Press Release
Duane Morris Completes Series of Transactions Valued at More Than $850 Million
PHILADELPHIA, June 16, 2008 - International law firm Duane Morris LLP is having another successful month in its Corporate Practice Group, having recently completed a series of four transactions totaling more than $850 million on behalf of clients in the construction, heavy equipment, industrial services and pharmaceuticals industries. The deals highlight the firm's team approach and national practice, with three of the deals involving groups of lawyers working across multiple offices, and demonstrate the high level of activity in the firm's mergers and acquisitions practice. Overall, 30 lawyers across seven firm offices were involved in the transactions.
The details of each of the deals are below.
Protez Pharmaceuticals Acquired by Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Malvern, Pennsylvania-based antibiotics developer Protez Pharmaceuticals announced on June 4 that it reached an agreement to be acquired by major Swiss drug maker Novartis Pharmaceuticals for up to $400 million in cash. Under the terms of the agreement, Novartis will make an initial payment at the closing of the transaction of $100 million and up to $300 million if Protez achieves certain regulatory, clinical and commercial milestones related to its promising hospital antibiotic PZ-601, which is currently in Phase II development. Protez will continue to operate in Malvern and will become an independent subsidiary of Novartis. Protez retained Duane Morris as its legal counsel in the transaction.
Protez Pharmaceuticals is engaged in the discovery and development of new antibiotics for difficult-to-treat infections. Its focus is on highly differentiated intravenous and oral small molecule antibiotics to address increasing bacterial-resistant and chronic or recurrent infections.
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis AG provides healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Focused solely on growth areas in healthcare, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to meet these needs through innovative medicines, cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals, preventive vaccines and diagnostic tools and consumer health products.
The Duane Morris team consisted of:
Philadelphia
Kathleen Shay (Lead - Partner, Corporate)
Sandra Stoneman (Partner, Corporate)
Stephen DiBonaventura (Partner, Tax)
John Kauffman (Partner, Corporate)
Mehrin Masud-Elias (Associate, Corporate)
Atlantic Industrial Acquired by The Brock Group
Columbia, Maryland-based Atlantic Industrial, Inc., an industrial services company with operations providing scaffolding, painting, insulation and select environmental services, announced June 2 that it has been acquired by The Brock Group, a specialty contractor based in Houston and Beaumont, Texas, for $250 million. The company was sponsored by Sterling Capital Partners, a leading middle-market private equity firm, and was founded by Peter Vrettakos, a well-known entrepreneur in the scaffolding industry. A team of lawyers from Duane Morris assisted Atlantic in all aspects of the transaction.
Atlantic Industrial provides industrial services to refineries, power plants, and pulp and paper mills. It is among the six largest providers nationally of outsourced scaffolding services to industrial customers.
The 17-lawyer Duane Morris team, based in Baltimore but including lawyers from three other firm offices, consisted of:
Baltimore
George Nemphos (Lead - Partner, Corporate)
Keli B. Isaacson (Partner, Corporate)
Jay Cohen (Partner, Corporate)
Bruce Jurist (Partner, Corporate)
Wil Sirota (Partner, Corporate)
David Bernsohn (Associate, Corporate)
Douglas Howard (Associate, Corporate)
Azim Chowdhury (Associate, Corporate)
Philadelphia
Michael Gradisek (Partner, Employee Benefits)
John Reade (Partner, Corporate)
Seth Cooley (Partner, Energy, Environment and Resources)
Sam Apicelli (Partner, Intellectual Property)
Edward Biester (Partner, Trial)
Timothy Collins (Associate, Corporate)
Washington, D.C.
Brian Alprin (Partner, Corporate)
Celeste Wasielewski (Partner, Employment & Immigration)
Chicago
Rick Darke (Associate, Trial)
Douglas E. Barnhart Inc. Acquired by Balfour Beatty
San Diego-based Douglas E. Barnhart Inc. announced that it had been acquired by Heery International, a U.S. unit of international engineering and construction firm Balfour Beatty, for $116 million in cash. Barnhart, among the largest construction management and building companies in California, was represented by Duane Morris in the transaction.
The company specializes in educational, defense, commercial, recreational and municipal facilities. Barnhart is the sixth-largest education sector builder in the United States as a whole, complementing Heery's own work in the field. In 2007, Barnhart had gross revenues exceeding $540 million and operating profits of $17 million, with gross assets of $197 million.
Balfour Beatty is a worldwide engineering, construction, services and investment business, well-positioned in infrastructure markets that offer significant long-term growth. Its U.S. professional and technical services unit, Heery International, is a 1,100-person architectural, design, engineering, program and construction management company with annual revenues of $1.2 billion.
The Duane Morris team consisted of:
San Diego
Bob Copeland (Lead - Partner, Corporate)
Jamie Mercer (Partner, Corporate)
Michael Umansky (Partner, Corporate)
Edwin Astudillo (Associate, Corporate)
Philadelphia
Stephen DiBonaventura (Partner, Tax)
Washington, D.C.
Brian Alprin (Partner, Corporate)
San Francisco
Tausha Wagner (Associate, Corporate)
T-Systems International Acquired by Deere & Company
Heavy equipment manufacturer Deere & Company acquired San Diego-based T-Systems International, Inc., a producer of drip irrigation systems, on May 29. T-Systems will be integrated into John Deere Water Technologies, a Deere unit focused on manufacturing plastic micro and drip irrigation products, as part of a planned expansion of the unit. A team of corporate lawyers from Duane Morris, across four firm offices, assisted T-Systems in the acquisition.
Established in 1977, T-Systems is an international industry leader in drip irrigation. It has manufacturing facilities in the United States, France and Australia. T-Systems helps farmers achieve results by delivering the right irrigation treatment for specific crop needs.
The Duane Morris team consisted of:
San Diego
Bob Copeland (Lead - Partner, Corporate)
Jamie Mercer (Partner, Corporate)
Michael Umansky (Partner, Corporate)
Jennifer Kearns (Partner, Employment & Immigration)
Dawn Messick (Associate, Corporate)
New York
Brian Goldstein (Of Counsel, Corporate)
Philadelphia
Sam Apicelli (Partner, Intellectual Property)
Stephen DiBonaventura (Partner, Tax)
Washington, D.C.
Brian Alprin (Partner, Corporate)
About Duane Morris
Duane Morris LLP, a full-service law firm of more than 650 attorneys, offers innovative solutions across diverse industries in the United States and internationally to address the legal and business challenges of today's evolving global markets.
