Latham and Wachtell handling Elon Musk's effort to take Tesla private
Wachtell; Munger Tolles; Latham & Watkins; and Wilson Sonsini are advising on a bid to take the electric car maker private.
August 15, 2018 at 12:00 AM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The Recorder
Tesla Inc founder Elon Musk is working with US firms Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Munger, Tolles & Olson to move forward his proposal to take the electric carmaker private, while Tesla's board of directors has retained Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Latham & Watkins to evaluate the chief executive's bid.
After facing a series of questions over possible funding sources for such an effort, Musk has signalled that he remains serious about pursuing the potential buyout, announcing via a Monday evening tweet that he is working with financial advisers from The Goldman Sachs Group Inc and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, with Wachtell and Munger Tolles serving as outside legal advisers on the proposal.
Wachtell corporate partners David Karp and Ronald Chen in New York led a team from the firm that counselled Musk and Tesla two years ago on the Palo Alto-based company's merger with SolarCity Corp, another entity that Musk already controlled. (Karp and Chen also just advised Arlo Technologies Inc, a smart-security spinoff from Netgear Inc, on a $163m (£128m) initial public offering earlier this month that generated $5m (£3.9m) in legal fees and expenses for Wachtell, according to securities filings.)
Monday's announcement appears to be the latest effort by Musk to convince investors, as well as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that he is keen on his $72bn (£56bn) plan to take Tesla private. Musk tweeted last week about having "funding secured" for a possible buyout, which has triggered investor suits and an investigation by the SEC into the accuracy of his public statements.
Tesla's board, which said it hasn't yet received a formal going-private proposal from Musk, said in a securities filing Tuesday that it has created a special committee to evaluate any offer from its CEO. Three independent directors – Brad Buss, Robyn Denholm and Linda Johnson Rice – are being advised by Latham and will retain an independent financial adviser once the board receives an official proposal.
Wilson Sonsini, a firm that enjoyed a long relationship with Tesla and other Musk-related entities, is advising the company's board itself.
Musk claimed that he had been approached several times during the past two years by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund about support to take Tesla private, which is why he wrote "funding secured" in the tweet last week.
"Going back almost two years, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund has approached me multiple times about taking Tesla private," Musk wrote. "Recently, after the Saudi fund bought almost 5% of Tesla stock through the public markets, they reached out to ask for another meeting. That meeting took place on 31 July … I left the 31 July meeting with no question that a deal with the Saudi sovereign fund could be closed."
Musk said he is also seeking additional outside investors. Meanwhile, any detailed proposal would be presented to the special committee of Tesla's board for final evaluation, he added.
In an odd twist, on Monday the rapper Azealia Banks, who claims to have been invited to Musk's home over the weekend along with the musician known as Grimes, said that Tesla's CEO was "scrounging for investors to cover his ass after that tweet".
Musk, through Tesla, said he had never met Banks and called her claims "complete nonsense".
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllCanada’s Antitrust Watchdog Sues Google For Billions Over Ad Practices
3 minute readMorais Leitão Expands in Asia with Timor-Leste Partnership
Funder Behind Mastercard Case Says Settlement 'Struck Without Our Agreement'
Trending Stories
- 1The Pusillanimous Press
- 2Contract Lifecycle Management Company ContractPodAi Unveils Leah Drive
- 3'Great News' for Businesses? Judge Halts Transparency Mandate
- 4Consilio Announces ‘Native AI Review,’ Expanding Its Gen AI E-Discovery Offerings
- 5Federal Judge Hits US With $227,000 Sanction for Discovery Misconduct
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250