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  • February 19, 2013 |

    Macfarlanes continues hedge fund push with Akin Gump partner hire

    Macfarlanes has turned to US firm Akin Gump for the hire of an investment funds partner, not long after taking on a nine-strong City hedge fund boutique. Simon Thomas, who has been part of Akin Gump's London funds team for 10 years after joining from Dechert in 2002, joins Macfarlanes after the firm took over specialist hedge fund firm D Harris Co International (DHCI) last year, adding all of its nine City employees to its private equity practice.

    1 minute read

  • February 19, 2013 |

    Links among just four firms to win Singapore licences after 23 apply

    Linklaters, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Jones Day and Sidley Austin have been awarded Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) licences in Singapore as the Asian city state takes further steps to liberalise its legal market. The four international firms were among a list of 23 which applied for QFLPs in the period between 1 July to 31 August last year, with other hopefuls including UK outfits Berwin Leighton Paisner, DLA Piper, Ashurst, Olswang, Watson Farley & Williams and Stephenson Harwood, alongside American counterparts K&L Gates and Shearman & Sterling.

    1 minute read

  • February 13, 2013 |

    Weil Gotshal and Davis Polk lead on latest multibillion-dollar media deal

    Davis Polk & Wardwell and Weil Gotshal & Manges are both advising on a $16.7bn (£10.7bn) deal that will see General Electric (GE) sell its 49% stake in US media and entertainment giant NBCUniversal (NBCU) to majority shareholder Comcast Corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, US cable operator Comcast will pay NBCU $12bn (£7.7bn) in cash with $4bn (£2.6bn) in Comcast guaranteed debt and $700m (£450m) of preferred stock in acquiring full ownership of the film and television business.

    1 minute read

  • February 8, 2013 |

    SJB and Olswang among top firms on Warner's £487m Parlophone purchase

    Olswang, SJ Berwin and Jones Day are among the firms landing key roles in the high-profile acquisition of record label Parlophone by Warner Music. The all-cash transaction, valued at £487m, was signed yesterday (7 January). Parlophone, home to the likes of Blur, Pink Floyd and Coldplay, was formerly a part of UK music company EMI. SJ Berwin was instructed by Universal, a unit of French media giant Vivendi, on the Parlophone deal with a team comprising corporate partners Will Holder and Mark Sanders, senior partner Stephen Kon and competition partner Philipp Girardet. Paris corporate partner Etienne Bouriscan led the team advising on France law matters, while Frankfurt corporate partner Michael Cziesla headed up the team providing German law counsel. Universal general counsel Richard Constant said: "This was an extremely complex transaction carried out under close regulatory supervision and Will Holder, Mark Sanders, Stephen Kon and Philipp Girardet at SJ Berwin and their teams were instrumental in delivering an extremely good result for us in a very constrained time frame. Their ability to deliver for their client is, in my view, incomparable." Shearman & Sterling advised Vivendi with a team comprising London M&A partner Jeremy Kutner, New York M&A partner Clare O'Brien, capital markets partner Robert Evans and finance partner Steven Sherman. Olswang acted for Warner Music, backed by parent company Access Industries, with a team led by London corporate partner Stephen Hermer. Jones Day Brussels advised on competition aspects with a team including Europe head of antitrust Bernard Amory. The £1.2bn acquisition of EMI by Universal Music was given the greenlight by the European Commission last September. Clifford Chance (CC) and SJ Berwin partners Kon and Girardet led on the deal. The competition watchdog approved the takeover bid on the condition that Universal sells around 60% of EMI's European assets, one of which was Parlophone. Universal is set to retain more than two thirds of EMI on a global basis, keeping artists such as the Beatles, Beach Boys and Katy Perry. CC advised EMI and owner Citigroup on the deal in a team comprising global corporate head Matthew Layton City, corporate partners Daniel Kossoff and Rob Crothers, and Brussels head and antitrust partner Tony Reeves. In November 2011 SJ Berwin and Clifford Chance were among a raft of firms winning roles on EMI's recording division and publishing business acquisitions, after it emerged that the company, which houses artists including The Beatles, was to be split in two. CC advised EMI and Citigroup on the sale of both its music division and its publishing business along with US firm Shearman & Sterling and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, while Universal and parent company Vivendi instructed SJ Berwin on the sale of its recording arm in a team led by firm managing partner Rob Day and city corporate partner William Holder. Now-defunct US firm Dewey & Leboeuf took the lead in advising a Sony-led consortium on its publishing takeover, acting alongside Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Weil Gotshal & Manges, Allen & Overy, and Baker & McKenzie.

    1 minute read

  • February 6, 2013 |

    Line-up of top law firms lead on $23.3bn Virgin Media acquisition

    Shearman & Sterling, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson and Allen & Overy (A&O) are among a raft of top firms to have advised on the $23.3bn (£14.9bn) purchase of Virgin Media by US cable giant Liberty Global. The cash and stock merger, which is subject to regulatory and stockholder approval, would create the world's largest broadband communications company, covering 25 million customers in 14 countries.

    1 minute read

  • January 31, 2013 |

    K&L Gates set to unveil 8% London turnover hike as City rise continues

    K&L Gates saw London turnover increase by 8% in 2012 after a busy year for the US firm, with City growth coming against static revenues across the firm as a whole. Provisional figures for the firm's London office show revenues rose to £35.6m during the year, up from 2011's total of £33m, despite a slight fall in partner headcount to 60. The results mean the law firm has increased City revenues by almost 20% over the past two years, after seeing a 10% hike in the UK last year.

    1 minute read

  • January 27, 2013 |

    The Transfer Window: recent moves including Addleshaws, Links and DLA

    Addleshaw Goddard has turned to Linklaters for the hire of a new private equity partner in London. The firm is taking on Ben Rodham, who is a managing associate at the magic circle firm, where he has worked with clients including Bridgepoint, Carlyle, Hg Capital, Montagu and Terra Firma. He has also spent time Linklaters' Dubai and Hong Kong offices.

    1 minute read

  • January 24, 2013 |

    Skadden and Sullivan win key roles on €1bn IPO of real estate group LEG

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Sullivan & Cromwell have landed roles on German real estate group LEG's initial public offering (IPO), expected to raise up to €1bn (£838m). The listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is due to take place in early February, and is expected to value the Duesseldorf-based housing company at more than €2bn (£1.7bn), according to market analysts.

    1 minute read

  • January 24, 2013 |

    US law firms to grow Hong Kong litigation teams as solicitors get advocacy rights

    Given the US cultural affinity for resolving matters inside a court room, it was perhaps only a matter of time. But finally, America's leading law firms appear to be taking litigation work in Asia seriously. Latham & Watkins, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and O'Melveny & Myers are among several US outfits with plans to strengthen their local disputes teams, while Davis Polk & Wardwell recently entered the litigation arena with the hire of two well-regarded litigators from Clifford Chance (CC). Firms that are considering starting up local disputes practices include Kirkland & Ellis and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, both of which have strong litigation franchises globally.

    1 minute read

  • January 17, 2013 |

    Libor's long tail – lawyers jostle as bank scandals spread through the market

    The new year may be a time to start afresh, but the Libor scandal that dominated business headlines in the second half of 2012 is – for advisers – showing no signs of abating. At Clifford Chance (CC), the news that its client Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is in the final stages of a settlement with US and UK regulators over its alleged Libor role means the firm's regulatory lawyers will have had a busy start to 2013.

    1 minute read