The Legal 500

United States: Finance

Capital markets: debt offerings

Within: Capital markets: debt offerings

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP’s broad debt capability is particularly strong on the issuer side but the group also enjoys good links with underwriters. The telecoms, technology and energy sectors are all strong sources of work and it also regularly represents private equity funds and their portfolio companies. New York’s John Kennedy co-heads the North American capital markets and securities practice and recently advised Michael Kors on its $450m offering of senior notes. Andrew Foley, who splits his time between Toronto and New York, advised Canadian Natural Resources on three notes offerings totaling around $3bn. Department co-chair Gregory Ezring and corporate deputy chair Monica Thurmond are also recommended - both are based in New York.

[back to top]

Capital markets: equity offerings

Within: Capital markets: equity offerings

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP’s issuer-focused practice, which is centered in New York, is sought after for its ‘extremely pro-business approach’ and its ‘broad sector expertise’. Raphael Russo had a stand-out year on the equity side, which included advising the issuers on the $152m IPO of J. Jill and the $345m IPO of Mosaic Acquisition. In fact, the group had a strong year for IPOs generally, with ‘outstanding’ department co-head John Kennedy also advising Preferred Sands on its $100m IPO and David Huntington advising MPM Holdings on its $250m IPO. The team also includes high-profile department co-chair Gregory Ezring and key partner Monica Thurmond.

[back to top]

Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings

Within: Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings

A popular choice for private equity issuers, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP fields ‘a proactive and client-oriented’ New York-based team, which ‘intuitively understands how to maneuver deals through tricky tight spots’. Gregory Ezring is ‘an effective adviser’ and with Brian Janson and Tracey Zaccone advised Rackspace Hosting on its $1.2bn offering of senior notes to help finance the $4.4bn leveraged buyout of the company by Apollo Global Management. John Kennedy co-heads the practice alongside Ezring and assisted Virtu Financial with an offering by its subsidiaries of $500m of senior notes. The energy and natural resources industry is also a significant source of work, with the group recently advising on high-yield debt offerings by EP Energy, Foresight Energy and Iamgold. Monica Thurmond, who is deputy chair of the corporate department, and Catherine Goodall are also recommended.

[back to top]

United States: Industry focus

Sport

Within: Sport

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP has been engaged on some of the highest-profile disputes and investigations in sport, with the concussion multidistrict litigation for the NFL particularly standing out. Head of the sport practice Brad Karp, together with Bruce Birenboim and Theodore Wells, is defending the NFL and various franchises against claims brought by 100 former players who chose to opt out of the global class action settlement. Christopher Boehning successfully defended Swiss marketing company Infront Sports & Media against a putatitive class action case brought against Infront and five other defendants, including FIFA, relating to the sale and distribution of tickets and hospitality packages for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Key highlights on the transactional side include Angelo Bonvino and Monica Thurmond advising KPS Capital Partners on its $425m acquisition of TaylorMade Golf Company from Adidas and Neil Goldman and Charles Googe assisting MLB Advanced Media with service and licensing arrangements concerning the rollout of HBO Now as a SaaS platform. Justin Hamill advised Endeavor on the merger of its subsidiary company, IMG College, with integrated marketing solutions provider Learfield.

[back to top]