Milbank Advises on Completion of Historic NYSE Euronext - AMEX Combination
NEW YORK, October 1, 2008 – Transatlantic exchange NYSE Euronext completed its acquisition of the American Stock Exchange (“AMEX”) in a transaction valued at $260 million, plus the net proceeds of the expected sale of AMEX’s lower Manhattan headquarters. The strategic transaction combined NYSE Euronext, the world’s largest and most diverse exchange group with its century-long rival AMEX. The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, led by partners Roland Hlawaty and John Franchini of the M&A Group and Robert W. Mullen, Jr. and James H. Ball, Jr. of the Global Securities Group, represented AMEX in the transaction.
In addition to M&A partners Hlawaty and Franchini and Global Securities partners Mullen and Ball, the Milbank team advising AMEX included partners Dale Ponikvar, Paul Wessel (tax/benefits) and Alan Stone (Delaware law issues) and associates Gabrielle Haddad and Jihay Ellie Kwack, with additional assistance from associates Drew Batkin, Victoria Zhu, and Jessica Zhou.
About the Transaction
The combination will further improve NYSE Euronext’s competitive position in U.S. options, exchange traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds, structured products and cash equities. AMEX customers will have more products and services available to them and the advantage of leading-edge technology.
Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP provided legal counsel to the board of the parent company of AMEX. Lehman Brothers acted as financial advisor and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz acted as legal advisor to NYSE Euronext.
About Milbank
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a preeminent global law firm that for more than 140 years has provided innovative legal solutions in many of the world’s largest, most complex, “first-ever” corporate transactions and litigation. Our transactional expertise includes capital markets, corporate finance and transactions, project finance, acquisition finance, and other major fields of law practice. Milbank litigation teams resolve disputes involving mergers and acquisitions, proxy battles, financings and securities offerings, intellectual property, white collar crime, and corporate restructurings, among others. Our clients range from prominent multinational financial, industrial and commercial enterprises to governments, institutions and individuals. The Firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, DC.