Update, 2/4/13, 7 p.m. EDT: Additional Skadden lawyers who advised MetLife on its recent deal, as well as the firm’s history with the insurance company, have been added to the fourth paragraph below.
On the heels of a year in which it claimed the top spot on three separate rankings of M&A legal advisers based on the total value of their corporate clients’ M&A transactions, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom had a hand in two major transactions this week to help get 2013 off to a strong start.
In a deal announced Friday, Skadden attorneys advised long-time client MetLife on its proposed $2 billion acquisition of Chilean pension fund administrator AFP Provida from Spanish bank BBVA. A separate Skadden team, meanwhile, was on the selling side of a gaming industry transaction announced Thursday, representing WMS Industries in connection with its acquisition by Scientific Gaming for approximately $1.5 billion.
Skadden insurance partner Robert Sullivan and M&A partner Paola Lozano led a Skadden deal team advising MetLife on the AFP Provida acquisition, which is expected to close in the third quarter of the year. The transaction’s terms call for MetLife to make a public cash tender offer of all outstanding Provida shares, with BBVA agreeing to transfer its current 64.3 stake to the insurance company.
