King & Spalding Continues Expansion of Its Financial Institutions Practice With the Addition of Lending-Side Bankruptcy Partner Jesse H. Austin III

On the heels of last week’s expansion of its financial institutions practice with the addition of four lawyers, King & Spalding has recruited Jesse H. Austin, III, as a partner in that practice. Austin, a lending-side bankruptcy and restructuring lawyer, comes to King & Spalding from Paul Hastings. He joins partners Chris D. Molen and J. Craig Lee, who arrived at King & Spalding from Austin’s former firm last week, along with senior associate Chadwick M. Werner and associate Maria Danielle Merritt.

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Covington Advises Nexen on CFIUS Approval in $15.1 Billion CNOOC Deal

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) on Tuesday approved CNOOC Ltd.’s bid to acquire the U.S. assets of Canadian energy company Nexen Inc. It was the final regulatory hurdle in the $15.1 billion acquisition, the largest overseas investment ever by a Chinese company. Covington & Burling represented Nexen in securing CFIUS approval.

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Akin Gump Advises VimpelCom on Eurobonds Totalling $2 Billion

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP has advised VimpelCom Holdings B.V. on a $2 billion Eurobond financing, including a RUB 12 billion tranche and two dollar-denominated tranches totalling $1.6 billion. VimpelCom Holdings is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of VimpelCom Ltd., one of the world’s largest integrated telecommunications services operators. The transaction closed today, February 13, 2013.

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Tags:  Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP | Moscow

Weil Advises GE in $18.1B Sale of NBCUniversal and Related Real Estate to Comcast

Weil advised General Electric (GE) in connection with the sale to Comcast of its remaining 49 percent stake in NBCUniversal, NBCUniversal’s floors in 30 Rockefeller Center, and CNBC’s headquarters for $18.1 billion. Under the terms of the transaction, GE will sell its 49 percent stake in its joint venture with Comcast, which includes NBCUniversal, for $16.7 billion. In addition, GE Capital will sell NBCUniversal’s floors in 30 Rockefeller Center as well as CNBC’s headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey to affiliates of NBCUniversal for $1.4 billion. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both GE and Comcast.

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Leading Tax Lawyer Daniel P. Meehan Rejoins Chicago Office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Kirkland & Ellis LLP announced today that Daniel P. Meehan has returned to the Firm’s Chicago office as a partner in the Tax Practice Group. A former tax associate in Kirkland’s Chicago office, Mr. Meehan rejoins the Firm from the New York office of Cooley LLP, where he was the firmwide chair of Cooley’s tax practice group. Mr. Meehan’s practice focuses on the tax aspects of private fund formation, private equity transactions and M&A.

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Kirkland & Ellis Advises 3G Capital in $28 Billion Acquisition of HJ Heinz

Kirkland & Ellis represents 3G Capital, which along with Berkshire Hathaway, announced today its agreement to acquire H.J. Heinz Company in a transaction valued at approximately $28 billion, the largest ever in the food industry. The transaction is subject to approval by shareholders, receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2013.

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Loeb & Loeb Represents Special Committee in Verint Systems Acquisition of Comverse Technology

Loeb & Loeb LLP represented the special committee of the board of directors of Verint Systems Inc., a provider of analytic software solutions for the security and business intelligence markets, in its acquisition of Comverse Technology Inc. The transaction, valued at approximately $960 million, was completed in February 2013. The all-stock deal eliminated Comverse’s majority ownership in and control of Verint following the spinoff by Comverse of its telecommunications business.

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Simpson Thacher Represents AXIS Capital in Connection with the Sale by Stone Point Capital of its Remaining Stake in AXIS

The Firm is representing AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. (“AXIS Capital”) in connection with the sale by Stone Point Capital LLC’s Trident II, L.P. and related entities (“Trident”) of its remaining stake in AXIS Capital. AXIS Capital priced its secondary share offering of nearly 2.74 million shares at $39.50 per share, a value of approximately $108 million. Upon completion of this offering, Trident will no longer own any of AXIS Capital’s common shares.

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