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Morrison | Foerster

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Mergers & Acquisitions

Overview


Contact: Walter Conroy , Greg Giammittorio , Gavin Grover , Michael O’Bryan , or Larry Yanowitch

Morrison & Foerster has wide-ranging experience representing clients involved in mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures and other strategic alliances, with particular expertise in cross-border transactions and deals involving technology companies.

The firm has represented clients involved in some of the largest and most complex M&A transactions in U.S. history, including JDS Uniphase's $41 billion acquisition of SDL Inc., Verio's $6 billion acquisition by NTT of the interests in Verio it did not already own (and  Verio's concurrent $1 billion debt tender), Hitachi's $2 billion acquisition of IBM's global hard disk drive assets, and Fujitsu's $1.2 billion merger of its flash memory operations with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).  In addition, the firm has significant experience representing clients in transactions of all sizes and across most key industries, including information technology, software, semiconductor, telecommunications, media, life sciences and pharmaceuticals, financial services, defense, consumer products and retailing.

According to Mergerstat, Morrison & Foerster was the 10th most active law firm representing M&A clients, based on announced deals for 2005.  In 2004 we served as M&A counsel on almost 100 U.S. transactions, with a total disclosed value of approximately $10 billion.

Morrison & Foerster represents publicly and privately held companies, as well as private equity investors, in complex matters such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, spin-offs, cross-border deals and leveraged buyouts.  The firm has extensive experience representing acquirors, private equity funds and targets in all manner of transactions, including mergers, stock purchases, recapitalizations and tender and exchange offers, both friendly and hostile, and has advised clients on a comprehensive range of offensive and defensive techniques, including poison pills and other measures.  We also represent a significant number of investment banks in their M&A advisory capacities.  The firm has broad experience in related party transactions, such as going private transactions, and our representation in that regard has included related parties, Board members and special committees.

As an international law firm, Morrison & Foerster has substantial experience in cross-border transactions involving clients in the U.S., Europe and Asia, as well as Israel. The firm's teamwork approach means that clients receive the most effective and experienced representation available, both from specialists in corporate transactions and from attorneys versed in other practice areas, including tax, intellectual property and litigation.