Skadden secured the dismissal of a putative class action against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) brought by two former students who attended UNC on athletic scholarships and now allege the university breached its contract and duties with student-athletes because they purportedly were denied a high-quality education and directed to low-quality courses while attending the school.

Skadden won a motion to dismiss an amended putative securities class action complaint brought against clients El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (EPL), Trimaran Capital Partners and other individual defendants.  

Skadden secured yet another dismissal in a series of similar class actions filed against client AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company. The putative class action alleged that AXA Equitable breached its contractual duties to variable annuity holders by implementing a volatility management strategy in certain investment portfolios. The complaint claimed that the company's purported omissions in regulatory filings with New York's Department of Financial Services breached certain terms of the plaintiff's variable annuity contract.

The U.S. Supreme Court granted relief to a pro bono client, Texas death row inmate Bobby Moore, who was sentenced to death for a 1980 murder.

Skadden advised National CinemaChain LLC on its $120 million sale of the largest Russian cinema chain, Cinema Park, to entities affiliated with A

Skadden is advising Parrot in connection with the implementation of a strategic and capital partnership between Faurecia and its subsidiary Parrot Automotive.

Skadden is representing chemical company Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd. in its acquisition of Sirrus, Inc., a U.S.-based advanced reactive technology platform monomer company.

Skadden is advising the venture investment arm of gumi Inc. on its establishment of Nordic VR Startups, a joint venture with Nordisk Film A/S, in which gumi will hold a 60 percent majority stake.

On behalf of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Skadden secured European Union approval for its $130 billion merger with The Dow Chemical Company.

On behalf of China-based AirMedia Group, Inc. and its CFO, Richard Wu, Skadden secured the complete dismissal of a securities class action complaint.

We were named International Arbitration Team of the Year at the 2017 Legal Business Awards on March 23 in London.

Skadden is advising Sealed Air Corporation on its $3.2 billion carve-out sale to Bain Capital Private Equity of its Diversey Care division and the food hygiene and cleaning business within its Food Care division.

Skadden is advising the French state, Agence des Participations de l'Etat, in connection with the €1.92 billion sale of its interest in Peugeot S.A., a Euronext Paris-listed car manufacturer, to Bpifrance, a French sovereign fund jointly owned by the state and the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.

Skadden is pleased to announce that Jonathan L. Marcus, former general counsel for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has joined the firm's Derivatives Group as of counsel in the Washington, D.C. office. His practice will focus on financial services regulatory and legislative advice, as well as civil and appellate litigation and government investigatory matters.

International technology, media and telecoms law firm Olswang has advised venture capital firms SR One Ltd and Longwood Fund III LP for the first time, on their Series B round of investment of Pulmocide Limited, a biotech developing two treatments for deadly viral and fungal lung infections.

The $30 million (£24 million) cash injection is Pulmocide's second, having already secured $17 million in an initial fundraising round. In addition to SR One and Longwood Fund, the fresh funds come from Pulmocide's existing backers including venture capital firm SV Life Sciences, J&J DC, the venture capital arm of Johnson & Johnson, Touchstone Innovations and F-prime, the venture capital arm of Fidelity.

Olswang Corporate Partner Niall McAlister commented: "It was a pleasure to advise SR One and Longwood Fund III on their investment in Pulmocide. This significant investment follows Pulmocide's strong track record of clinical success and these monies will go a long way to developing two critical treatments currently being developed – one for babies with Respiratory Syncytial Virus and the other for fungal infection Aspergillosis." 

Niall McAlister led the transaction along with IP Partner and Head of Life Sciences Robert Stephen, Corporate Senior Associate Kate Blumhof, IP Associate Hemma Lad, Share Schemes Legal Director Catherine Merry and Trainee Alex Lowe.

Read more about Olswang’s international legal practice on the firm’s website.

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According to statistics from Lex Machina, Skadden served as defense counsel in more federal securities cases in the U.S. from 2009 to 2016 than any other firm.

Skadden secured approval for oil-and-gas operator Triangle USA Petroleum Corp.'s reorganization plan at a hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in Wilmington.

Skadden is advising Citigroup in connection with Wirecard AG's purchase of the customer portfolio of Citi's merchant acquiring business in 11 Asia Pacific markets.

Skadden is advising PIK Group, Russia's leading residential real estate developer, on its $255 million cash tender offer for global depositary receipts listed on the London Stock Exchange and the subsequent cancellation of its U.K. listing.

International technology, media and telecoms law firm Olswang has advised global music streaming giant Spotify on its acquisition of Sonalytic, the UK-based makers of audio detection technology that identifies songs, mixed content and audio clips.

Sonalytic's technology will help improve Spotify's personalised playlists, match songs with compositions and improve Spotify's publishing data system.

Olswang advised Spotify on all areas of the transaction, deploying specialist technology experts from a range of practice areas.

Peter Grandelius, Head of Corporate Legal, Spotify, commented: "We were glad to have Olswang's support on this strategic acquisition, which will help Spotify improve our unique music ecosystem. The team at Olswang delivered committed, integrated and specialised advice under a tight timeframe. We look forward to working with them in the future."

Olswang Corporate Partner Louis Glass, who led the transaction for the firm, commented: "We loved working with the Spotify team on this exciting transaction and in particular with Peter and his legal colleague Nicolina Kindblom. As avid users of Spotify, we're keen to see how Sonalytic's audio feature detection will advance Spotify's offering."


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