Scott Simpson is co-head of Skadden’s Global Transactions Practice* and a member of the firm’s Policy Committee. He has been based in London since 1990 and before that practiced law in Skadden’s New York office throughout the 1980s. Mr. Simpson advises clients on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, including contested and hostile bids.
Mr. Simpson’s recent European M&A assignments have included representing Fresenius SE, in its agreement to acquire APP Pharmaceuticals Inc for US$5.6 billion; Basell Polyolefins in its US$22.2 billion acquisition of Lyondell Chemical Company; International Paper in its acquisition of a 50 percent equity interest in Ilim Holding, the largest forest products enterprise in Russia; and Tele Atlas N.V. in connection with an agreed takeover proposal from TomTom N.V. and an unsolicited takeover proposal from Garmin Ltd.
Mr. Simpson acted for Arcelor SA against an unsolicited US$22.8 billion bid from Mittal Steel NV, and in their subsequent US$33.8 billion merger in 2006. He also represented Mannesmann AG in the US$199 billion acquisition of Mannesmann by Vodafone AirTouch Plc in 1999-2000. This transaction, which began as a hostile takeover, remains the largest corporate acquisition to date.
Mr. Simpson represented Gucci in its successful defence against a hostile takeover attempt by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA in 1999, and in numerous acquisitions of European luxury goods companies, including its acquisition of Yves Saint Laurent. Mr. Simpson also advised Gucci and the company’s independent directors in connection with PPR’s 2004 successful public offer for all Gucci shares.
Mr. Simpson advised Westfield in its US$5 billion hostile takeover of Rodamco North America N.V. in 2001-2002. In 2004, he represented Westfield in its £2 billion acquisition of Duelguide plc, and in Westfield’s US$258 million acquisition of 75 percent interest in the Stratford City real estate development in London.
Mr. Simpson also advises clients in corporate finance transactions, including initial public offerings. His European finance assignments include his 2004 representation of the selling shareholders in the €4.85 billion initial global offering of Belgacom and related buyback of Belgacom shares, as well as its €5 billion restructuring.
He also has handled a number of significant privatisation transactions involving governments and state-owned companies throughout Europe and elsewhere, including Austria, Belgium, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Mr. Simpson lectures and participates in seminars on topics related to his practice, including those sponsored by the Practising Law Institute and the American Bar Association. He is an adjunct professor at Ohio State University’s Moritz School of Law and has been a guest lecturer at Harvard University and the Luxembourg University. He also has written and co-authored articles for, among other publications, The Business Lawyer.
Mr. Simpson was profiled in 1992 in The American Lawyer in connection with his representation of the Polish government, and featured by The American Lawyer in 2000 as one of 12 notable American transaction lawyers. His European M&A practice has been featured in The Financial Times in 2005 and The Wall Street Journal in 2006 and according to mergermarket data, Mr. Simpson consistently is ranked as a leading lawyer in European M&A transactions.
He is one of the world’s leading M&A lawyers, according to the Chambers and Partners Guides in the U.K., Europe and globally.
___________________
*The firm’s Global Transactions Practice encompasses the mergers and acquisitions, securities, corporate restructuring, real estate and intellectual property practices.
