• May 1, 2009 | International Edition

    Jones Day bags $500m energy deal

    Jones Day's London arm has landed a role opposite Clifford Chance (CC) to advise on the $493m (£333m) acquisition of power plant operator Globeleq. The US firm advised special purpose vehicle Pendekar Energy, owned by Malaysian power supplier Tanjong and Saudi Arabia's Alijomaih Automotive Company.

    1 minute read

  • May 1, 2009 |

    Jones Day bags $500m energy deal

    Jones Day's London arm has landed a role opposite Clifford Chance (CC) to advise on the $493m (£333m) acquisition of power plant operator Globeleq. The US firm advised special purpose vehicle Pendekar Energy, owned by Malaysian power supplier Tanjong and Saudi Arabia's Alijomaih Automotive Company.

    1 minute read

  • April 29, 2009 |

    GE European adviser review nears conclusion

    General Electric's (GE) protracted European panel review has reached its final stages. The review is aiming to cut the number of firms on the panel from 270 down to just 80. Both the successful and unsuccessful tendering firms have been notified of GE's decision, although the company is still in talks with 20 out of the 80 successful outfits over differences in expectations of costs.All firms on the outgoing panel were invited to tender, with no invitations extended to any non-panel firms. The review will be completed in the next two to three weeks.

    1 minute read

  • April 27, 2009 |

    GE appoints new general counsel for Europe

    General Electric (GE) has appointed a new general counsel, with Hendrik Bourgeois replacing Mark Elborne in the role. Bourgeois, who was formerly European senior counsel for competition, regulation and government relations at GE, took up his new post earlier this month. The internal restructuring sees Elborne take on a new non-legal role as national executive for Northern Europe, dealing with strategic issues for the company. Elborne has served as GC for just less than three years, having joined the European arm of GE in May 2006 from GE Insurance in Kansas.

    1 minute read

  • April 20, 2009 |

    Reed Smith boosts corporate with Gibson Dunn hire

    Reed Smith has bolstered its European and Middle East corporate practice with the hire of a new partner in London. Oliver s'Jacob joins the firm as a partner from US rival Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, where he was a senior associate for four years. Prior to that he worked with Jones Day.S'Jacob has experience advising on private equity and corporate finance matters, cross-border M&A transactions, initial public offerings, joint ventures and public and private acquisitions.

    1 minute read

  • April 17, 2009 |

    Top firms line up on Glaxo/Pfizer AIDS treatment JV

    A raft of City firms have landed roles advising pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on a joint venture that will see the creation of a new HIV and AIDS treatment company. Allen & Overy (A&O), Slaughter and May, Clifford Chance (CC), Jones Day and Morgan Lewis & Bockius have all won instructions on the deal, which will see the drug companies merge their treatment companies into one entity.Slaughters was instructed by GSK as lead counsel, fielding a team led by M&A partners David Johnson and Simon Nicholls. Johnson and Nicholls provided corporate advice, alongside intellectual property (IP) partner Susie Middlemiss, tax partner Steve Edge, competition partner Bertrand Louveaux, and employment partner Sandeep Maudgil.

    1 minute read

  • April 15, 2009 |

    Weil bills $55m on Lehman as US earnings top $84m

    US legal fees and expenses for work on the Lehman Brothers collapse have already topped $84m (£56.5m), writes The Am Law Daily. Figures released in the US show that between 15 September 2008 and 31 January 2009, legal fees relating to the largest and most complicated Chapter 11 in US history totalled more than $84m.Weil Gotshal & Manges, Lehman's lead counsel, has taken the lion's share, so far billing the bank $55m (£36.9m) for 100,296.40 hours of work. Lead restructuring partner Harvey Miller has billed the most hours - 794.80, at a rate of $950 (£638) an hour. However, he is not the firm's highest biller, as exchange rates pushed the fees of Weil's London lawyers to more than $1,000 (£672) per hour. City head Mike Francies is the highest biller involved, spending nearly 78 hours on Lehman at a rate of $1,170 (£786) an hour. All told, 128 Weil partners and of counsel have spent 29,398 hours on the case.

    1 minute read

  • April 14, 2009 |

    Latham and Jones Day head up $600m Satyam auction

    Latham & Watkins and Jones Day have won lead roles on the Indian Government-sponsored auction for outsourcing firm Satyam Computer Services, reports The Am Law Daily.On Monday (13 April), the scandal-plagued company announced the sale of a 51% stake in its business to Indian telecommunications company Tech Mahindra in a deal valued at nearly $600m (£403m).Hyderabad-based Satyam found itself on the verge of collapse in early January after founder and former chairman Ramalinga Raju admitted to board members that the company's accounts had been falsified. Last week India's Central Bureau of Investigation charged nine people - including Raju and two of Satyam's outside auditors from PricewaterhouseCoopers - with forgery and fraud.

    1 minute read

  • April 9, 2009 |

    US firms outpace UK rivals to lead Q1 M&A rankings

    Wall Street has trumped UK rivals to top the global M&A rankings by value for the first quarter of 2009. Rankings compiled by Mergermarket show Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom heading the global value table - working on 28 deals worth $169bn (£113bn). Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, Sullivan & Cromwell and Davis Polk & Wardwell take the next slots by value, with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer the highest-placed UK firm in the table at number five.

    1 minute read

  • April 8, 2009 | International Edition

    Generation why?

    When it comes to law firm prestige there is no denying that the magic circle tag still works its, well, magic. And there are few other groups that buy into the brand power of these five firms more so than the student population.Given free choice to name five law firms they would rate highly, students consistently turned to the magic circle group, viewing them as offering the best career options, work-life balance, partnership prospects and training - not to mention prestige - of all law firms.

    1 minute read