Hong Kong, 25 January 2006 LAWFUEL -The Law News Network – Shearman & Sterling’s global Mergers & Acquisitions Group secured lead roles on many of the most significant M&A deals of 2005.
The firm advised Viacom Inc. on the $50 billion division of
its businesses into separate publicly traded companies, CBS Corporation and
“new” Viacom Inc., in the largest transaction of its type ever completed.
Other recent deals of note include the $27.2 billion contested bid by
Boston Scientific for Guidant Corporation, Koch Industries’ $21 billion
acquisition of Georgia-Pacific and SunGard Data Systems’ record-breaking
$11.4 billion acquisition by a consortium of leading private equity firms.
The firm is currently involved in three hostile, multi-billion dollar M&A
deals.
Recent league table results from Bloomberg confirm the strength of the
firm’s practice. Most notably, the firm was ranked 2nd in “US Announced
Deals” by volume with 22.3% market share, and a volume of $252,472 million.
The firm ranked 4th in “Global Announced Deals” by volume with 13.6% market
share, and a volume of $353,409 million. The rankings were a sharp
improvement over last year’s results.
Bloomberg also ranked the firm in the top five in the following categories:
-Cross Border Global Announced Deals by volume
-US Announced Deals – Counsel to Principals by volume
-Global Announced Deals above US$5 billion by volume
-Global Announced Deals in the Communication Industry by volume
The firm also ranked in the top five in several of Thomson’s yearly M&A
league tables, including:
-US Target Announced by volume
-Worldwide Completed by volume
-Any U.S. Involvement Announced by volume
-Any U.K. Involvement Completed by volume
-Any Benelux Involvement Completed by volume
“2005 was a remarkable year for the M&A Group, and for the firm as a
whole,” said Peter Lyons, co-head of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions
Group. “Our work was distinguished, not only by volume, but by the
complexity of the deals in which we were involved. We have a strong deal
pipeline for 2006 and expect to remain on an upward trajectory.”
In addition to those listed above, the firm also advised on Legg Mason’s
$3.7 billion acquisition of the asset management group of Citigroup;
Allianz’s $7.1 billion cross-border merger with RAS and its conversion into
a European Company; Axel Springer’s $3.058 billion acquisition of
ProSiebenSat.1; Hunan Valin’s $338 million sale of 37% interest to Mittal
Steel; France Telecom’s $7.6 billion acquisition of 80% interest in Amena;
Gerling-Konzern’s sale of Gerling-Beteiligungs to Talanx; BASF’s
unsolicited $4.9 billion acquisition of Engelhard; Lottomatica’s $4.65
billion acquisition of GTECH; mm02’s $7.74 billion capital reorganization
in the UK; Seven-Eleven Japan’s $1.38 billion tender offer for all of the
outstanding shares of 7-Eleven; and many others.
In the January 16, 2006 issue, Investment Dealers’ Digest awarded “Deal of
the Year” honors for the SunGard buyout (Overall and Private Equity), and
the Citi/Legg Mason asset swap (Financial Institutions Groups). Hunan
Valin/Mittal Steel was named a “Breakthrough Deal” in M&A.
