Jones Day, Simpson Thacher light up on mega £16bn US tobacco deal
Jones Day and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett are among a clutch of firms to have landed prize mandates on Reynolds American's mammoth $27.4bn planned acquisition of rival Lorillard.
July 16, 2014 at 04:43 AM
3 minute read
Jones Day and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett are among a clutch of firms to have landed prize mandates on Reynolds American's mammoth $27.4bn (£16bn) planned acquisition of rival Lorillard.
Tobacco giant Reynolds, which owns RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, is known for its Camel and Pall Mall brands. The deal will combine these with Lorilland's Newport menthol cigarettes.
Reynolds has also reached a related agreement with Imperial Tobacco that will see the UK group buy Reynolds' cigarette brands KOOL, Salem and Winston, as well as Lorillard's Maverick brand and e-cigarette brand blu, for $7.1bn (£4.1bn) in cash.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2015.
Jones Day is advising Reynolds on the deal, with corporate partners Jere Thomson and Randi Lesnick leading the team.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is representing Lorillard on all aspects of the deal, fielding New York corporate partners Robert Spatt and Eric Swedenburg. Other corporate partners with roles on the transaction include London-based pair Adam Signy and Derek Baird.
Allen & Overy is acting for longstanding client Imperial Tobacco. The team, led by London corporate partner Jeremy Parr and New York corporate partner Eric Shube, includes New York antitrust partner Elaine Johnston. The firm worked closely with Imperial senior corporate and commercial counsel Anthony Pickard-Rose.
Kirkland & Ellis is advising Lazard, the lead financial adviser to Reynolds, with a team fronted by corporate partners Sarkis Jebejian and David Feirstein.
Both Centerview Partners and Barclays, which are the financial advisers to Lorillard, have turned to Sullivan & Cromwell for advice. The New York-based team includes corporate partners Francis Aquila and Brian Hamilton.
British American Tobacco (BAT) has agreed to invest around $4.7bn (£2.7bn) as part of Reynolds' acquisition, allowing it to retain 42% ownership in the company after the takeover. Lorillard's shareholders will meanwhile hold on to 15%.
Cravath Swaine & Moore is acting for BAT with a team led by corporate partners Philip Gelston and Ting Chen, who are supported by tax partner Michael Schler and antitrust partner Christine Varney.
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is supporting Cravath in representing UK-listed BAT on the transaction. The team, which is advising on English law aspects, is led by corporate partners James Palmer and Gillian Fairfield, with support from finance partner Will Nevin. HSF is also working for BAT on the financing of the deal.
Cravath's Gelston, Chen and Schler were recently mandated on Swiss chocolate company Lindt's acquisition of US confectionary rival Russell Stover.
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
New Frontiers: Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Launches in Cairo and Abu Dhabi
4 minute read
Travers Gives Holiday Bonus, Ropes & Gray Reduces Time Off Allowance
1 minute readTrending 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
