Mergers & Acquisitions

Successful mergers and acquisitions (M&A) require support from experienced M&A lawyers who can execute the most complex transactions in the face of a rapidly changing regulatory environment and geopolitical headwinds. Our cross-border M&A team has extensive experience helping clients navigate through every step of their strategic M&A deals.

By combining our multidisciplinary approach and the resources of a full-service global law firm, we support our clients—wherever and whenever they do business—by effectively and efficiently:

• Executing transactions across industry sectors and jurisdictions.
• Understanding the commercial drivers behind each transaction so that we give the best advice in a commercially pragmatic manner.
• Developing innovative structures to accommodate the most complex tax, regulatory and financing challenges.
• Anticipating the needs of our clients in light of our extensive experience advising on all manner of buy- and sell-side mandates.
• Creating bespoke capital structures and financing arrangements to help clients fund deals when traditional bank debt may be unavailable.
• Managing the many challenges of global deals, particularly with respect to the increasing regulatory hurdles posed by protectionist trade policies, competition laws, sanctions and foreign direct investment (FDI) policies, with help from our International Trade and Competition team.
• Completing distressed transactions for financially troubled companies and opportunistic buyers—both in and out of formal restructuring proceedings.

With support from lawyers throughout the firm, we know how to handle every aspect of our clients’ deals. And our longstanding relationships with law and policy-makers and regulatory bodies around the world help our clients enter new markets, anticipating and adapting to myriad regulatory, policy and cultural challenges that arise.

OUR EXPERTISE INCLUDES

• Buy- and sell-side auctions
• Special situations
• Stock sales, asset sales and mergers
• Joint ventures and strategic alliances
• Leveraged buyouts
• Going-private transactions
• Carve-outs
• Tender offers
• Contested transactions
• Sales of distressed assets
• Shareholder activism matters
• Corporate governance matters
• Antitakeover preparedness and advice

Our M&A team harnesses the resources of our global full-service firm to guide our clients from start to finish through their largest and most complex transactions.

EXPERIENCE

• Adris Grupa: 
  Advising on the largest M&A deal in southeastern Europe in 2015, the sale of TDR and other entities within Adris Strategic Business Units Tobacco and Retail to British America Tobacco for a total enterprise value of €550 million. The cross-regional team included lawyers in Hungary and the UK.
  
• Cheung Kong Holdings Limited: 
  Counseling this Hong Kong-listed conglomerate in connection with its US$700 million purchase of a portfolio of 21 aircraft owned by GE Capital Aviation Services. Our Corporate team included members of our London, Hong Kong and New York offices.
  
• Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL): 
  Advising this Thailand-based leading petrochemical producer and leading global manufacturer of wool yarns on its US$225 million acquisition of China- and Hong Kong-based Performance Fibers. Our US team coordinated the support on this cross-border transaction.
  
• Lions Gate Entertainment: 
  Advising Lions Gate on their acquisition of Starz Entertainment for US$4.4 billion in a cash and stock transaction, creating a global content powerhouse positioned to capitalize on growth opportunities worldwide. In addition to our team from Canada leading on this transaction, our UK team has been engaged to assist on the financing related to the transaction and our team in Germany has been engaged on German regulatory matters.
  
• Molex: 
  Advising the Fortune 500 company, one of the three largest manufacturers globally of electronic, electrical and fiber optic interconnection systems, on its sale to Koch Industries for approximately US$7.2 billion. Our team involved Squared’s professionals located in Beijing, Berlin, Chicago, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Kansas City, Kyiv, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, Prague, Shanghai, Toronto, Warsaw and Washington, DC. The transaction, which required the coordination of pre-merger antitrust clearances in the US, China, the European Union, Israel, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Turkey and Ukraine, closed just three months after it was publicly announced.
  
• Patheon Inc.: 
  Advising the Canadian producer of special pharmaceutics on the merger with the previous DSM division, DSM Pharmaceutical Products (DPP). The transaction value was US$2.6 billion. Our team included members of our Berlin, Frankfurt, London, Ottawa, Paris, Toronto and Vancouver offices.
  
• Total: 
  Advising the French oil and gas and chemicals group on the sale of a 15 percent stake in its Congolese exploration and production subsidiary, Total E&P Congo, to Qatar Petroleum International for US$1.6 billion. The transaction included French, Congolese, Qatari, English and Swiss law components. The Paris team was supported by Squared’s lawyers in Doha and London, as well as correspondent firms in the Republic of Congo and Switzerland.
  
• World Fuel Services: 
  Advising this leading global fuel logistics company on its proposed acquisition of ExxonMobil’s aviation fuelling operations at 83 airports in Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the UK. Subject to additional local requirements, WFS expects three airports in France to be included in the transaction. The total price for this acquisition is approximately US$260 million. Our team was located throughout Canada, France, Germany and the UK, and provided solutions to environmental, employment and regulatory issues in each country.
  
• US Gold Corporation: Advising on its acquisition of Minera Andes Inc. by plan of arrangement with a transaction value at the time of closing of approximately CA$1.4 billion for the combined company, which was renamed McEwen Mining Inc. This transaction was highlighted as a “Big Deal” in LEXPERT’s April 2012 issue.

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

• Best Law Firms,Corporate Law Firm of the Year, Best Lawyers, 2020
• Chambers United States, Nationwide: Corporate/M&A, Chambers and Partners, 2021