Skadden, Freshfields and Davis Polk snare mandates as Pfizer launches mammoth AstraZeneca bid
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Davis Polk are advising on US drugs giant Pfizer's bid to acquire UK rival AstraZeneca
April 28, 2014 at 10:58 AM
2 minute read
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Davis Polk are advising on US drugs giant Pfizer's bid to acquire UK rival AstraZeneca.
Pfizer's offer of around £60bn follows a rejected bid from the US company in January. It is thought any potential takeover could turn hostile after AstraZeneca released a statement today saying it felt it "was not appropriate to engage in discussions with Pfizer".
If a deal does ultimately take place, it would be one of the largest foreign takeovers of a UK company in corporate history.
Skadden is acting for Pfizer on UK and US matters, with the firm fielding a London-based team comprising corporate partners Michael Hatchard and Scott Hopkins and tax partner Tim Sanders.
The firm's US office is also providing advice, with a team including corporate partners Paul Schnell, Sean Doyle and Michael Chitwood, tax partner Sally Thurston and competition partner Sharis Pozen.
Hopkins was seconded to the UK Takeover Panel for two years, returning to Skadden in 2010.
Skadden is a longtime adviser to Pfizer. Recent mandates include advising the pharmaceuticals giant on the initial public offering of Pfizer's former animal health business Zoetis last year and its high-profile $11.9bn sale of its infant nutrition business to Nestle in 2012.
AstraZeneca has mandated Freshfields to act for it on the bid, with London managing partner Julian Long leading. Davis Polk's US corporate partner Paul Kingsley is providing US counsel.
The company recently turned to Covington & Burling for advice on its $4.1bn (£2.5bn) purchase of Bristol-Myers Squibb's half of its diabetes business, which both companies had developed together.
Other firms representing AstraZeneca on deals last year include Greenberg Traurig Maher, which took a role on its $1.15bn acquisition of US pharma company Pearl Therapeutics, and RPC, which advised it on the development of new purpose-built headquarters in Cambridge.
The news comes a week after it emerged that magic circle trio Freshfields, Linklaters and Slaughter and May took the top roles on a £6.5bn joint venture agreement between pharmaceutical giants Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
|This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Big Law Leaders, Dealmakers Optimistic about M&A Deal Flow Under Trump, With Caveats
5 minute read
The Law Firms Generating 8-Figure Fees on the Year's Big Ticket UK Deals
3 minute read
'Significant' Competition Concerns Over £762M GXO Logistics-Wincanton Merger
Trending Stories
- 1Gibson Dunn Sued By Crypto Client After Lateral Hire Causes Conflict of Interest
- 2Trump's Solicitor General Expected to 'Flip' Prelogar's Positions at Supreme Court
- 3Pharmacy Lawyers See Promise in NY Regulator's Curbs on PBM Industry
- 4Outgoing USPTO Director Kathi Vidal: ‘We All Want the Country to Be in a Better Place’
- 5Supreme Court Will Review Constitutionality Of FCC's Universal Service Fund
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
