Described as "a high yield factory" by peers, Latham & Watkins continues to be a strong contender in capital markets. The firm has helped raise billions of dollars for companies in every industry, and its capital markets practice is supported by over 2,000 attorneys around the world....
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Described as "a high yield factory" by peers, Latham & Watkins continues to be a strong contender in capital markets. The firm has helped raise billions of dollars for companies in every industry, and its capital markets practice is supported by over 2,000 attorneys around the world. "Latham is a market leader on the underwriter side and also has an issuer side," says one competitor. Another peer notes that partner Kirk Davenport is an experienced lawyer, who "has always had a great marketing edge."
The firm represented clients on $327 billion in debt offerings and $38 billion in public equity offerings in 2010, including over $10 billion in IPOs. In the high yield space, it advised on more than $62.6 billion in high-yield corporate debt issued in 2010.
The firm recently advised Barclays bank on a $3.5 billion Rule 144A/Reg S investment-grade bond offering by Williams Partners.
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Latham & Watkins drops down to tier two in the bank lending rankings this year. Competitors say the firm is reeling from the departure of a team of lawyers led by Marc Hanrahan, who one peer describes as "their marquee name"....
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Latham & Watkins drops down to tier two in the bank lending rankings this year. Competitors say the firm is reeling from the departure of a team of lawyers led by Marc Hanrahan, who one peer describes as "their marquee name". The group, which left for Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy in August 2010, includes Ronan Wicks, Marcus Dougherty, Patrick Flanagan and Lauren Hanrahan. "That was quite a good team and that was typically the team that we saw representing the banks," says one rival.
The migration is an unusual loss for the firm, which is more often on the receiving end of lateral moves. However, peers say that the firm still provides "high quality representation", with one rival describing its lawyers as "experts in both the lender side and borrower side".
Partner Glenn Collyer recently worked on the creation of a new revolving credit facility for casino operator Pinnacle Entertainment.
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Latham & Watkins is at the forefront of project finance innovation, and has one of the largest teams in the United States. One peer describes the firm's practice as "very impressive", adding: "they have some fantastic people....
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Latham & Watkins is at the forefront of project finance innovation, and has one of the largest teams in the United States. One peer describes the firm's practice as "very impressive", adding: "they have some fantastic people." In 2010, the firm advised on 46 project finance transactions around the world, with a total deal value of over $34 billion. "Latham is the firm that I see most often," notes another competitor. "They are mostly representing banks or finance providers in deals that I do."
Partner David Gordon is singled out for praise by one rival, who says, "I always think of David as being one of the better project finance partners out there." Partner John Sachs is described by another lawyer as "a well-known name".
The firm acted as common lenders' counsel on the PNG (Papua New Guinea) LNG (liquefiednatural gas) project, an $18 billion natural gas scheme in Papua New Guinea. The scheme, which is the largest-ever project financing, is designed to provide customers in Asia with 6.6 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year, which have been sold under 20-year agreements to Asian buyers. The transaction closed in March 2010.
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