Shearman & Sterling has promoted eight lawyers to counsel in seven practice areas and six of its offices across the United States, Europe and Asia. The promotions span the Litigation, International Arbitration, Mergers & Acquisitions, Capital Markets, Tax, Finance and Project Development & Finance practices and are effective as of October 1, 2020.

On August 26, 2020, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the Bankruptcy Code does not require subordination agreements to be strictly enforced in order for a court to confirm a cramdown plan, so long as the plan does not discriminate unfairly. As a result, Tribune’s chapter 11 plan was properly confirmed over the objection of a dissenting class of senior noteholders that argued the plan improperly failed to give effect to the provisions of an otherwise enforceable subordination agreement.

Shearman & Sterling advised DNB Bank ASA, as administrative agent, CaixaBank S.A., DNB Bank ASA, KFW IPEX-Bank GmbH, MUFG Bank, Ltd. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, as mandated lead arrangers, lenders and issuing banks, and Inter-American Investment Corporation, in its own capacity and in separate capacity as agent for Inter-American Development Bank, as mandated lead arrangers and lenders, in connection with an approximately the $542 million senior secured financing of a portfolio of three wind and two solar PV projects (the “Huemul Portfolio”) with a total installed capacity of 641.1 MW in the Republic of Chile.

Shearman & Sterling advised Mubadala Capital, the financial investment arm of Mubadala Investment Company, a sovereign investor owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi, in connection with the establishment of an evergreen origination platform with Barings, one of the world’s leading financial services firms.

Mergers and acquisitions-focused publication The Deal  honored Shearman & Sterling with several of its prominent Deal of the Year awards.

Shearman & Sterling represented NatWest Markets Securities Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and UBS Securities LLC, in connection with NatWest Group plc’s (formerly The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc) any and all cash tender offers of four series of its outstanding U.S. dollar denominated notes.

Partner Lyle Roberts (Washington, D.C.-Litigation) and associates Daniel Sachs (New York-Litigation) and Edmund Saw (Washington, D.C.-Litigation) assisted the Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) in preparing an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review and vacate a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a securities class action that could have far-reaching implications.

It is well known that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business operations has directly affected executive compensation decision-making and related disclosures. With this backdrop, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has provided timely new guidance on the disclosure of named executive officers’ perquisites and other personal benefits.

Since the 1960s, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has had various so-called “Guides” for business disclosure by SEC registrants engaged in banking, oil and gas, real estate, insurance and mining activities. Guide 3, applicable to bank holding companies and other registrants with material lending and deposit activities (including savings and loan holding companies) has required various tabular and qualitative disclosures on these entities’ assets, liabilities and stockholders’ equity, interest rates and interest rate differentials, investment portfolios, loan portfolios, summaries of loan loss experience, deposits, return on equity and assets and short-term borrowings. The requirements have changed little since the 1960s, even though U.S. GAAP and IFRS, the two principal accounting standards used by SEC registrants, have changed significantly.