Practice

Mergers and Acquisitions

Munger, Tolles & Olson’s corporate group represents buyers and sellers in connection with M&A transactions and privately negotiated investments.

On the buy-side, we focus on representing private equity firms, financial sponsors and strategic investors in negotiating their acquisitions of everything from small minority stakes to multi-billion-dollar businesses. On the sell-side, we represent companies, boards, special committees and shareholders in helping them plan for and ultimately achieve their exit goals.

For all clients, we strive to build long-standing collaborative relationships, based on an in-depth understanding of our clients’ needs and a unique appreciation for their strategic goals.

We assist with closing our clients’ most creative and cutting-edge deals, in a wide variety of industries, through every stage of the investment cycle, from due diligence to post-closing integration. A sample of our recent M&A work includes representing:

Buy-Side Representations

  • Berkshire Hathaway in its:
    • $44 billion acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.
    • $28 billion acquisition of H.J. Heinz Company.
    • $9.7 billion acquisition of The Lubrizol Corporation in an all-cash transaction.
    • merger with Wesco Financial Corporation in a cash and stock deal valuing Wesco at $2.7 billion.
    • acquisition of Phillips Specialty Products Inc. from Phillips 66 in a deal valued at approximately $1.4 billion.
    • acquisition of a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company, which included a Miami-based television station, in a deal valued at approximately $1.1 billion.
    • $5 billion investment in Bank of America.
    • $3 billion investment in General Electric.
    • $3 billion investment in Dow Chemical.
    • 3 billion in Swiss francs financing of Swiss Re.
  • BDT Capital in:
    • the $1 billion acquisition of Peet’s Coffee & Tea and $340 million acquisition of Caribou Coffee, by BDT Capital as a minority investor and Joh. A. Benckiser as a majority investor.
    • its equity investment in Colfax Corporation, to help fund Colfax’s $2.4 billion acquisition of Charter International plc.
  • Todd Pedersen and Alex Dunn, CEO and President of Vivint Inc., in the acquisition of a majority interest in the company by Blackstone Group.
  • FEMSA Comercio, S.A. de C.V. (FEMCO) in its investment in, and eventual acquisition of, Specialty’s Café & Bakery, Inc.
  • Lindsay Corporation in its $70.5 million acquisition of Elecsys Corporation.
  • Oaktree Capital Funds in a $250 million investment in Genesis Capital.

Sell-Side Representations

  • HealthCare Partners in its sale to DaVita in a cash and stock transaction valued at $4.42 billion.
  • Beats Electronics and Beats Music in the:
    • investment of $500 million in Beats by the Carlyle Group.
    • $3 billion sale of Beats to Apple.
  • 99 Cents Only Stores in its $1.6 billion sale to Ares Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
  • Internet Brands in its sale to global investment firm KKR.
  • Guardian Industries in:
    • a complex recapitalization that involved a minority equity investment by Koch Industries.
    • the sale of its fiberglass insulation manufacturing division to Knauf Insulation.
  • BlackLine Systems in connection with a majority investment by a Silver Lake Sumeru-led investor group.

Contact:
Robert E. Denham
 

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