Transactions
Jul. 30, 2002
Latham Represents Amgen In Big Biotech Deal
The biggest merger in biotech history has closed, with Latham & Watkins representing Amgen Inc. in its $17.7 billion acquisition of Immunex Corp.
The biggest merger in biotech history has closed, with Latham & Watkins representing Amgen Inc. in its $17.7 billion acquisition of Immunex Corp.
Charles Ruck, the lead attorney for the deal, announced in December, says that many observers were surprised that a Los Angeles-based law firm, not a New York firm, was at the helm of such a huge deal.
"I take it as a real credit to our firm's movement to the upper echelon of corporate firms that we were tapped to lead this transaction," Ruck, an Orange County partner, says.
Ruck notes that Latham has built up a New York presence in the merger and acquisition area, but he adds that the bulk of the nearly 40 Latham attorneys handling the matter is based in Southern California.
Ruck emphasizes that he sees the deal as "truly a global effort by the firm."
For instance, he notes that both Thousand Oaks-based Amgen and Seattle-based Immunex have operations and subsidiaries overseas and that, therefore, Latham's European offices, including Paris and Hamburg, played a vital role in the process.
Under the deal, each share of Immunex common stock will be exchanged for a fixed ratio of 0.44 shares of Amgen common stock and cash of $4.50.
To satisfy Federal Trade Commission antitrust concerns, Immunex has sold its cancer drug Leukine to Schering AG, and each company has licensed the intellectual rights to certain arthritis drugs to others.
Other Latham lawyers who worked on the merger included Los Angeles partner Paul Tosetti, Silicon Valley partner Alan Mendelson, San Francisco partner Thomas Rosch in San Francisco, and partner Charles Nathan in New York.
Roger Aaron and Stephen Arcano, New York partners at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, represented Immunex in the transaction.
Toni Vranjes
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