Practice Areas: Mergers & Acquisitions

McGuireWoods has an international reputation for its mergers and acquisition work, representing both buyers and sellers in acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures throughout the Americas and in Europe and the Pacific Rim.

M&A transactions, whether structured as asset or stock deals, can be very complex – even those involving relatively small enterprises.

We work with our clients and their other advisors to organize and analyze the relevant facts ("due diligence"); to identify and develop solutions to business, operational and legal problems in cases where only part of an enterprise is being sold; to explore and implement financing arrangements; to comply with and obtain appropriate clearance under tender offer, registration, proxy and other securities law requirements; to identify and resolve other potential legal problems (including tax, antitrust, employee benefits, labor, environmental, liability exposure, real estate, and governmental and other consent/approval issues); and to negotiate and draft the implementing agreements and other documentation. In the stressful hostile takeover arena, we have substantial experience on both the acquiror and the target sides.

Recent representative work includes:

• Represented a national energy concern in the sale of its natural Pennsylvania gas distribution companies to an affiliate of an infrastructure fund that owns and manages utilities and other infrastructure assets, for $780 million.
• Assisted one of the nation's largest energy producers with a $2.3 billion acquisition of one of the nation’s largest independent natural gas companies engaged in the acquisition, development, exploration, production and marketing of natural gas and crude oil in the United States.
• Assisted one of the nation's leading producers of construction aggregates with a $122 million acquisition of one of Florida's leading suppliers of construction cement.
• Assisted a leading national retailer of brand-name consumer electronics with their $1.3 billion spin-off of the nation's leading specialty retailer of used cars.
• Assisted with the $1.2 billion sale of Virginia's largest managed health care company to the fifth largest publicly traded health benefits company in the United States.
• Assisted the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer with a $250 million acquisition of the fifth largest beef processor in the United States.
• Assisted with the $1.5 billion sale of the world’s leading aluminum producer’s interest a Western Australia refinery to the world’s largest diversified resources company.