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  • May 19, 2011 |

    Weil and SJB head up $950m private equity buyout of environmental consultancy

    Weil Gotshal & Manges, SJ Berwin and Dickson Minto have scored key roles on Charterhouse Capital Partners' acquisition of a majority stake in environmental consultancy Environmental Resources Management (ERM) from Bridgepoint. The Charterhouse-led management buyout, which values ERM at $950m (£588m), saw Weil advise ERM with private equity partner Mark Soundy leading a team also including London corporate partner Peter King, tax partner Sarah Priestley and finance partner James Hogben.

    1 minute read

  • May 17, 2011 |

    Covington signs up four partners for London base with MoFo team hire

    Covington & Burling has added four partners to its City life sciences practice with the hire of a team from Morrison & Foerster (MoFo). The team includes MoFo's City corporate head Paul Claydon as well as London partners Natalie Diep, James Gubbins and James Halstead. The team's start date is still being negotiated, but they are expected to join in the next couple of weeks.

    1 minute read

  • May 5, 2011 |

    Rugged individualism – 2010 was a year of firm-specific achievement in the US

    If US culture traditionally celebrates individual achievement, the financial results for the world's largest legal market proved suitably patriotic last year. Overall there was little surprise, with the US top 100 firms achieving underlying revenue growth of 1.4% - a modest but respectable result that returned the group to growth after the 3.4% contraction seen in 2009. The prolonged squeeze on costs was enough to turn this modest revival into an 8.4% increase in average partner profits overall - very solid going for a hardly solid market.

    1 minute read

  • May 5, 2011 |

    US law leaders shrug off tough market to hike profits by 8%

    America's largest law firms returned to growth last year despite turbulent market conditions, with many US leaders achieving sharp increases in profits on the back of a prolonged squeeze on costs. Financial results for the 2010 financial year from Legal Week's affiliate title, The American Lawyer, show gross revenues across the US top 100 grew by 4% to $67.4bn (£40.4bn) against a healthy increase in profits per equity partner (PEP) of 8.4%.

    1 minute read

  • April 28, 2011 |

    Cravath and Shearman take headline roles on $21.3bn healthcare takeover

    Cravath Swaine & Moore and Shearman & Sterling have taken the lead roles on Johnson & Johnson's $21.3bn (£12.8bn) acquisition of orthopaedic devices manufacturer Synthes, reports the Am Law Daily. Cravath is acting for Johnson & Johnson on the deal, which ranks as the healthcare giant's largest to date. The US firm's team is led by corporate partner Robert Townsend, alongside corporate partner Damien Zoubek, compensation and benefits partner Eric Hilfers and tax partner Andrew Needham.

    1 minute read

  • April 21, 2011 |

    Weil Gotshal to broaden global practice following McKinsey review

    Weil Gotshal & Manges is set to broaden its practice focus following a review of its international strategy by management consultant McKinsey & Company. The Wall Street law firm's executive partner Barry Wolf is adjusting his three-year strategy – dubbed 'Weil 2012' – to focus more heavily on finance and litigation following advice from the bluechip consultant.

    1 minute read

  • April 14, 2011 |

    Insurer Torus hands regulatory remit to first global GC

    Torus Insurance has appointed its first global general counsel after sealing the hire of the US deputy general counsel of rival insurance company Chartis, Jose Ramon Gonzalez. The hire marks the first-ever general counsel appointment for the insurer, which said that it has brought in the role in response to the increasing number of regulatory requirements facing the insurance industry in the wake of the financial crisis.

    1 minute read

  • April 14, 2011 |

    Santander reviews UK advisers as Barclays quizzes panel on hospitality

    Banco Santander has kicked off a review of its external legal advisers in the UK as it emerges that Barclays is set to grill its global panel firms on corporate hospitality spending for the first time. Santander's review of its own-account legal panel began around two weeks ago and covers the legacy Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley brands.

    1 minute read

  • April 5, 2011 | International Edition

    Energy and private equity sectors buck lacklustre market in 2011 Q1

    Given M&A trends clearly reflect what's happening in the global economy, Mergermarket's latest quarterly M&A data covering the first three months of the 2011 calendar year largely confirms the general feeling of uncertainty in the market currently. While there has been a visible increase in private equity mandates and big-ticket transactions such as AT&T and T-Mobile and BP/Rosneft, Mergermarket's data shows deal volumes are broadly down on both the equivalent quarter last year and Q4 2010 - leaving law firms' corporate practices facing another uninspiring year. Even those deal markets that have so far seemed to defy the impact of the recession, such as the Middle East and Africa and Asia, saw bid volumes down significantly. In Africa and the Middle East, volumes were down by 25% in Q1 2011 compared with the last quarter of 2010, and by 30% looking at Q1 last year, with 58 transactions worth $11.4bn (£7.1bn). Meanwhile, volumes fell by nearly 32% in the Asia-Pacific region between Q4 2010 and the beginning of 2011, and by 8.2% looking at January to March last year.

    1 minute read

  • April 5, 2011 |

    Energy and private equity sectors buck lacklustre market in 2011 Q1

    Given M&A trends clearly reflect what's happening in the global economy, Mergermarket's latest quarterly M&A data covering the first three months of the 2011 calendar year largely confirms the general feeling of uncertainty in the market currently. While there has been a visible increase in private equity mandates and big-ticket transactions such as AT&T and T-Mobile and BP/Rosneft, Mergermarket's data shows deal volumes are broadly down on both the equivalent quarter last year and Q4 2010 - leaving law firms' corporate practices facing another uninspiring year. Even those deal markets that have so far seemed to defy the impact of the recession, such as the Middle East and Africa and Asia, saw bid volumes down significantly. In Africa and the Middle East, volumes were down by 25% in Q1 2011 compared with the last quarter of 2010, and by 30% looking at Q1 last year, with 58 transactions worth $11.4bn (£7.1bn). Meanwhile, volumes fell by nearly 32% in the Asia-Pacific region between Q4 2010 and the beginning of 2011, and by 8.2% looking at January to March last year.

    1 minute read