Since its founding in 1931, Weil Gotshal & Manges has grown to become one of the country’s leading firms in M&A, private equity and restructuring and insolvency. It has also physically grown to 15 offices across three continents. There are eight offices in the United States: Boston, Dallas, Houston, Miami, New York, Princeton, Silicon Valley and Washington DC. The New York office serves as the firm’s headquarters and is also its largest.
Focusses / specialisms
The firm is a market leader in M&A, private equity and restructuring and insolvency, but it is also well known for its work in the banking, structured finance and securitization and private equity funds practices. Overall it is a strong firm across all financial and corporate practices.
In regulatory financial services, the firm advises banking and financial institutions in matters related to acquisition and corporate compliance and governance. It also advises clients in monetary policies such the Volcker Rule, Dodd-Frank Act, National Bank Act and International Banking Act.
In banking, the firm acts on both the borrower and lender side in bridge loans, term loans, working capital facilities and credit facilities regarding acquisition financing, refinancing and DIP financing.
In capital markets, the firm advises issuers and underwriters alike in debt, equity and securitization related matters. In debt capital markets, the capital markets tea advises clients in investment grade and high yield bond offerings. On the equity side, the firm works on transactions related to tender offers, share offerings, secondary offerings and IPOs.
In structured finance and securitizations, the team advises clients in ABS offerings and CLOs. Many of these transactions on all sides of capital markets were used as a form of acquisition financing.
The M&A practice acts on the buy and sell side in high value strategic and private equity acquisitions.
The firm has a strong private equity practice that advises private equity firms in fund formations and acquisitions.
Additionally, the New York office has so much experience in the real estate industry that it has its own practice dedicated to advising clients related to development, financing and REITs in any matter regarding real estate. This includes acquisitions, management agreements, financing, development and related aspects of Chapter 11 proceedings.
Weil prides itself on its commitment to gender diversity, talent management and innovation. Most notably, it has an incredibly strong work-life balance as recognized through numerous accolades.
Key clients
Key clients for the firm include Citi, JP Morgan, Johnson & Johnson, Campbell Soup, Morgan Stanley, Brookfield Property REIT, Eli Lilly, Advent International, Ceridian HCM Holding, Guggenheim Securities, Atalaya Capital Management, Hertz, Genstar Capital, Brookfield Asset Management, Atlas Partners, Softbank, Willis Towers Watson and Total.
Research period review: 30th edition (2019/2020)
Over the research period, the banking team advised a mix of borrowers and lenders in high value acquisition financing and refinancing matters. It also worked on a couple of DIP financing matters related to larger Chapter 11 proceedings.
The debt capital markets saw a lot of investment grade bond issuances used for acquisition financing.
In equity capital markets, the team worked on mostly IPOs and secondary offerings.
The structured finance and securitization practice saw more ABS’, but also dealt with CLOs.
In M&A, the team continued to represent clients in high value acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures.
The private equity practice advised private equity firms in billion dollar fund formations as well as buy and sell side acquisitions.
In terms of lateral moves, the Houston office brought over private equity partner Jeff Malonson from King & Spalding. The New York office brought over real estate partner Evan Levy from Skadden.
Deal highlights: 30th edition (2019/2020)
Brookfield $13.2 billion acquisition of Johnson Controls’ Power Solutions
Brookfield Infrastructure Fund IV $20 billion fund formation
Capital One $9 billion acquisition of Walmart’s credit card portfolio
Ford Motor Company $16 billion financing
Hasbro $1 billion common share offering
Jack in the Box $1.3 billion ABS
Occidental Petroleum $13 billion fixed and floating rate bond offering
Client feedback: 30th edition (2019/2020)
Capital markets: structured finance and securitization
“High partner involvement. Well integrated across global offices. Strong associates.”
Investment funds
“Weil consistently demonstrates a deep and sincere commitment to client service. They treat our problems as their problems and work together with us as a team to solve them.”
M&A
“Excellent work ethic, efficient, great advice and execution.”
“I appreciate the small, consistent, dedicated core team. Very responsive and engaged.”
“The firm is collaborative, accessible and best in class. Single points of contact provide comprehensive advice in connection with issues that are practical and business efficient and thoughtful – facilitation is the focus.”
“Highly qualified legal professions who bring deep relevant experience in practice areas. Teams assigned are strong and appropriate for projects.”
“Very prompt turnaround, strong commercial acumen.”
“The Team at Weil are coordinated, available, practical and focused on delivering an end to end solution when issues arrive. We primarily deal with one key advisor in connection with an issue who coordinates with the Weil Team to provide coordinated and complete advice in connection with issues. They are best in class attorneys that make it a priority to learn and understand the business and its priorities to work effectively to help us achieve our goals.”
“Weil (particularly Craig Adas) makes a huge effort to know us well, to know what issues are most important to us when we acquire a company or engage in JV discussions, etc. Craig does an excellent job helping us focus on the issues that really matter and not wasting time on things that don't (he is not into winning deal points just to win). Weil's position in the market and deal volume also help us ensure we don't poison a deal by taking off market positions--they know the tech M&A market very well.”
Private equity
“Market leaders. Industry knowledge. Efficient team and service structure. Good at planning and strategy and making process efficient including working on tight deadlines.”
“Subject matter expertise, responsiveness, practical advice.”
Restructuring and insolvency
“Completeness of advice, legal actions, setting up negotiations and new financing.”
