Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Davis Polk & Wardwell

Advanced Micro Devices Stock Offering
Davis Polk & Wardwell advised Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated as sole underwriter on a $496.2 million SEC-registered shelf offering by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. The offering consisted of 14,096,000 shares of common stock and the shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Based in Sunnyvale, California, Advanced Micro Devices is a leading global provider of innovative microprocessor solutions for computing, communications and consumer electronics markets. Founded in 1969, AMD is dedicated to delivering superior computing solutions based on customer needs that empower users worldwide.

The Davis Polk corporate team included partner Alan F. Denenberg, associates Kevin D. Smith and Sarvenaz Madi and legal assistant Don Snyder, all of the Menlo Park office.

01-30-2006

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Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP

RICHARD HALL AND MIKE SCHLER TO SPEAK AT U.S./CANADIAN CROSS-BORDER M&A FORUM
On April 28, Cravath partners Richard Hall and Michael L. Schler will speak at "The U.S./Canadian Cross-Border M&A Forum", a conference in New York City presented by Insight and American Lawyer Media in coordination with The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel magazines. Richard will serve as a panelist for a discussion entitled "Lessons in Cross-Border Hostile M&A Deals--Placer Dome/Barrick & Others". Using Barrick Gold's unsolicited bid for Placer Dome as a case study, panelists will discuss issues and recent developments in cross-border hostile deals. Mike will serve as a panelist for a discussion entitled "Taking the Income Fund Vehicle Cross-Border". Panelists will discuss factors driving increased cross-border income fund M&A activity, the competitive advantage of income funds in the current M&A environment and the unique structural considerations for acquisitions of and by income funds.

01-30-2006

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Cooley Godward Kronish LLP

Cooley Godward Report Shows Investment Climate For Startups Improving
Palo Alto, Calif., January 30, 2006 — Cooley Godward LLP today released its most recent quarterly report of venture capital financing activity which showed that the overall strong investment climate for privately-held startups continued in the third quarter of last year. According to the report, early-stage startups are attracting more interest from venture capitalists, company valuations are continuing to rise and entrepreneurs are striking better deals with investors.

The complete version of Cooley’s comprehensive and detailed report on venture capital investing, "Quarterly Report: Private Company Financings," is available at www.cooley.com/pcfreports. Among the report's highlights:

—Startups are attracting strong interest from VCs. Series A financings alone accounted for 51% of all deals in the most recent quarter, a far greater percentage than during any period in the last two years. Early-stage financings accounted for 74% of all deals during the first three quarters of 2005, a significant jump from 2004 when early-stage financing accounted for just 60% of all deals.

—Company valuations are continuing to rise. The percentage of up-round financings (transactions in which the valuation of a company increased relative to the prior round of financing), rose to 69% in the third quarter of 2005, a significant jump from the previous quarter's 54%. For the first three quarters of 2005 up rounds accounted for well above 50% of all deals, a significant change from several years ago when down rounds (in which the valuation of a company decreased after a new round of financing) accounted for more than half of all deals.

—Entrepreneurs are striking better deals. Ratchet antidilution provisions (a method by which investors protect their ownership stake in a company during subsequent rounds of financing) accounted for just 5% of all deals in the third quarter, compared to 18% in the same period of 2004. Nearly 10% of all deals in the third quarter of 2005 had no antidilution provision, compared to just 8% in the same period of 2004.

“Because of the improved investment climate, startups are finding it easier to raise money on favorable terms today than it was one or two years ago,” said Jim Fulton, a partner in Cooley Godward's Palo Alto office, and head of the firm's Emerging Companies practice. “Entrepreneurs and venture capitalists alike are able to secure higher valuations for companies, which is not only good for them, but good for the overall economy.”

Cooley’s "Quarterly Report: Private Company Financings" is based on private company transactions in which the firm served as counsel to either the issuing company or the investors. In the third quarter of 2005 Cooley participated in 80 transactions, resulting in aggregate proceeds to private companies of about $751 million.

In 1959, Cooley formed the first institutional venture capital limited partnership in the western United States. Since then the firm has been at the vanguard of private company financings, both as a representative of hundreds of venture capital and private equity partnerships and as counsel to companies and entrepreneurs raising money from the venture capital community. Industry sectors include all areas common to venture capital financings, including communications, computer hardware and networking, consumer electronics, general retail, Internet, life sciences, semiconductors, and software.

01-30-2006

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Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

Buchanan Ingersoll's Ralph Thomas to Speak at Minority Conference
Washington, D.C., January 30, 2006 — Ralph C. Thomas, III of Buchanan Ingersoll's Washington, D.C., office, will be among the speakers at the 2006 Minority Serving Institutions Research Partnerships (MSIRP) Conference, to be held at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, TX, on February 2-4, 2006.

The MSIRP conference, co-hosted by Congressman Rubén Hinojosa, is the first to be developed by a strategic planning group of representatives from such organizations as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges and Universities.

The MSIRP Conference includes workshops, seminars and keynote speakers, as well as a business and career expo bringing together industry experts from the fields of academia, government and the private sector. The goal of the nationwide conference is to encourage, create and support alliances between academic institutions, the government and the private sector through collaborative business, education, research and development and contracting initiatives.

Thomas will be a co-presenter in a workshop titled, "What Happens When a Contract Goes Bad —Ways to Prevent a Catastrophe." He will specifically address the use of alternate dispute resolution in federal contracts.

01-30-2006

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Bryan Cave LLP

Partner Honored by the Hogan-Morgenthau Association
New York Partner Austin Campriello was honored at the Hogan-Morgenthau Association's annual dinner, which was attended by nearly 300 people at Tavern on the Green.

The Association is made up of current and former prosecutors who served under former Manhattan District Attorneys (DA) Frank S. Hogan and Robert M. Morgenthau. Hogan and Morgenthau have worked in the Manhattan DA's office for nearly 60 years.

Past honorees include a number of federal and state judges, the New York State attorney general, the governor's counsel, district attorneys, special prosecutors, commissioners and others.

Campriello, a former prosecutor, is a member of the Appellate, Corporate Compliance and Defense, and Securities Enforcement, Compliance and Litigation Client Service Groups. He has conducted investigations into many areas of fraud and municipal corruption, and has successfully represented clients in various investigations including inquiries into criminal-antitrust, Medicaid-fraud and conflict-of-interest charges.

01-30-2006

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Baker & McKenzie, L.L.P.

Baker & McKenzie Represents Hudson United Capital in Financing of Landmark Ethanol Plant Acquisition
Washington, D.C., January 30, 2006 – Baker & McKenzie LLP announced today that it represented Hudson United Capital (“HUC”) in connection with the provision of acquisition finance to a subsidiary of Babcock & Brown Environmental Investments Limited (ASX: BEI), which in turn purchased 100% of the equity interests in Diversified Energy Company, LLC (“Denco”), an ethanol producer and operator based in Morris, Minnesota.

The transaction is significant as it marks the entry of a leading international infrastructure investor into the U.S. biofuels sector.

HUC, which specializes in lending to renewable energy projects, provided approximately $33 million in term and revolving working capital facilities to a U.S. subsidiary of BEI. BEI raised additional capital through an underwritten equity offering on the Australian Stock Exchange. BEI’s subsidiary then used the proceeds of the HUC loans and the equity offering to purchase the equity interests in Denco from approximately 300, largely local shareholders. The transaction closed on January 3, 2006.

Denco’s assets include a 25 million gallon-per-year ethanol production facility in Morris, Minnesota, subsidiaries that provide consulting, marketing and technology services to other ethanol companies and equity interests in a number of other ethanol production facilities in Minnesota.

Ethanol plants have historically been developed by farmer cooperatives and agribusiness giants and financed by local and regional banks. Recently, however, changes in federal and state energy, tax and environmental laws have increased the demand for ethanol. Leading financial investors, both U.S.-based and international, are beginning to construct new ethanol plants and buy existing ethanol companies. These new financial participants in the industry have, in turn, arranged debt financing from project finance banks with experience in renewable energy, such as HUC.

“We were very pleased to work with the Babcock & Brown team on this financing. It was a challenging transaction in that we needed to synchronize our efforts with the Australian equity offering and the expectations of the sellers. We believe our experience gained from the landmark Hawkeye Renewables transaction and numerous other ethanol and biodiesel financings allowed the Denco acquisition to reach closing in a fast and efficient manner,” said Jerry Peters, Senior Vice President and Head of Project Finance at HUC. “We understand that BEI will be looking for other acquisitions in the U.S. biofuels sector and we hope to work with them on future transactions as well.”

Chris Groobey, a project finance partner in Baker & McKenzie’s Washington, D.C., office, said “There have been very few acquisitions of operating ethanol facilities and even fewer of integrated biofuels businesses such as Denco. These transactions demand large teams of experienced lawyers and Baker & McKenzie is one of the few law firms that can provide appropriate levels of service to financial participants in the ethanol industry. Our global biofuels team is active on projects throughout the U.S. and around the world and we were pleased to be able to participate with HUC and BEI on a transaction of such importance to the US biofuels industry.”

BEI is a rapidly growing investment vehicle focused on the renewables sector with a diversified portfolio of high-quality environmentally-friendly assets. BEI was represented in the transaction by Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.

01-30-2006

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Adams & Reese LLP

Lori J. Warner Joins Adams and Reese LLP
Adams and Reese is pleased to announce that Lori J. Warner has joined the firm’s Houston office as a partner with the Energy and Environmental Team.

Ms. Warner, who concentrates her practice exclusively in environmental law, routinely counsels clients on regulatory compliance, contaminated site remediation, wastewater and storm water management, environmental liability, and release reporting. She also assists clients in negotiations with state and federal agencies on matters such as enforcement, voluntary cleanup projects, innocent landowner status and Superfund, and has participated on behalf of clients in various stake-holder meetings and rule-making proceedings.

In addition to regulatory counseling, Ms. Warner provides environmental due diligence expertise in corporate and real estate transactions, including counseling clients on options to minimize environmental uncertainties through the use of environmental insurance, remediation agreements, buy-back option agreements and similar mechanisms. She has significant experience in drafting access agreements, confidentiality agreements, environmental indemnities, and other contracts and in assisting clients in retaining and managing environmental consultants.

Ms. Warner received her Juris Doctorate cum laude from the South Texas College of Law in 1993. Ms. Warner earned a Master of Law in Environmental Law from the University of Houston Law Center in 1996 and received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in 1995. In 1994 and 1995, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Vanessa D. Gilmore, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. Ms. Warner also completed a judicial clerkship in El Paso, as briefing attorney to Justice Susan Larsen, Texas Court of Appeals, Eighth District in 1995-1996. Prior to graduating from law school, Ms. Warner worked for ten years as a geoscientist in oil and gas exploration and production.

01-30-2006

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