January 21, 2025

Tullio Corradini

Trusted Legal Source

JetBlue’s Spirit Deal Is a Win for Shearman & Sterling Firm (2)

JetBlue’s Spirit Deal Is a Win for Shearman & Sterling Firm (2)

JetBlue Airways Corp.’s deal to buy Spirit Airways is a acquire for Shearman & Sterling, the Large Law business that has been advising the corporation in its bid to wrestle Spirit away from competitor Frontier Airlines.

JetBlue and Spirit on Thursday announced the $3.8 billion acquisition deal, which came considerably less than a day soon after Frontier and Spirit known as of their planned tie up. JetBlue muddied the waters for the latter deal in Could by launching a hostile takeover bid.

The dueling strategies have fueled months of get the job done for a half dozen big legislation corporations throughout a slump in offer exercise.

Established in 1873 and recognised for representing consumers which includes the Rockefellers, Henry Ford and Jay Gould, Shearman & Sterling’s get the job done for JetBlue publicly commenced early in the 12 months and provided a substantial staff of M&A, antitrust, money marketplaces, tax, and other attorneys. The crew was led by companions Daniel Litowitz, Derrick Lott, Jessica Delbaum, and Doreen Lilienfeld.

Latham & Watkins represented Frontier in the original deal to purchase Spirit, unveiled in February at a selling price of $2.9 billion. Latham’s team was led by Bay Place partners Mark Bekheit and Tony Richmond, according to a organization announcement.

Debevoise & Plimpton encouraged Spirit through the prolonged procedure, which began with Spirit rebuffing JetBlue’s first provide above antitrust scrutiny problems. Company associates Gregory Gooding and William Regner led Debevoise’s team on the primary transaction with Frontier.

Paul Weiss Wharton Rifkind & Garrison is also advising Spirit in the deal introduced on Thursday. The firm has been advising on antitrust elements of both equally transactions, led by Andrew Finch, who formerly served as a high-rating formal in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is representing Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC as financial advisor to Spirit. Its workforce features associates Alexandra McCormack, Allison Schneirov, Brett Fleisher and associate Gurjot Kaur.

JetBlue turned through the antitrust battle to Muger Tolles & Olson lover Glenn Pomerantz, who explained a Spirit-JetBlue deal would go Justice Section and courtroom scrutiny. That garnered a rebuke from Frontier, which referred to as Pomerantz’s video testimony “choreographed” and advised Spirit that JetBlue “was not telling you the truth.”