IFLR 1000
The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms

Skadden's 20 strong global anti-trust group, with four EU competition partners in Brussels and Frankfurt, keeps its position in the second tier. In 2010 the group recruited Simon Baxter, a former head of competition at Clifford Chance, which, says a peer, "was a great boost to the team; he is excellent, very strategic and deserves a top rating".

James Venit, "an excellent lawyer" says one peer, is widely recommended as the firm's leading individual, while Frederic Depoortere, Nikolaos Peristerakis and Giorgio Motta appear regularly on the biggest deals.

The US firm advised Merck on its $7.2 billion acquisition of Millipore and the Nokia Siemens Networks on the $1.2 billion acquisition of the wireless network infrastructure assets of Motorola.

Baxter and Motta also helped Novell in its acquisition by Attachmate of its intellectual property assets.

Venit and Ingrid Vandenborre acted for Pfizer on its acquisition of Ferrosan Consumer Health. Depoortere also advised China Huaneng Group and Cephalon on merger clearance matters.

When comes to M&A, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom is similar as Sullivan & Cromwell due to its work flow mainly coming from the US, according to the firm's competitors, "Skadden, well, they get most of the deals from New York as well," says one, while another one adds: "Quite a similar practice to Sullivan & Cromwell. They've got a rather small team."

One substantial mandate which closed in August 2010 was to advise Renault on its approximately $4.2 billion sale of a stake in Volvo to institutional investors. The transaction was completed through an accelerated book building offering, and it was believed to be the largest sole bookrunner private placement ever done in Europe and the largest Scandinavian equity deal in the past ten years.

Another highlight completed in March 2011 saw Armand Grumberg advise a luxury goods conglomerate PPR on its $1.6 billion sale of Conforama, a French operator of furniture stores, to Steinhoff International Holdings. The mandate also involved South African securitie laws aspects.

Matthias Horbach and Johannes Kremer jointly head Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom's banking practice and the pair's recent work has all had a refinancing angle. The pair advised office supplier Esselte and its German subsidiaries, which include the German Esselte-Leitz group, on securing several extensions and additional credit facilities from Citibank.

On another notable deal, which closed in December 2010, the pair advised Bank of America and other lead arrangers of a $1.5 billion secured term loan credit facility and a $800 million asset-based revolving credit facility for Novelis, an aluminium products manufacturer, as part of an overall refinancing.

Kremer also advised a mezzanine fund as sole lender to an international marketing group in relation to certain enforcement measures and on a restructuring and distressed M&A matter in August 2010.

A notable deal saw Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom advise Apax Partners on the €920 million sale of a majority stake in German IFCO Systems to the Australian Brambles. The transaction between the two logistics companies closed in April 2011.

Johannes Kremer led a team representing Tele Columbus Group in its successful restructuring by means of a debt transfer and debt-for-equity swap which closed in January 2011. The deal involved several schemes of arrangement between four of the German operating companies within the Tele Columbus Group and the group's senior, second lien and mezzanine lenders.

Another notable deal saw the firm advise the shareholders of German pharmaceutical company Süd-Chemie, which was acquired for €2 billion by Clariant in February 2011.

Consensus is that Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom is ranked appropriately in the third tier.

A highlight for the firm saw it advise British private equity sponsor Apax Partners in the €920 million sale of a majority stake in IFCO Systems to Australian company Brambles in a deal which closed in April 2011.

The firm was also active for AXA Private Equity in its sale of GEALAN (Germany), a window maker, to private equity firm Halder.

The firm also represented long-standing client Barclays Private Equity in its sale of Siteco Lighting to Osram.

Another notable transaction saw the firm act for Silverfleet Capital, the European buy and build specialist, in its sale of European Dental Partners (EDP), a German dental consumables distributor, for €170 million to Lifco Dental International.

Skadden's equity team is built on the strength of the US firm's corporate offering, but the firm manages to procure mandates on both the bank and company sides. The firm can also point to a specific strength in Russia, which has proved to be a boon with the current trend of Russian companies listing on the LSE.

Examples of the latter include advising Travelport, a Blackstone portfolio company, on its $1.8 billion IPO on the LSE. The team also acted for food retailer the O'Key Group on its $420 million IPO on the LSE and another food producer Ros Agro on its $330 million IPO again on the LSE.

The Russian strength is key for clients who made much of the firm's good synchronisation between its offices: "The quality of team is outstanding. A very good link between offices," says one and another agrees: "The quality of team is very good, it's very well synchronised."

On the bank side, one of the largest deals saw Rick Ely and James McDonald act for Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and TT Hellenic Postbank as underwriters on the National Bank of Greece's €1.8 billion capital raising. Pranav Trivedi meanwhile acted for Renaissance Securities and UBS Investment Bank as global co-ordinators on the $400 million Reg S IPO of Russian pharmaceutical company Protek.

Trivedi was certainly popular with clients: "Excellent. Very strong, competent, very good commercial judgement, very good client skill, very good under pressure," says one. "Very knowledgeable in business area. He has been doing it for 20 years." Another agrees: "Pranav is the the best capital markets dealmaker. Very knowledgeable, more so than most lawyers in the city. They are in my top three. Extremely focused on getting things done."

Another bank side mandate, again originating in Russia, saw the team act for Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Troika Dialog and TKB Capital as underwriters on the $400 million IPO of OJSC TransContainer, a container transportation and logistics company, on the LSE.

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom's were kept busy last year mainly by sovereign bond issuances where they acted most commonly as underwriter counsel.

Partner Rick Ely was involved in most of the firm's major mandates. Key examples include acting for BarCap, Citbank and Credit Suisse Securities on the $2.5 billion offering of 3.125% notes by the Republic of Italy. The firm acted for Morgan Stanley and HSBC Holdings on the Egyptian Ministry of Finance on a $1.5 billion dual tranche offering of Rule 144A/Reg S bonds. In a similar deal the team also acted for Qatari Diar Finance, the real estate development are of the state of Qatar on its $3.5 billion bond issue.

In addition the team acted for Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and TT Hellenic Postbank on the National Bank of Greece's €1.8 billion offering of new shares to existing shareholders.

The firm also claimed some issuer side mandates most notably acting for QBE Insurance Group in regard to a $850 million Reg S offering of convertible bonds issue by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of QBE, QBE Funding Trust V.

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom in the eyes of a number of practitioners in the market suffers slightly from a lack of a clear figurehead. James Healy and Rick Ely lead the team, but their time is split between high-yield and straight debt work. To move to the next level, it was suggested, Skadden would need a dedicated partner.

This is not to say that the firm has not won a decent number of mandates though. On the company side the team acted for Italian publisher Seat Pagine Gialle on two separate high-yield issues, one a €550 million offering of 10.5% notes and the other a €200 million offering of 10.5% notes. The team also acted for shipping and drilling service provider Stena on a €200 million offering of 7.875% notes.

On the bank side, the team also received work from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Securities and Morgan Stanley as bookrunners on a €475 million offering by New World Resources of 7.875% senior notes due in 2018.

Skadden maintains a small but notable presence in the UK banking market. Though the firm doesn't have the same capacity as some of its US peers, the technically accomplished banking offering is more than capable and can also draw on the strength of the firm's global corporate client base and expertise.

Clive Wells came in for much client praise: "Perfectly capable at anything you throw at them. He communicates very well, able to get point across quickly, efficient communicator, he understands the commercial outlook I am looking for."

Last year Wells acted on one of the firm's largest acquisition finance deals when he advised Nafta Moskva on the financing for the acquisition of a stake in potash producer OJSC Uralkali

Clients also pointed to the department's internal communications and associate level: "If he wasn't available he made sure he got a competent associates on his level to handle work and to communicate with me."

Practice head Mark Darley worked on several notable financings last year. In one he acted alongside Wells advising the Vitol Group and Helios Investment Partners on the $1 billion financing for the acquisition of the majority of Shell's shareholding in its African downstream business. Darley also acted for Lamda Partners on the debt refinancing of its recent acquisition, the Greek chemical distribution company Neochimiki.

Partner Pete Coulton was also heavily involved in restructuring work including acting for Doughty Hanson on the debt restructuring of portfolio company, broadcaster TV3 and Weather Investments in regard to the major restructuring of Wind Hellas.

Another client says: "They are one of our main relationships. They are supportive, technically and commercially strong the two things I rate most highly."

Known globally for its strong corporate practice, Skadden remains a solid performer in the UK market. Although not the biggest team in the market, the US firm can draw on its areas of regional experience such as the Middle East, Russia and to a certain extent Brazil.

This year has seen the firm acting on a string of telecoms related deals including advice to Altimo, a shareholder in VimpelCom, the Russian telecom operator, in relation to its merger with the Italian telecom assets of private investment vehicle Weather Investments.

Another deal, which also highlights its growing Brazilian influence, the firm assisted Portugal Telecom on the $9.8 billion acquisition by Telefonica of its 50% stake in Vivo Participacoes. The team here was led by Scott Simpson who also acted alongside Michael Berkner acting for Nokia Siemens Networks on its $1.2 billion acquisition of Motorola's wireless network infrastructure assets.

Outside of telecoms and shifting the focus to Africa, the firm also advised on two key deals on the continent. In one the team acted for Vitol Group and Helios Investment Partners in the $1 billion acquisition of the majority of Shell's downstream oil assets on the continent. In the other BSG Resources (BSGR) called in the team to act on the creation of a joint venture with Vale to develop mining in Guinea. The deal saw Vale acquire 50% of BSGR Guinea for $2.5 billion.

Skadden's reputation is built on corporate and though it is seen more as an M&A firm than a private equity powerhouse the firm still maintains a core of good quality clients in the UK.

One such client is Doughty Hanson, who lead partner Allan Murray-Jones advised on three key transactions last year. In one he advised the group on the acquisition of Vue Cinemas and the subsequent provision of new debt facilities by Nomura International. He also advised the company on its disposal of food can maker Impress Coooperative for €1.7 billion. A further deal saw the team act for the company on its acquisition of Equity Trust for €350 million from Candover.

Another highlight saw the team act for Lamda Partners on the acquisition of chemical producer Neochimiki Lavrentiadis from the Carlyle Group.

The Skadden restructuring team led by Christopher Mallon was slightly reduced last year following the retirement of partner Lynn Heistand.

The team secured a role on one of the year's largest deals acting for parent company Weather Investments on the restructuring of portfolio company Wind Hellas Telecommunication. In the same sector, the team also acted for the Tele Columbus Group on its debt restructuring. This was achieved through a debt transfer and a debt for equity swap.

The firm also worked on two notable bankruptcy related mandates. In one, Mallon acted for MGM on its prepackaged bankruptcy procedures. He also acted for the CIT Group on its prepackaged Chapter 11 reorganisation.