A team of lawyers from Dewey & LeBoeuf is representing energy services company AGL Resources Inc. in its recently announced deal to acquire Nicor Inc., the parent company of natural gas distribution company Nicor Gas, in a transaction with an enterprise value of $3.1 billion, including a total equity value of $2.4 billion payable in cash and stock. After the deal is completed, which is expected in the second half of 2011, AGL shareholders will own approximately 67 percent of the combined company.

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The international law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP served as counsel to Liberty Acquisition Holdings Corporation (“Liberty”) in connection with its purchase of Promotora de Informaciones, S.A. (MCE: PRS.MC; NYSE: PRIS, PRIS.B) (“Prisa”), the world’s leading Spanish and Portuguese-language media group. The $1.5 billion reverse-acquisition is the third blank check transaction for Nicolas Berggruen and Martin E. Franklin, the founders of Liberty, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

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Leading full-service law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP announced today that the firm will open a  London office. More >>

Simpson Thacher advised FXCM Inc. on the initial public offering of shares of its Class A common stock. Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan and Citi were the lead underwriters for the $242.5 million offering. The shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “FXCM” on December 2, 2010. FXCM is a global online provider of foreign exchange (forex) trading and related services to retail and institutional customers world-wide.

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Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is pleased to have represented Resort Gaming Group LLC (RGG) and its owner, Andrew B. Donner, in a huge real estate deal announced this week that Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman called “a watershed moment” for the city. The transaction will result in leading online footwear and clothing retailer Zappos.com moving its 1,000-plus employee corporate campus from suburban Henderson, Nevada, to downtown Las Vegas, creating an immediate need for commercial and residential development in an area that is in need of economic revitalization.

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DLA Piper represented ThompsonGas, the largest privately-held propane distributor in Maryland and, with these acquisitions, the 16^th largest in the United States, in its acquisition of L & L Propane, a propane distribution and service company that serves customers in Alabama and Mississippi. The transaction closed on December 6.

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Nabarro is acting for existing client, Singer Capital Markets Limited (“SCM”) as financial adviser to Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited (“GLIF”) on its acquisition of Asset Management Investment Company PLC (“AMIC”). The acquisition by AIM-listed GLIF values AMIC, which is listed on the Official List at approximately £12.1 million (based on AMIC’s net asset value on 3 December 2010).

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Simpson Thacher is representing The Carlyle Group in the purchase of a 55 percent stake in Claren Road, a long-short credit hedge fund with $4.5 billion in assets under management, in exchange for cash, an ownership interest in Carlyle and performance-based contingent payments. The transaction is expected to close by year end.

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A team of lawyers from the New York office of Hogan Lovells US LLP has obtained a temporary restraining order for client HarperCollins Publishers LLC (HarperCollins) against Gawker Media LLC (Gawker), parent company of the media blog website Gawker.com. HarperCollins, publisher of the book America by Heart (the Book) by former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, claimed copyright infringement when Gawker on 17 November posted 21 full and exact pages of the Book on the website six days before it was set to be released to the public.

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