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).
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