Shearman & Sterling has taken the lead role alongside Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz on a chemical company acquisition worth approximately $18.8bn (£9.5bn). US chemical giant Dow Chemical Company agreed to buy Rohm and Haas in the deal, which closed on 10 July.

Leading the Wachtell team advising Rohm and Haas is corporate partner and co-chairman of the executive committee Daniel Neff and corporate partner Stephanie Seligman in New York.

The Shearman team, advising Dow, is being led by New York-based M&A partners John Marzulli Jr and Scott Petepiece.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton also took a mandate on the deal, advising Dow Chemical on antitrust matters in connection with the acquisition, with a team including partners in Washington, Cologne and Brussels.

Dow, which operates in 160 countries, has annual sales of $54bn (£27bn) and provides a large range of chemical products. Philadelphia-based Rohm and Haas is the world's largest producer of acrylic paint ingredients.

Under the terms of the deal, Dow will acquire all outstanding shares of Rohm and Haas common stock for $78 (£39) per share in cash.

The financing for the acquisition included equity investment by Berkshire Hathaway and the Kuwait Investment Authority of $3bn (£1.5bn) and $1bn (£504m) respectively.

Investment banks Citi, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley committed debt financing and acted as financial advisors on the transaction.

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