Shearman & Sterling LLP

Overview:

Shearman & Sterling LLP, a global law firm, has been advising many of the world’s leading corporations and financial institutions, governments and governmental organizations for more than 135 years. Our lawyers are committed to providing legal advice that is insightful and valuable to our clients. This has resulted in groundbreaking transactions in all major regions of the world, including:

* Asia: In Beijing, we advised on the first successful transaction done under new Chinese M&A rules and, more recently, played a key role in the US$ 2.4 billion initial public offering of Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd, one of Hong Kong’s largest IPOs of 2009, and in Shiseido’s acquisition of US cosmetics company Bare Escentuals.
* The Middle East: We participated in the first power project in the Middle East that included financing from Islamic banks and also in the largest oil and gas Islamic financing and, most recently, represented the project sponsor and project company of a major refinery just outside of Cairo, Egypt.
* Europe: We participated in the first US listing of a German company—Daimler Benz AG—on the New York Stock Exchange and remain front and center in transactions involving automobile manufacturers in Germany and with a broad range of companies across the continent.
* Latin America: We represented the first Brazilian company to register an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and, today, have played a lead role in many of the country’s most significant IPOs to date, including Santander and VisaNet.
* North America: We advised on the creation of the dual class stock when Ford Motor Company went public more than 50 years ago and today remain the company’s underwriters’ counsel, advising on Ford’s debt and equity offerings and restructuring during Ford’s continued turnaround.

We have also advised on some of the world’s most notable transactions and matters, representing: the Yukos shareholders in their $100 billion compensation claim against Russia; Cadbury in its $19.4 billion acquisition by Kraft; Panama Canal Authority in its $5.7 billion canal refinancing plan; Intercontinental Exchange in its acquisition of The Clearing Corporation and formation of a credit default swap clearinghouse; The Dow Chemical Company in its acquisition of Rohm & Haas and sale of Morton International and its calcium chloride and Styron businesses; Suncor Energy in its $15.8 billion merger with Petro-Canada; Brazilian conglomerate JBS in its acquisition of US poultry company Pilgrim’s Pride through a bankruptcy proceeding; Société Générale in combination of its asset management operations with Crédit Agricole’s; and Sterlite in its $500 Million Convertible Bond Offering in India.

Together, our lawyers work across practices and jurisdictions to provide the highest quality legal services, bringing their collective experience to bear on the issues that clients face. For example, our underpinning the quality of our work firmwide are our shared values.

We take pride in the successes of our clients and in our contributions to them.

Areas of law: