had been advising Barclays on its abandoned bid to acquire Lehman outright, fielded a team lead by corporate partner Guy Norman, with corporate partner Patrick Sarch, regulatory partner Chris Bates, restructuring partner Nick Frome and capital markets partner Ed Bradley assisting.Barclays has agreed to purchase a chunk of core assets from Lehman Brothers, including the fixed income, research departments, equities sales, and investment banking and trading operations in North America.

    1 minute read

  • September 9, 2008 |

    NY and DC elite line up for US mortgage bail-out

    Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton are among a long list of leading US law firms to have advised on the US Government's dramatic rescue of failing mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.Wachtell advised the US Treasury on the rescue deal, which at the weekend saw the US Government take effective ownership of the ailing mortgage giants, which guarantee huge amounts of US mortgage-based securities.Wachtell's 17-lawyer team worked "flat-out" for more than two weeks ahead of the rescue deal, which was concluded at the weekend. The firm's team was led by partners Harold Novikoff and Edward Herlihy. The Treasury Department's team was led by general counsel Robert Hoyt.

    1 minute read

  • September 5, 2008 |

    Herbert Smith bolsters Moscow capital markets

    Herbert Smith has hired a senior lawyer from Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital as a partner in its Moscow office. Evgeny Zelensky was executive director and co-head of legal and compliance at the bank, which specialises in emerging markets, until June this year.Zelensky has joined the City firm's capital markets practice in Moscow, which he will help develop alongside office head Allen Hanen and corporate partners Alexei Roudiak and Nick Moore.Zelensky's practice focuses on Russian capital markets transactions and equity capital markets (ECM) deals.

    1 minute read

  • September 4, 2008 |

    A&O closes in on Sao Paulo launch as elite law firms pile into Latin America

    CC drafts in senior lawyers to Brazil, DLA Piper mulls LatAm launch and A&O gears up for Sao Paulo debut.Allen & Overy (A&O) is set to launch its first Latin American office within weeks, it has emerged, as growing numbers of international law firms look to make their mark in the region.

    1 minute read