Shearman & Sterling flexed its international muscle in 2009, advising on significant, complex transactions around the world to earn the No. 3 spot in Thomson Reuters’ global M&A rankings and the No. 4 spot according to Bloomberg LP.
In the Thomson Reuters rankings, Shearman & Sterling was ranked 3rd in Worldwide Announced Deals (by value) with $267.9 billion, 137 deals and 12.9% market share. In the Bloomberg rankings, Shearman & Sterling was ranked 4th in Global Announced Deals (by value) with $214.8 billion, 132 deals and 12% market share.
“While 2009 was a difficult year for the M&A market in general, we continued to demonstrate our global presence and capabilities through our involvement in the year’s most prominent transactions,” said George Casey, a New York-based partner who co-leads Shearman & Sterling’s global M&A practice. “These rankings reinforce our position as one of the few truly global firms.”
Added Harald Selzner, the firm’s global M&A practice’s co-leader out of Düsseldorf, “We enjoyed a very strong year throughout our platform and achieved significant results for clients in some of their most important transactions. We were on the frontlines with companies in the automotive and financial services industries in different parts of the world and were directly involved in dealing with some of the key crisis areas of 2009.”
Shearman & Sterling acted on a number of the leading M&A transactions worldwide in 2009, including Dow Chemical in its $15.7 billion acquisition of Rohm and Haas and $1.7 billion sale of Morton Salt; Sal.Oppenheim jr. & Cie. S.C.A. in its €1 billion acquisition by Deutsche Bank; Novartis in its $1.2 billion acquisition of the specialty generic injectables business of EBEWE Pharma; Société Générale on its combination with Crédit Agricole S.A.’s asset management business; Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery’s acquisition of Hummer from General Motors in Asia; JBS S.A. in its $2.8 billion acquisition of a majority stake and certain assets of Pilgrim’s Pride through a bankruptcy proceeding; McGraw-Hill in its sale of BusinessWeek to Bloomberg LP; and National Amusements in its sale of Viacom and CBS stock.
The firm also played a significant role in many key transactions involving sovereign wealth funds and state-controlled companies, including Aabar Investments in its $2.7 billion acquisition of a 9.1% interest in Daimler AG; Aabar Investments PJSC on Aabar's and Daimler AG's acquisition of a majority shareholding in Brawn GP, winner of the 2009 Formula 1 constructors' and drivers' championships; Advanced Technology Investment Company in its $3.9 billion acquisition of Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing; China Investment Corporation in its proposed acquisition of a 40% stake in CITIC Capital Holdings; Mubadala in its $8.0 billion global business partnership with General Electric; and Qatar Investment Authority in its €7.0 billion investment in Volkswagen AG and in Porsche Automobil Holding SE.
Shearman & Sterling was also involved in a number of key US private equity deals, including STMicroelectronics in its $3.1 billion joint venture with Intel and Francisco Partners and Symphony Technology Group in its acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of MSC.Software.
It is too early to tell what 2010 will bring, say Casey and Selzner, but both see hopeful signs of increased M&A activity.
“Many companies have significant amounts of cash and have been waiting for the right opportunity for strategic investments and, increasingly, think that the right opportunity may be now,” Casey said. “We have also seen and will likely continue to see more stock-for-stock transactions.”
“There is a much better mood out there now,” Selzner added. “Not only is there a feeling that the worst of the global financial crisis may be over, but valuations have stabilized, and that is a critically important prerequisite for increased M&A activity.”