Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Covington & Burling and Davis Polk & Wardwell are advising as German vaccine developer BioNTech makes a public offering of its shares, worth around $512 million. 

The placement comes as BioNTech, which in April partnered with the drug giant Pfizer to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, announced it plans to start human trials of its vaccine candidate in 30,000 participants in over 120 sites globally. 

The transaction is the first public offering of American depository shares by Mainz-headquartered BioNTech in the U.S. after it first listed shares on Nasdaq in October 2019.

Freshfields are acting for BioNTech, led by corporate partner Peter Versteegen, according to a spokesperson at the firm, while Skadden is advising the German underwriters, led by capital markets partner Katja Kaulamo and tax partner Johannes Frey, according to a firm statement. In the U.S. the company turned to Covington & Burling, the person said.  

The U.S. underwriters' counsel have turned to Davis Polk & Wardwell, with a capital markets team including partners Deanna L. Kirkpatrick and Yasin Keshvargar, as well as partner Pritesh P. Shah advising on intellectual property matters, according to the spokesperson. 

If the trials are successful, the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine could receive regulatory approval this year, the company said in a statement, allowing the production of 100 million doses by the end of 2020 and approximately 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021. 

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