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  • April 14, 2010 |

    US Briefing: Road trip

    At around 3pm on 6 October 2009, roughly 100 lawyers and executives filed into a conference room in Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom's Manhattan office. It had taken three years, 11 months and 29 days to get to this moment: Delphi was emerging from the depths of bankruptcy and passing into the hands of its former parent, General Motors Company (GM), as well as two lenders. There was a palpable sense of exhaustion in the room; the close had been convened seven hours earlier. The Veuve Clicquot, selected by Delphi lead lawyer John 'Jack' Butler Jr but poured prematurely, was flat.

    1 minute read

  • April 14, 2010 |

    M&A teams cheered as global market sees modest Q1 revival

    The UK M&A market is showing signs of recovery as activity levels begin to improve, according to new research from mergermarket. The figures show that 171 UK M&A deals were announced in the first quarter of 2010, compared to 150 during the same period last year, while the total value of deals during Q1 also increased, rising from $18.6bn (£12.2bn) last year to $20.7bn (£13.6bn).

    1 minute read

  • April 8, 2010 |

    Herbert Smith and Links head up UK firms for Q1 M&A as activity picks up

    The UK M&A market is showing signs of recovery as activity levels begin to improve, according to new research from mergermarket. The figures show that 171 UK M&A deals were announced in the first quarter of 2010, compared to 150 during the same period last year, while the total value of deals during Q1 also increased, rising from $18.6bn (£12.2bn) last year to $20.7bn (£13.6bn).

    1 minute read

  • April 1, 2010 |

    'We don't want to talk to clients - they'll ask for lower fees': time to get intimate with clients

    When I was in college in the late 1970s, I had a close friend whose grandfather (let's call him 'John'") was a retired partner at White & Case. John had a number of outstanding traits, not the least of which was that his father-in-law had been the chief executive of one of White & Case's largest clients, Banker's Trust, and his brother-in-law was the chairman of another major client, Mellon Bank.

    1 minute read

  • March 26, 2010 |

    Mayer Brown, Camerons and Bakers at the table on £400m Camelot sale

    Mayer Brown and Baker & McKenzie have taken the lead roles on the sale of the National Lottery operator Camelot for just under £400m. The board of Camelot has agreed to sell the company to one of Canada's largest pension funds, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTTP), in favour of a rival bid from buyout giant CVC.

    1 minute read

  • March 18, 2010 |

    Trio of firms in dispute over Lehman bankruptcy fees cut

    Three US law firms are in a dispute over fees on the mammoth US bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers - which has already generated $300m (£200m) in legal costs - after their fees were reduced by marginal amounts, writes The Am Law Daily The fees dispute gained momentum earlier this week when three firms - Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, Jones Day and Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle - filed papers protesting the Lehman fee committee's reductions of their bills for the period of 1 June 2009 through the end of September 2009.

    1 minute read

  • March 17, 2010 |

    White & Case City base posts 20% drop in revenues for 2009

    White & Case's London office has emerged as the worst performing City arm of a US law firm in 2009 - a year in which results varied significantly between firms. White & Case saw London revenues plunge by just under 20% to $197m (£130m) during the 2009 calendar year, with profits per equity partner (PEP) dropping by 11% to $1.32m (£872,000).

    1 minute read

  • March 16, 2010 |

    Simpson Thacher and Wachtell lead on Apax's $3bn Tommy Hilfiger sale

    Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz have taken lead roles on buyout house Apax Partners' sale of Tommy Hilfiger to US clothing giant Phillips-Van Heusen for $3bn (£1.9bn). The sale comes around four years after Apax purchased Tommy Hilfiger for $1.6bn (£1.1bn) and took the company private.

    1 minute read

  • March 15, 2010 |

    Davis Polk posts 10% profits hike as elite NY trio unveil 2009 financials

    Davis Polk & Wardwell has posted a 10% increase in profits per equity partner (PEP) for 2009, marking the firm out as one of the strongest performers among New York's elite law firms, reports The Am Law Daily. The firm also saw revenues rise by 7%, which represents the highest percentage growth reported so far among New York firms.

    1 minute read

  • March 10, 2010 |

    UK trio win roles as Premier Foods appoints debut panel

    Slaughter and May, Eversheds and Wragge & Co have been appointed to Premier Foods' first formal roster of external legal advisers. The trio are the only firms to have been appointed to the panel, with the news likely to be seen as a blow to longstanding adviser Weil Gotshal & Manges, which has been the most visible transactional adviser to Premier in recent years.

    1 minute read