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Morrison & Foerster is a leader in advising parties to mergers, acquisitions, and strategic and financial alliances.  Our attorneys have extensive experience advising both publicly-traded and privately-held companies in connection with these transactions.  In Europe we offer UK and U.S. advice.

The firm brings to all transactions the strength and resources of a large international law firm, with specialists in securities, tax, intellectual property, employment and each other relevant area of the law. 

Representative Transactions

• 3i plc.  Advising 3i on the proposed £230 million acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) of Domantis Ltd, a leader in developing the next generation of antibody therapies.  Domantis, a privately owned company backed by 3i, will become part of GSK’s Biopharmaceuticals Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery (CEDD) while continuing to operate from laboratories in Cambridge, UK.
• Amana.  Advising Amana, a leading Japanese stock photo company, in the $51 million sale of its EU and U.S. subsidiaries to Getty Images, the world’s largest imagery company. The deal, which recently closed, will include post-closing image representation and production facility arrangements overseas and in Japan between Amana and Getty Images.
• Arrow Therapeutics Ltd. Advising the shareholders of Arrow, a privately owned UK biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of anti-viral therapies, in its $150 million acquisition by AstraZeneca
• BioFocus plc.  Representing BioFocus, and AIM-listed healthcare company, on its takeover by a recommended all share offer by Galapagos N.V.
• Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc.  Advising CAT on the acquisition of several oncological product candidates from Genencor International, Inc. of Palo Alto, California, a subsidiary of Danisco A/S of Denmark and the simultaneous subscription by Genencor for CAT ordinary shares.
• Cambridge Biotechnology Limited.  Advising on the sale of Cambridge Biotechnology Limited to Biovitrum A/B.  Our attorneys represented Merlin Biosciences and other institutional investors.
• Comsat International, Inc. Representing Comsat International, a telecommunications company providing full service voice and data services primarily in Latin American Markets, in its acquisition by BT United States L.L.C. (a member of the British Telecom Group) through a reverse triangular merger.
• Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.  Advising Tokyo-listed Dainippon Screen on its acquisition of UK-based Inca Digital Printers, the specialist wide-format digital inkjet printer manufacturer, in an agreement totalling £30 million. 
• Derms Development.  Acting for Derms Development on its acquisition of Crawford Healthcare and related investment by Merlin Biosciences.
• DSP Group.  Advising DSP Group, a U.S.-Israeli company, in the successful spin-off of its IP licensing subsidiary, Ceva, and the combination of Ceva with Dublin-based Parthus Technologies.  We also represented the combined company, ParthusCeva, in connection with its listing on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.
• Hitachi.  Advising Hitachi on its $2.05 billion acquisition of IBM's worldwide hard disk drive business, including its manufacturing and sales sites in North America (U.S. and Mexico), Asia (Japan, China, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) and Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands). 
• IWP International plc.  Acting as English counsel for IWP International in a €134 million disposal of its household products division which includes Jeyes.  IWP is listed on the Dublin and London markets, and is one of the largest Irish companies by market capitalisation.
• KuDOS Pharmaceuticals. We advised KuDOS Pharmaceuticals Limited, a privately-owned UK biotechnology company in relation to the $210million acquisition of KuDOS by AstraZeneca.
• Microscience Holdings PLC.  Acting for Microscience on the sale of Microscience Limited., a privately-held vaccine company primarily involved in the research and development of innovative, proprietary vaccines and immunotherapeutics, to U.S.-based Emergent BioSolutions Inc.   
• Puma Unified Communications Limited.  Advising UK-based Puma and its shareholders in connection with its sale to California-based j2 Global Communications, Inc.
• Thomson S.A.  Advising Thomson in its $2.065 billion acquisition of Technicolor from Carlton Communications PLC.
• Unique Digital Marketing Limited. Acting for the selling shareholders of Unique Digital Marketing Limited (a digital media advertising agency) on the sale of Unique to Syzygy AG.
• Weatherly International. Advising Weatherly International on the transfer of assets, which included mining leases and licenses, to Forsys Metals Corp. The total value of the transaction is in excess of $10 million.
• Weatherly International.  Advising Weatherly on a placing, reverse takeover of Ongopolo Mining and Processing Company and admission to AIM.
• Weatherly International.  Advising Weatherly on a share placing and related acquisition of WM Exploration Ltd.
• Zone Vision Networks Limited.  Advising Zone Vision, a subsidiary of chellomedia, on the acquisition of Encore International, Liberty Media Corporation’s subsidiary in China.