On July 15, 2014, British American Tobacco (“BAT”) announced that it has agreed to invest approximately US$4.7 billion as part of Reynolds American’s proposed acquisition of Lorillard, enabling BAT to maintain its 42% ownership in Reynolds American following the acquisition. The boards of both Reynolds American, an associate company of BAT, and Lorillard have announced the proposed purchase of Lorillard by Reynolds American for approximately US$27.4 billion, including the assumption of net debt, equivalent to US$68.88 per Lorillard share. Reynolds American also announced that it has reached an agreement with Imperial Tobacco under which Imperial has agreed to purchase the KOOL, Salem, Winston, Maverick and blu eCigs brands and other assets and liabilities for a total consideration of approximately $7.1 billion in cash.
Cravath represented BAT, which participated actively in all the negotiations in connection with these transactions. The completion of the transactions is subject to receipt of shareholder and regulatory approvals and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.
The Cravath team was led by partners Philip A. Gelston and Ting S. Chen and included associates Amanda R. Fenster and Wenying Zhang on M&A matters; partner Michael L. Schler on tax matters; and partner Christine A. Varney and associate Katherine A. Rocco on antitrust matters. Summer associates Kayla K. Strong and Claudia J. Ricciardi also worked on M&A matters.
