After the slowest opening M&A quarter for a decade the past week saw signs of the forecasted uptick in M&A activity as a clutch of US firms including Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Kirkland & Ellis and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton secured high value mandates.
In what is said to be the largest Chinese takeover of a US company, Hong Kong-based meat processing giant Shuanghui International Holdings has acquired the world’s largest pork processor, Smithfield Foods, in a deal worth $4.7bn, or $7.1bn including assumed debt. US Paul Hastings led by Hong Kong-based partner Raymond Li advised the buyer alongside LB Global 100 US firm Troutman Sanders, led by corporate partners Mason Bayler, David Myers and Coburn Beck. Smithfield Foods was advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett led by M&A partners Robert Spatt and Patrick Noughton and McGuireWoods led by corporate partners David Oakey and James Anderson.