Kirkland & Ellis LLP Represents Koor Industries in $2.4 Billion Agreement with ChemChina
A global Kirkland & Ellis M&A team, working together with Israeli law firm Goldfarb Levy, represented Koor Industries in its agreement for Makhteshim Agan Group to carry out a merger with a subsidiary of ChemChina, signed on January 8, 2011. The companies agreed that the public holdings, and 7 percent of the holdings held by Koor Industries Ltd., in Makhteshim, would be purchased by ChemChina, and Makhteshim would become a private company under joint ownership of ChemChina (60 percent) and Koor (40 percent).
Makhteshim's shares will be purchased at a price that reflects a value of the company of USD 2.4 billion. The deal is expected to close in the second or third quarter of 2011, subject to the fulfillment of various terms, including required approvals of the Chinese government authorities, which it is expected will take several months to obtain.
"Kirkland now has experienced big-deal lawyers in each major market, and we levered our unique globally integrated M&A platform to advise Koor in this complex cross-border deal with ChemChina," said Kirkland & Ellis partner David Fox.
The Kirkland team included partners David Fox (New York), Chuan Li (Shanghai), David Patrick Eich (Hong Kong), Jesse Sheley (Hong Kong), Pierre-Andre Dubois (London) and Ellen Jakovic (Washington, D.C.), associates Pierre-Luc Arsenault (Hong Kong) and Annabel Borg (London), and legal consultant Jing Li (Shanghai).
The Makhteshim Agan Group (TASE: MAIN) is the world leader in branded off-patent crop protection solution. The ChemChina Group is a leading Chinese state-owned enterprise in chemicals and agrochemicals.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP (www.kirkland.com) is a 1,500-attorney law firm representing global clients in complex corporate and tax, restructuring, litigation and dispute resolution/arbitration, and intellectual property and technology matters. The Firm has offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
