New York, April 4, 2008—Shearman & Sterling was the big winner of this year’s International Financial Law Review (IFLR) Americas Awards, earning the coveted 2008 Americas Law Firm of the Year Award plus five other awards for the most innovative deals and best legal teams.
Shearman & Sterling, one of the leading global law firms with approximately 1,000 lawyers in 20 offices in 12 countries around the world, demonstrated its strength in handling complex and innovative cross-border deals across a wide range of global disciplines, including bankruptcy and reorganization, capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions.
“The IFLR Awards recognize the outstanding capabilities of our lawyers, our strong relationships with clients, and the respect we have earned from in-house counsel and other legal and financial experts," said Rohan S. Weerasinghe, Senior Partner of Shearman & Sterling. "We are proud of these achievements and the people who contributed to them.”
Shearman & Sterling, nominated for an industry-best 14 awards in all, won six, including:
- M&A Team of the Year: Shearman & Sterling’s M&A group acted in some of 2007’s most innovative deals. Among those cited by IFLR were the Euronext/New York Stock Exchange merger, RBS’s acquisition of ABN Amro and Reuters’ acquisition of Thomson.
- M&A Deal of the Year—Euronext/NYSE: The $11.3 billion merger of Euronext and the New York Stock Exchange last April created the first transatlantic securities exchange company. Shearman & Sterling represented ABN Amro and Morgan Stanley as financial advisers to Euronext. Attorneys included partners George Casey (NY-MA) and George Karafotias (LO-MA) and associates David Connolly (NY-MA) and Brian Wheeler (LO-MA).
- Restructuring Deal of the Year—Remy International prepackage: The Bankruptcy & Reorganization group advised this leading global manufacturer and re-manufacturer of aftermarket auto parts on its prepackaged chapter 11 restructuring, which was the first prepackaged plan in the US. It de-levered Remy’s capital structure by approximately $360 million and involved: a syndicated $330 million first and second lien exit financing led by Barclays Bank PLC; a successful $85 million rights offering; the conversion of $145 million of senior notes into $100 million of third-lien PIK notes and approximately $65 million of cash; and the conversion of approximately $315 million of subordinated notes into 100% of Remy's reorganized equity. Due largely to this innovative plan, Remy is the only tier-auto supplier to emerge from bankruptcy protection in less than two months. Attorneys included partners Roger Baneman (NY-TX), Douglas Bartner (NY-BR), John Cannon (NY-ECEB), Lisa Jacobs (NY-CM), James Scott (NY-CM) and Fredric Sosnick (NY-BR); counsel Joanna Shally (NY-LT); and associates Sung Ho Choi (NY-BR), Garrett Dowd (NY-ECEB), Jill Frizzley (NY-BR), Justin Hewitt (NY-BR), Brian Iorio (NY-BR), Randall Martin (NY-BR), Kelly McDonald (NY-BR), Solomon Noh (NY-BR) and Christopher Salmon (NY-CM).
The firm was also nominated for eight other awards: Team of the Year—Equity; Team of the Year—Restructuring; Debt and Equity-Linked Deal of the Year—Intergen; Equity Deal of the Year—Bovespa Holding IPO; M&A Deal of the Year—RBS, Fortis, Santander/ABN Amro; M&A Deal of the Year—Reuters/Thomson; Private Equity Deal of the Year—Cerberus/Chrysler; and Restructuring Deal of the Year—Grupo Iusacell.
IFLR is a leading publication for in-house counsel and practitioners in the financial markets. The awards recognize innovation and are based on research by IFLR journalists, in consultation with in-house counsel, private practice lawyers and financial specialists at investment banks around the world. They were presented at an awards dinner at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York on April 3.
For additional information contact:
Ron Brandsdorfer | New York | T +1.212.848.5081 |