M&A

What differentiates Sidley’s M&A practice from that of other leading “M&A law firms” is that we are a full-service firm with experienced lawyers in numerous practice areas that complement and enhance our deal experience. For example, we have top-ranked practices in areas as diverse as healthcare, life sciences, insurance, real estate, hedge funds, REITs, telecommunications, energy, trade and WTO rules, U.S. antitrust and EU competition, and labor and employment law, as well as corporate governance, executive compensation, ERISA and Federal, state and many foreign tax practices. We also draw upon and work closely with lawyers in our top-ranked M&A litigation practice. 

Unlike a lot of firms that simply assign junior corporate lawyers to large due diligence exercises, we are able to deploy lawyers well versed in the legal aspects of an acquisition target’s businesses to assist our M&A lawyers in analyzing those businesses. Moreover, these Sidley lawyers assist our corporate lawyers in drafting and negotiating the specialized representations and covenants that distinguish the appropriate transaction agreement from the typical form agreement for a standard “widget” company - because there are very few standard “widget” companies out there. Few law firms have the breadth and depth of resources that we make available to our M&A clients. 

In the Asia Pacific region, we have 70 lawyers practicing M&A across our five offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Sydney and Tokyo. Since 2014, the team has completed 50 M&A deals, with an aggregate value of more than US$17 billion. Such transactions have been completed not only within the region, such as between China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, India and Australia, but in addition, we regularly work on cross-border transactions involving buyers, sellers or other parties outside the region, often collaborating with colleagues from our U.S. and European offices. Some of our lawyers also have extensive experience in the Middle East, Mongolia and other emerging markets.

Our M&A clients range from multinational corporations to financial institutions to state-owned enterprises. From a sector perspective, we advise our clients in the following industries: energy, life sciences, real estate, consumer products, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, technology, media and telecoms, financial services and insurance, and metals and mining.

Sidley’s M&A practice and its lawyers in the Asia Pacific region are recognized as leaders in the field by all the well-regarded legal directories, such as Chambers Asia Pacific, Asia Pacific Legal 500 and IFLR 1000.