Client Services / Mergers & Acquisitions

Mergers & Acquisitions

Our Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group represents a wide spectrum of publicly and privately held businesses, from Global 50 companies to venture backed start-ups, as well as private equity funds and investment banks.  As a globally integrated team, our lawyers manage complex transactions with components in multiple jurisdictions throughout the world.

Our approach to M&A is to develop a thorough understanding of a client’s business objectives and strategies so that we can provide superior client service and results.  Additionally, our ability to leverage our extensive industry experience and recognized areas of practice, such as tax, health and life sciences, intellectual property, energy, employee benefits, and antitrust and competition, across multiple offices, distinguishes our practice and adds value to each M&A transaction.

McDermott Case StudiesWith more than 150 lawyers practicing on one integrated platform, McDermott’s M&A practice is recognized worldwide, and has been ranked in the top 20 in several deal tables by Bloomberg (Global Legal M&A and Global Financial M&A), Thomson Financial (Worldwide Rankings for M&A/Legal Advisors and Americas Rankings for M&A/Legal Advisors) and Mergermarket (Global M&A, North American M&A, Global Top Deals and North America Top Deals for 2007).  In 2007, we also ranked among the top 15 M&A legal advisors (Bloomberg, Thomson Financial), in the top 15 legal advisors to global buyouts (Bloomberg, Mergermarket) and fifth in number of transactions for our financial advisory practice (Corporate Control Alert).

SCOPE OF SERVICES

McDermott represents businesses engaged in multiple industries in many types of transactions, including the following: 

  • Distressed transactions
  • Going-private transactions
  • Joint ventures
  • Leveraged buyouts
  • Mergers, equity and asset sales and acquisitions
  • Private investment in public equity (PIPE) transactions
  • Proxy fights
  • Recapitalizations
  • Spin-off and split-off transactions
  • Tender and exchange offers

Our team assists clients through all phases of the transaction process, from evaluating a possible deal to successful integration.  Our industry experience, combined with our geographic diversity and interdisciplinary nature, enables us to provide creativity, resourceful thinking and a client-focused approach in complex transactions.

We partner with other teams across the Firm:

  • Acquisition finance:  equity and debt capital markets, bank finance, derivatives and structured finance
  • Compensation and benefits:  executive compensation, defined compensation and pension plans, due diligence
  • Competition and antitrust:  global merger notifications and exclusive agreements
  • Environmental:  risk evaluation, compliance and remediation, litigation and insurance
  • Government relations:  foreign investment/national security, trade regulation, government contracts and lobbying
  • Intellectual property:  patent protection, licensing and transfer, and intellectual property litigation
  • Litigation:  contested mergers and acquisitions, securities, post-closing disputes, and products liability and commercial litigation
  • Real estate:  development and acquisitions, real estate finance, leasing and property management
  • Tax:  merger and acquisition structuring, global tax planning, tax controversies and financial products

RECENT ENGAGEMENTS

  • Represented Blackstone Group LP on various European hospitality industry transactions
  • Represented Caribbean Distillers Corporation and The Patrón Spirits Company in their acquisition of Ultimat Vodka from Adamba Imports International, Inc.
  • Represented Deutsche Lufthansa AG in the sale of all of its shares in Amadeus Global Travel Distribution S.A. in a public offer by WAM Acquisition S.A.
  • Represented Evonik in multiple transactions, including the acquisition of the worldwide superabsorbent polymers business of The Dow Chemical Company
  • Represented The Genlyte Group Incorporated in the negotiation and execution of a definitive merger agreement with Philips Holding USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Philips Electronics
  • Represented J.W. Childs Equity Partners III, L.P., in the sale of Sheridan Healthcare, Inc., to Hellman & Friedman
  • Represented Kellwood Company in its acquisition by affiliates of Sun Capital Securities Group
  • Represented Merrill Lynch as financial advisor to KB Home in the sale of Kaufman & Broad SA to PAI Partners
  • Represented Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated with respect to its equity commitment in connection with the leveraged buyout of TXU Corp.
  • Represented Motorola, Inc., in multiple transactions, including its acquisitions of Leapstone; Good Technology, Inc.; Broadbus Technologies, Inc.; and Vertasent LLC
  • Represented Novamerican Steel Inc. in its sale to Symmetry Holdings Inc., an AMEX-traded special purpose acquisition company
  • Represented Orica Limited in its acquisition of Mining Systems Holding LLC and its subsidiary Excel Mining Systems LLC
  • Represented Steel Dynamics, Inc., in its acquisition of OmniSource Corporation
  • Represented Tribune Company as special ESOP counsel in connection with its going-private transaction
  • Represented Tyco International Ltd. as lead U.S. corporate, commercial and tax counsel in connection with the tax-free distributions of Tyco Electronics Ltd. and Covidien Ltd. to Tyco’s shareholders
  • Represented Valassis Communications, Inc., in its acquisition of ADVO, Inc.
  • Represented X-Rite Inc. in its acquisition of Amazys Holding AG

RECOGNITION

Our M&A practice is globally recognized.

  • Chambers recognized McDermott’s M&A practice as “brilliant” and “always accessible,” as well as for its “high standards and client focus” (2006 and 2007).
  • Bloomberg and Thomson Financial named us among the top 15 M&A legal advisors (Americas, 2007).
  • Bloomberg and Mergermarket named us among the top 15 legal advisors to global buyouts (2007).
  • Corporate Control Alert ranked our financial advisory practice fifth in number of transactions (2007).
  • American Lawyer Media 2006 named us a go-to law firm in M&A for financial buyers.
  • PLC Which Lawyer? Global 50 2006 named our M&A practice a “global area of excellence.”
  • PLC Which Lawyer? 2006 and Juve 2006 ranked our German Italian and UK  M&A Practices.
  • M&A Advisor awarded the international/cross-border deal of the year for our representation of X-Rite, Inc. (2006).

Contacts

Mergers & Acquisitions Client Services

McDermott Will & Emery

McDermott Will and Emery