Skadden and Cleary take top roles on $12bn Coca-Cola buyout
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has advised Coca-Cola on its $12.2bn (£8bn) deal to acquire the North American operations of its largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, reports The Am Law Daily. The deal follows PepsiCo's move in August to take control of its two largest bottlers for $7.8bn (£5.1bn).
February 26, 2010 at 07:29 AM
2 minute read
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has advised Coca-Cola on its $12.2bn (£8bn) deal to acquire the North American operations of its largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, reports The Am Law Daily.
The deal follows PepsiCo's move in August to take control of its two largest bottlers for $7.8bn (£5.1bn).
Skadden fielded a team of partners on the deal including Sean Doyle (M&A), David Rievman (tax), Neil Leff (executive compensation), Richard Aftanas (corporate finance), and Sarah Ward (banking).
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati provided antitrust advice to Coca-Cola. Cleary partners Nicholas Levy and Mark Leddy led the firm's team.
Fellow US firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel advised Coca-Cola Enterprises, while William Miller McKenna Long & Aldridge advised a committee of Coca-Cola Enterprise directors.
Skadden also advised Coca-Cola on its 2008 offer to acquire a Chinese juice company – a deal the Chinese Government later blocked.
The move to take a controlling stake in major bottlers represents a reversal of strategy for both Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Through the 1980s and 1990s, the companies both preferred a set-up in which they maintained minority stakes in bottlers worldwide and used those bottlers as intermediaries in favourable deals to acquire smaller bottlers.
The Am Law Daily is the website of The American Lawyer, Legal Week's US sister title.
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