Latham Recognized as a Private Equity Group of the Year

Latham & Watkins has been recognized by Law360 as a Private Equity Group of the Year, highlighting the practice’s work on some of the “biggest deals in the industry this year.”

Speaking to the firm’s success in 2018, Shaun Hartley, Global Co-Chair of the Private Equity Practice, told Law360: “What we’ve been able to achieve here at Latham, and what we’re continuing to grow, is to have this global footprint. Offices and lawyers around the world…not only have local knowledge, but also an understanding of cross-border issues, to help clients execute these investments they’re making in companies.”

Law360 called Latham a “major player,” noting the firm’s work advising clients on multibillion dollar deals and cross-border transactions in major business hubs including London, New York, Hong Kong, and Washington, D.C. Among the deals discussed:

• One of the year’s largest and most widely followed private equity deals: The Carlyle Group and GIC Private Limited’s US$12.6 billion acquisition of AkzoNobel’s Specialty Chemicals business, Nouryon. The buyout garnered international media attention not only for its sheer size as the fourth-largest M&A deal in the chemicals industry in the last four years, but also because of the activist activity that precipitated the decision by AkzoNobel to auction the business.
• Latham further guided Carlyle and their portfolio company Novolex through the US$2.3 billion carve-out acquisition of The Waddington Group from Newell Brands.
• The private equity team also earned recognition for its work with Platinum Equity, notably advising them on a “high-stakes” US$3.85 billion deal to acquire Canada-based Husky IMS International, a leading global designer, manufacturer, and supplier of injection molding equipment, from Berkshire Partners and OMERs Private Equity.

As a leading private equity practice, Latham & Watkins’ global footprint enables the firm to provide high-quality advice to assist our private equity clients with executing highly complex transactions around the world. Our private equity practice is fully-integrated with our leading global capital markets, leveraged finance and investment fund practices thereby allowing us to assist private equity firms in every stage of the investment cycle.