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International Edition

Linklaters matches Slaughters at top of FTSE 100 client rankings

Linklaters has joined Slaughter and May at the top of the Hemscott rankings of legal advisers to FTSE 100 companies, with both firms listed as advising 25 of the UK's biggest companies. Hemscott's Q3 rankings put the firms neck-and-neck for the first time. Slaughters has dominated the list since the rankings were first released in 2005, at which point it had 10 more FTSE 100 clients than Freshfields.
3 minute read

International Edition

Willkie Farr and Paul Weiss lead on $2.6bn Japanese pharma buyout

Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison have taken lead roles on the $2.6bn (£1.6bn) acquisition of US drugmaker Sepracor by Japan's Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma (DSP). The all-cash purchase price represents a premium of nearly $5 (£3) per share above Sepracor's closing price on 1 September. Sepracor's board has unanimously approved the deal, under which the company will continue operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of DSP.
2 minute read

International Edition

Taylor Wessing, Mayer Brown score Portsmouth FC takeover roles

Taylor Wessing and Mayer Brown have scored lead roles on the takeover of Portsmouth Football Club by Al Fahim Asia Associates. The Arab investment company owned by Sulaiman Al Fahim agreed to buy the south coast club after a protracted negotiation period for an undisclosed fee thought to be around the £60m mark.
2 minute read

International Edition

Allen & Overy and BLP take lead roles on Nomura City move

Allen & Overy (A&O) and Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) have landed key advisory roles as Japanese banking giant Nomura prepares to move into new premises in the City. The pair have advised on a 20-year lease arrangement, likely to be the largest UK office letting in 2009, which gives Nomura a six-year rent-free period on the newly-constructed Watermark Place building near Cannon Street.
2 minute read

International Edition

Mars hands trophy region-wide trademark mandate to Lovells

Mars has handed its high-profile trademark work to Lovells as previous adviser Clifford Chance moves to restructure its intellectual property (IP) practice. Lovells will now advise Mars on trademark, copyright, design and brand protection matters across a portfolio of products ranging from chocolate brands Galaxy and Snickers to pet food brands Pedigree and Whiskas and food product brands like Uncle Ben's.
2 minute read

International Edition

New recruits help Dewey secure eBay work on $1.9bn Skype deal

Dewey & LeBoeuf has secured a new role as eBay's go-to M&A counsel after hiring the online auction site's long-term advisers from Cooley Godward Kronish last month. Three M&A lawyers Dewey hired from Cooley last month led the firm's team representing eBay on its $1.9bn (£1.15bn) deal to unload a controlling interest in Skype to a consortium of investors.
3 minute read

Legal Week

Commentary: Freshfields struggles to align rhetoric and reality in finance

They were the appointments that promised so much yet delivered so little - but what, if anything, do the swift departures of Maurice Allen and Mike Goetz from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer say about the City firm's wider finance practice? The message from Freshfields is that it just didn't work out as either party had hoped. There's plenty of truth to that, but it's hardly the full story. For a start, it is striking the level of naivety both parties seem to have brought to the deal - arguably the most eye-catching lateral appointment Freshfields had ever made in the City. Certainly there appeared to be a lack of communication on both sides as to how it would work, which contributed to later frustrations.
9 minute read

International Edition

Dewey and Paul Hastings lead on multibillion-dollar Disney-Marvel deal

Dewey & LeBoeuf and Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker have taken lead roles on Walt Disney's $4bn (£2.4bn) cash and stock acquisition of Marvel Entertainment, a deal that gives Disney the rights to more than 5,000 Marvel characters, including Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk. Dewey's representation of Disney, a longstanding client of M&A chair Morton Pierce, reaffirms the firm's role as the Mouse's go-to outside counsel, write The Am Law Daily.
3 minute read

International Edition

Hammonds to advise England cricket team's new sponsor

Hammonds has won a role advising Brit Insurance as it takes over from Vodafone as the new team sponsor of England cricket. The national law firm advised the insurer, a new client, on its four-year sponsorship mandate from the England and Wales Cricket Board.
2 minute read

International Edition

Ashurst and A&O win lead roles on CVA rescue deal for ailing retailer Focus DIY

Ashurst and Allen & Overy (A&O) are among a raft of firms advising as home improvement retailer Focus DIY moves to secure a rescue deal through a company voluntary arrangement (CVA). Ashurst has been advising Focus DIY on the proposed CVA, which received more than 90% backing from creditors last month (24 August). It will see landlords of some 38 closed stores agreeing to waive rent liabilities in return for a share of a pot of money thought to be worth around £3.7m.
2 minute read

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