Achievements

A cross-office team of Latham’s elite antitrust litigators successfully defended client U.S. Sugar against the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) challenge to the Florida company’s acquisition of Imperial Sugar Co. Latham took the case from complaint to trial in less than five months. This historic victory over the DOJ comes just three weeks after a separate Latham antitrust trial team defeated the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for client GRAIL and its acquirer, Illumina.

Latham antitrust litigators won a four-week trial before the special administrative court of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), for Latham client GRAIL and its acquirer, Illumina – the first time the FTC’s administrative law judge has ever ruled against the FTC in a merger case. The decision enables the merged companies to speed the market introduction of GRAIL’s life-saving innovation, Galleri, a non-invasive, multi-cancer diagnostic blood test that can detect cancer early for over 50 different cancer types and profoundly increase early detection of cancer.

The firm advised Carlyle Global Credit on the financing in support of Turn/River Capital’s take-private acquisition of Tufin®. As part of the transaction, Tufin took advantage of Carlyle’s recently launched Decarbonization-Linked Financing Program. As a result, Tufin may access a certain reduction in the applicable interest rate if the Company meets applicable greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets contained in an Environmental, Social & Governance schedule.

Latham has advised on Thai Life Insurance’s US$1 Billion IPO on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, representing the largest IPO in Southeast Asia to date in 2022. Thai Life Insurance is one of Asia’s largest life insurers. Proceeds from the IPO will be invested to enhance the company's digital technology and marketing, and strengthen its partnership channels and working capital.

Latham helped Cantor Fitzgerald and Howard Lutnick defeat a US$400 million stockholder derivative suit, on all counts. The complaint challenged the 2017 sale of Berkeley Point Financial LLC from a Cantor subsidiary to BGC Partners, Inc. (BGC) and an investment by BGC in a joint venture with Cantor related to commercial mortgage-backed securities. The court held the transaction was entirely fair to BGC’s shareholders and that none of Cantor, Mr. Lutnick, or the members of the Special Committee of BGC directors breached their fiduciary duties.

A Latham London team represented a private equity consortium led by Astorg and Epiris on the £1.6 billion UK Takeover Code offer for Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc, a leading financial news and information business. The consortium will separate Euromoney into two businesses, with Fastmarkets becoming a stand-alone unit owned by Astorg. The remaining Euromoney businesses will be majority controlled by Epiris.

A Washington, D.C.-based pro bono team scored a victory for the Humane Society in a closely watched case in the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit concerning administrative procedure and horse soring. Based on our arguments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now required to reinstate a rule providing for more rigorous enforcement of the Horse Protection Act (HPA).

A multidisciplinary Latham team represented the lenders in gas infrastructure company Fluxys and institutional investor EIG's completion of the acquisition of an aggregate 80% equity stake in GNL Quintero S.A. (Quintero). Quintero is a key energy infrastructure business supporting Chile’s decarbonization strategy with a bridging fuel that allows for the reconciliation of economic growth by fostering the uptake of renewables and phasing out coal. Quintero is the largest terminal in Chile for receiving and unloading LNG as well as for its storage and regasification capacities.

Music duo’s 5,000 Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) tied to streaming royalties from new album “So Far So Good,” will allow the band’s fans to share music streaming royalty share rights with The Chainsmokers. Latham Los Angeles team-led transaction is unique in demonstrating a viable and transparent Web3 method.

Latham duo, Sean Berkowitz and Michael Bosworth, led the defense team for former Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussmann who was acquitted from accusations of lying to the FBI.

BenevolentAI, a leading, clinical-stage AI-enabled drug discovery company, combined its business with Odyssey Acquisition S.A., a Euronext Amsterdam-listed special purpose acquisition (SPAC) company. We advised BenevolentAI on the €1.5 billion transaction, the largest-ever biotech listing on Euronext Amsterdam.

Latham acted as the lead legal counsel to a consortium led by Todd Boehly, chairman and CEO of Eldridge, and Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., on its acquisition of the superstar Chelsea Football Club. The landmark £4.25 billion transaction represents one of the largest sports M&A deals in history.

Latham advised GoodRx in its victory over investor litigation accusing the health care technology company of inflating the initial public offering stock price by hiding news of a rival Amazon program in the works. A U.S. District Judge said there wasn't enough new evidence to support the investors' claims.

Latham advised on an annual recurring revenue (ARR) financing, the largest ever, and preferred equity financing to support Zendesk’s US$10.2 billion acquisition by an investor group led by leading global investment firms Permira and Hellman & Friedman LLC.

Representing ZF Automotive US, Inc., a cross-border team of Latham Supreme Court & Appellate, Complex Commercial, and International Arbitration lawyers collaborated to successfully deliver a unanimous US Supreme Court win in ZF Automotive US, Inc. v. Luxshare, Ltd. The Court agreed with Latham that a private commercial arbitration seated outside the US is not a “foreign or international tribunal” under Section 1782, a decision that will have wide-reaching effects for businesses and individuals with arbitration agreements worldwide.

A Latham Hong Kong team advised Tianqi Lithium, a leading global lithium producer, on its HK$13.5 billion (US$1.7 billion) H share initial public offering (IPO) on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (HKEX), representing the largest IPO on the HKEX, and one of the largest global IPOs, to date in 2022. If the over-allotment option is fully exercised, the total capital raised could be increased to almost US$2 billion.

A Latham team helped the US Soccer Federation resolve equal pay litigation with the US Women's National Team in a settlement that lead Latham partner Jamie Wine describes as "... a major step forward and significant for everyone who is committed to the growth of women's soccer in the United States to have the players treated in an equitable fashion."

Latham advised on the largest-ever financing for a Colombian 4G toll road, which includes several "first-of-its-kind" features: the first to include a project-level letter of credit facility for a project in Colombia, the first local currency project bond investment by the IDB Group, and the largest-ever financing for a 4G project.

Latham represented Mallinckrodt in a cross-border Chapter 11 restructuring at the intersection of mass tort, antitrust, and bankruptcy law. A multidisciplinary team led by the firm’s Restructuring & Special Situations and Litigation & Trial Practices advised on the plan that reduces the company’s total debt by approximately US$1.3 billion.

Latham advised electric car company, Rivian Automotive, in its US$11.9 billion IPO. The pricing is the largest global IPO year-to-date and one of the largest tech IPOs in history.

Latham’s Latin America Practice advised American Airlines on an investment agreement with GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A., Brazil’s largest airline, deepening the commercial partnership between the two carriers to create the broadest network in the Americas. The agreements are also expected to create the largest joint frequent flyer program in the Americas under American’s AAdvantage® and GOL’s SMILES loyalty programs.

After more than 13 weeks in court in front of two separate juries, our all-woman litigation team persuaded the DOJ Antitrust Division to give up its case against our client, a former Tyson sales executive, in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chicken products.

A multidisciplinary Latham team advised leading technology infrastructure ecosystem company, Switch, Inc., in its acquisition by DigitalBridge Group, Inc. The all-cash transaction was valued at approximately US$11 billion.

A cross-border Latham team represented the committee of noteholders in the c. €1 billion restructuring of Naviera Armas. The Spanish-headquartered group is a leading ferry operator for passenger and freight transportation services in the Canary Islands and across the Mediterranean.