Kenton J. King is the partner in charge of Skadden’s offices in Palo Alto and San Francisco. He is global co-head of the firmwide Corporate Transactions practices and serves on the firm’s top governing body, the Policy Committee. Mr. King represents clients in a broad range of corporate and securities law matters, including corporate governance, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, investment and capital markets transactions, and restructurings.
In the United States, Mr. King concentrates on corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, as well as equity financing, licensing and strategic partnering transactions in the information technology and biotechnology industries. He has been involved in three of the world’s five largest technology deals, including representing Yahoo! Inc. in Microsoft Corporation’s unsolicited $45 billion acquisition proposal; Ascend Communications, Inc. in its $20 billion acquisition by Lucent Technologies, Inc.; and Compaq Computer Corporation in its $25 billion merger with Hewlett-Packard Company.
On the international front, Mr. King has represented numerous U.S. and Japanese corporations in connection with cross-border transactions. He also has advised U.S. corporations on acquisitions and joint ventures in multiple jurisdictions in Europe and Asia.
He was resident in the Tokyo office of Skadden, Arps from December 1990 to December 1991 and worked for several years in the Tokyo headquarters of one of Japan’s largest integrated trading companies.
Mr. King represented clients on various aspects of federal lending, capital and liquidity support programs, including those established pursuant to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.
Mr. King was named by California Lawyer as one of the top corporate and M&A lawyers in the state (in a group of only nine attorneys listed), and the Daily Journal has named him to its list of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in California.” Mr. King has been selected for inclusion in the Practical Law Company’s Which Lawyer publication, where he was recommended for both Corporate/M&A and Private Equity. He also has been recognized in Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business; Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business; Global Counsel 3000 magazine; The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers; The Best Lawyers in America; and the PLC Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions Handbook.
To view a list of Mr. King's representative transactions, please click here.
