Latham & Watkins and O’Melveny & Myers have won roles on German engineering group Siemens’ $4.5bn acquisition of US based software provider Mentor Graphics.
Siemens is to acquire Mentor for $37.25 per share in cash, with a total value of $4.5bn. This represents 21% more than Mentor’s closing price on 11 November, the last trading day prior to the announcement. Oregon-based Mentor has over 5,700 employees in 32 countries and last year generated $1.2bn revenue.
Latham & Watkins advised Siemens with a 15-partner strong team, led by New York corporate partners Adel Aslani-Far and Eli Hunt, alongside New York partner Jim Gorton and Munich partner Rainer Traugott. London employment and pensions partner Catherine Drinnan also acted on the deal.
O’Melveny was instructed by Mentor Graphics, led by global head of M&A and private equity (PE) Paul Scrivano in New York. The transaction pends customary approvals and is expected to close in Q2 of 2017.
Latham has had a long-standing relationship with Siemens. The German firm enlisted Latham in its $7.6bn acquisition of Dresser-Rand back in September 2014, as well as in November 2013 when Siemens sold parts of its water business to AEA Investors. However in August 2014 when Siemens sold its hospital IT business to US provider Cerner for $1.3bn, Clifford Chance advised Siemens whilst Latham was instructed by Cerner.
In the UK, Siemens instructs Eversheds, Osborne Clarke and Addleshaw Goddard. The three firms were appointed to Siemen’s UK legal panel after a review in March. Reed Smith missed out on the panel, which took effect from March 2016 last year.
georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk