Sean Skiffington is a partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions practice.

He regularly represents clients in public and private mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures, particularly cross-border transactions, involving a broad range of sectors, including the aerospace and metals and mining sectors, and also regularly represents sovereign wealth, pension and private equity funds. Sean also advises clients on corporate and securities law issues, including general corporate advisory work.

• Raytheon in its pending ‘merger of equals’ with United Technologies Corporation
• General Electric in its $32 billion merger of GE’s Oil and Gas business with Baker Hughes Incorporated, its $3.25 billion sale of its distributed power business to Advent International, its $630 million sale of MRA Systems to ST Engineering, its $2.5 billion disposition of a portfolio of U.S., Canadian, Mexican and Brazilian aircraft leases and related aircraft and aircraft loans to Global Jet Capital, Inc., its $4.3 billion acquisition of the aviation business of Avio S.p.A., the sale of its legacy avionics business to Ontic and various other acquisitions, dispositions and investments
• Fairfax Financial Holdings in its $4.9 billion cash and stock acquisition of NYSE-listed Allied World Assurance Company, its proposal to acquire and subsequent investment in BlackBerry Limited, its acquisition of pet insurance provider Hartville Group, Inc. and various other investments
• Textron Inc. (the manufacturer of Cessna aircraft and Bell helicopters) in its $810 million sale of its tools and test equipment business to Emerson Electric, its $1.4 billion acquisition of Beech Holdings, LLC and its $247 million acquisition of Arctic Cat Inc. via tender offer
• Corning Incorporated in its $900 million acquisition of 3M Company’s global fiber and copper connectivity solutions business
• Temasek Holdings in its acquisition of Virtu Financial, Inc. publicly-traded stock in connection with Virtu’s acquisition of KCG Holdings, Inc. and, as a member of a consortium, in its $433 million acquisition of Brookstone, Inc.
• Lehigh Hanson in the sale of its 51% partnership interest in Lehigh White Cement Company to Aalborg Cement Company and Cemex and in its $660 million sale of a West Virginia cement plant and eight related terminals to Cementos Argos
• Investcorp S.A. in its €1 billion sale of Icopal a/s to GAF, North America’s largest roofing manufacturer
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in connection with its acquisition, together with Energy Capital Partners and Access Industries, of NYSE-listed Calpine Corporation, the purchase of a $335 million issuance by Global Cash Access, Inc. of 7.25% Senior Secured Notes due April 15, 2021, the $1.6 billion sale of portfolio company Air Distribution Technologies, Inc. to Johnson Controls, Inc. and various other transactions
• B/E Aerospace in its tax-free spin-off of its consumables business, KLX Inc., to shareholders; its €200 million acquisition of Interturbine Projekt Management; its $400 million acquisition of UFC Aerospace Corp.; its $162 million acquisition of the OEM distribution business of Satair A/S and various other acquisitions
• Inmet Mining Corporation in its unsolicited offer for Petaquilla Minerals Ltd.
• Lafarge S.A. in the $700 million sale of its North American Gypsum Business to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds and in the $300 million sale of its Maryland Aggregates Business to Bluegrass Materials, LLC, an affiliate of Lindsay Goldberg III, LP
• IceArizona Acquisition Co., LLC, an entity through which a consortium of Canadian and U.S. investors completed a leveraged acquisition of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey club from the National Hockey League
• Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc in its $98.7 billion consortium acquisition of ABN AMRO
• Cadbury plc in its $19.4 billion recommended acquisition by Kraft Foods
• New England Sports Ventures in its £300 million acquisition of The Liverpool Football Club
• Norsk Hydro ASA in the $30 billion merger of its oil and gas business with Statoil ASA and its minority investment in Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc.
• Corus Group plc in the £6.7 billion recommended cash acquisition by Tata Steel U.K. Limited
• Rio Tinto in its $1.5 billion investment in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.
• Ispat International N.V. and a special committee of its board of directors in Ispat’s $19.95 billion share acquisition of LNM Holdings N.V. to form Mittal Steel Company N.V.
• ArcelorMittal in its $1.44 billion acquisition of Mexican steel producer Siderúrgica Lázaro Cárdenas las Truchas, S.A. de C.V. and U.S. steel mill Border Steel from Grupo Villacero S.A. de C.V.
• AngloGold Ashanti in its $568 million acquisition with Randgold Resources of Moto Goldmines and in its $124 million acquisition of Golden Cycle Gold Corporation
• Mubadala Development Company and The Olayan Group in connection with the €1.38 billion disposition of their interests in LeasePlan N.V. to Volkswagen AG
• ARAMARK Corporation in its $8.3 billion leveraged buyout by a private equity consortium including ARAMARK CEO Joseph Neubauer

Awards & Accolades

• Sean Skiffington was selected by Mergermarket as one of the Top 40 to watch in the Next Generation of M&A dealmakers (2009)