Latham & Watkins, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, Canadian firm Stikeman Elliott, and Freshfields are advising on the merger between Anglo American and Teck Resources, creating a mining giant with an enterprise value of $69bn.
Canadian firm Torys and Johannesburg-headquartered Webber Wentzel are also advising Anglo American on the deal.
A Latham team led by New York and Orange County corporate partner Charles Ruck and London corporate partners Sam Newhouse and Ed Barnett, alongside New York-based public company and board representation practice vice chair Andrew Elken and London corporate partner Anna Ngo, is advising Anglo American.
The Latham team also includes Washington DC partner Paul Dudek advising on securities law, while London partner Helen Lethaby, Los Angeles partner Pardis Zomorodi, and Houston partner Christine Mainguy are advising on tax.
Torys and Webber Wentzel are understood to be advising Anglo American on regional matters connected with the transaction.
Wachtell, Stikeman and Freshfields are advising Teck. The Wachtell team is led by corporate partners Daniel Neff, also an executive committee member, and Mark Gordon.
The London-based Freshfields team is led by infrastructure and energy partner Jessamy Gallagher, alongside corporate partner Stephen Hewes.
The deal is expected to take around 12-18 months to complete and will create one of the world’s top five copper producers.
Anglo American is a longstanding client of Latham’s. Newhouse and Barnett, alongside fellow London corporate partner Emily Cridland, led the team that advised on the $3.775bn sale of its Australian steelmaking coal business to Peabody Energy. Wachtell advised Peabody’s board of directors on the transaction on that occasion.
The combined firm will be known as Anglo Teck and headquartered in Vancouver. The transaction is expected to deliver annual pre-tax savings of around $800m by the end of the fourth year after completion.
Under the terms of the deal Anglo American shareholders will own 62.4% of the combined company while Teck shareholders, who will receive 1.33 Anglo shares for each Teck share, will hold the remaining 37.6%. Anglo American shares rose by 9% on the news of the merger.
