Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Varnum LLP

Mulcahy Featured in Estate and Gift Tax Seminar
Varnum attorney Michael J. Mulcahy will be a featured speaker in an upcoming seminar on Estate and Gift Tax, sponsored by the Taxation Section of the State Bar of Michigan and the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE).

Mulcahy's knowledge of tax law is extensive. For the past seven years, he has focused his law practice on estate planning, estate and trust administration and estate taxation. For the final 20 years of his 30-year IRS career, Mulcahy served as the IRS appeals officer for nearly all of the Estate and Gift Tax cases in the state of Michigan. Prior to that time, he also served as Estate and Gift Tax Manager.

Mulcahy is frequently called upon as a valuation expert and spends a great deal of time reviewing and critiquing appraisals of closely-held businesses and real estate. He is a frequent speaker on behalf of ICLE on a wide range of estate tax and valuation issues.

The upcoming seminar will be held Tuesday, Feb. 27 from 3 to 6 p.m. at The Inn at St. John's in Plymouth, Michigan.

02-14-2007

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Salans

Salans Bucharest advises on groundbreaking corporate bond issue
Salans Bucharest has advised Société Générale on the first RON-denominated corporate bond issue to be listed on a foreign stock exchange by a Romanian company. The bond issue, launched on November 29 on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange by BRD Groupe Société Générale (subsidiary of Société Générale), collected RON 735 million (about EUR 217 million).

The issue, reserved to non-resident investors, is quoted in Luxemburg and has a 5-year maturity and an interest rate of 7.75%. Anda Todor, Perry Zizzi and Edward Dobre were the leading lawyers involved in the transaction.

This is the second groundbreaking capital market transaction that the Bucharest office had closed in the last quarter of 2006. Anda Todor and Edward Dobre had also advised A&D Pharma, the largest integrated pharmaceutical wholesale and retail business in Romania, on its listing on the London Stock Exchange. A&D Pharma was the first Romanian company to be listed on the LSE.

02-14-2007

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Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, L.L.P.

Custer Battles LLC cleared of fraud charges
The first False Claims Act ("FCA") lawsuit to be litigated against a private contractor involving work performed in Iraq for the Coalition Provisional Authority ("CPA") was resolved today. In a 22-page Memorandum Opinion dated February 2, 2007, docketed today, United States District Court Judge T. S. Ellis ruled in favor of Scott Custer, Mike Battles, and the company they founded, Custer Battles LLC, dismissing allegations that Custer Battles committed fraud in connection with its contract with the CPA to provide security support services at the Baghdad International Airport. In making this ruling, Judge Ellis determined that "the undisputed facts manifestly demonstrate" that the fraud alleged had not been and could not be established. Previously, in an Opinion and Order dated August 16, 2006, Judge Ellis set aside a jury verdict against Custer Battles related to the other contract at issue in the case. Judge Ellis ruled as a matter of law that, despite testimony from twenty witnesses over twelve days, the evidence was insufficient to establish the fraud alleged, i.e., that Custer Battles submitted false claims and records to the United States in connection with that contract.

This case has attracted political and media attention because it provides a window into contracting between private companies and the CPA for work performed during Iraq reconstruction under former Ambassador Paul Bremer. In the past, the Custer Battles story has been invoked to illustrate alleged fraud and abuse by contractors in Iraq, incompetence by the CPA, and the challenges posed by the Iraq reconstruction effort. While today's decision vindicates Custer Battles' record of performance, it also underscores the difficulty of assigning responsibility for the largely failed effort to reconstruct Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

In response to the decision, Scott Custer stated, "We have always maintained that our company did its best to perform its contracts in Iraq under unimaginably difficult conditions. In fact, we consistently met or exceeded the terms of our contracts with the CPA. It was not until well after our contracts were completed that these allegations were brought against us by competitors. Obviously, we're relieved by today's decision, but it does not dispel the cloud that hangs over us or erase the two years of legal battles we've fought to clear our name."

David L. Douglass, counsel for Custer Battles stated, "The facts of this case really showed just how difficult it is for private contractors in Iraq given the fluid and dangerous circumstances under which they operated, the inexperience of the government personnel, and the lack of clear legal
guidance.

02-14-2007

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Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP

Bob Hermann Appointed to Governor Spitzer's Administration
Bob Hermann was recently appointed as Director of the Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform in Governor Eliot Spitzer's administration. The announcement was published in a press release from the Governor's office and the Feb 14 issue of The New York Observer.

02-14-2007

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Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, LLP

Simpson Thacher Represents KKR Private Equity Investors, L.P. in Investment in Sun Microsystems Convertible Notes
Simpson Thacher represented Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (“KKR”), KKR Private Equity Investors, L.P. (“KPE”), a publicly traded fund of KKR, and their affiliates in connection with KPE’s investment in $700 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes of Sun Microsystems, Inc. (“Sun”). Citibank, N.A. provided financing to KPE and its affiliates in connection with the transaction. The transaction, which closed on January 26, 2007, was KPE’s first solo investment. In connection with the transaction, a nominee of KKR will be presented for appointment to the Sun board of directors shortly following the closing.

The Simpson Thacher team for this transaction included William Dougherty, Doug Bacon, Bryan Yoon (M&A), Michael Nathan (Capital Markets), David Eisenberg, James Cross, Justin Lungstrum, Ursula Mackey (Banking and Credit), Steve Todrys, Marcy Geller, and Kathleen DeLaney (tax). David Sorkin and Joe Kaufman provide ongoing advice to KPE and also assisted with the transaction.

Lawyers:
• Douglas E. Bacon
• James D. Cross
• William R. Dougherty
• David M. Eisenberg
• Marcy G. Geller
• Joseph H. Kaufman
• Justin M. Lungstrum
• Ursula Mackey
• Michael D. Nathan
• David J. Sorkin
• Steven C. Todrys
• Bryan S.H. Yoon

02-14-2007

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Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood, L.L.P.

Sidley Austin LLP Represents EOP in the Largest Leveraged Buyout Transaction in History
Sidley represented Equity Office Properties Trust in its $39 billion acquisition by The Blackstone Group, closing, on February 9, 2007, the largest leveraged buyout transaction in history. The deal as completed resulted from a nearly three-month intense competition between Blackstone and Vornado Realty Trust.

The team was led by Imad Qasim and included David Graham and Tom Cole. The corporate team also included Kevin Blatchford, Gary Gerstman, Rob Verigan, Ryan Stahl, Scott Williams, Claire Holland, Sara Horvath and James Langdon. The litigation team, which addressed litigation in three jurisdictions, also included Brad Kapnick, Tom Cauley, Ryan Sandrock, Brian McAleenan, Katie McNamara, Claire Korenblit, Tim Powderly and Elizabeth Shanin. The tax team included David Miller, Ivy Jones, Brandon Holder and Sanjay Wavde. Ed Ricchiuto assisted on the capital markets matters and Stew Shepherd and Holley Kopack Willobee assisted on employee benefit matters.

02-14-2007

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Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood, L.L.P.

Sidley Austin LLP Serves as Legal Counsel on the IPO of Fortress Investment Group LLC
Sidley represented the underwriters in Fortress Investment Group's $634.3 million initial public offering. Fortress is the first global alternative asset manager listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Lehman Brothers acted as global coordinators and representatives of the underwriters for the offering and Banc of America Securities LLC, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank Securities acted as joint book-running managers.

The Sidley team was led by Gerard Cummins (pooled investment entities) and Edward Petrosky (capital markets). The team also included David Miller, Ivy Jones, Rob Hardy and Jon Brose (tax); George Petrow (securitization); Mike Schmidtberger, Brian Kaplowitz and Tatiana Zakharova (pooled investment entities); Chris Pih (corporate); and Jody Weiss, Chris Golden, Ariel Marie Jolicoeur and Doug Weir (capital markets).

02-14-2007

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