On Tuesday, October 13, the world’s two largest beer companies agreed to a proposed $104 billion takeover of London-based SABMiller by industry leader AB InBev. The Merger would be third-largest in history if the deal is completed, and the combined brewer would command about 30% of the global beer market by volume and about 70%…
Category: Blog Articles
Stopping the Illicit Trade of Cultural Artifacts: Looking to the Diamond Trade for Guidance
The stolen antiquities trade is worth seven billion dollars.1 There is real concern in the antiquities industry that the Islamic State (“IS”), although publically destroying cultural artifacts in their possession, are also selling these goods to fund their initiatives.2 In February 2015, videos of IS militants surfaced on the Internet showing IS supporters destroying cultural…
Standing in the Way of Elon Musk’s Hyperloop
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, first unveiled his vision of Hyperloop in a 58-page white paper in 2013.1 The Hyperloop, the passenger capsule envisioned to run at 760 mph between Los Angeles and San Francisco, was introduced as an alternative to the $70 billion California high speed rail project, at only one…
In re Tribune and the Narrowing of “Safe Harbor” for Fraudulent Transfer Claims
The cases of In re Tribune Co. Fraudulent Conveyance Litig., 499 B.R. 310 (S.D.N.Y 2013) and In re Lyondell Chem. Co., 503 B.R. 348 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y 2014) have narrowed the bankruptcy code’s scope of “safe harbor” regarding fraudulent transfer claims and bolstered the general security of creditors looking to claw back proceeds from pre-bankruptcy LBO’s….
Made-in-America Clothing Retailer, American Apparel, Files For Bankruptcy
On October 5, 2015, the Los Angeles, California based American Apparel, Inc. (“Company”) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.1 The next day, on October 6, 2015, the Company announced that the staff of NYSE Regulation, Inc. determined to suspend trading immediately and commence proceedings to delist…
What You Need to Know About the DraftKings Data Leak (Part I)
An inadvertent leak of fantasy football-related data by an employee of a Daily Fantasy Sports (“DFS”) website has triggered a wave of public scrutiny and lawsuits that are likely to have a significant impact on the future of the industry. In this two-part blog post, I will explain Ethan Haskell’s data leak and its immediate…
ANHEUSER-BUSCH AND SABMILLER APPROACH A MERGER DEAL
After weeks of tense negotiations and a very public standoff between the two companies, Anheuser-Busch InBev has finally managed to convince SABMiller PLC to accept their takeover bid of $104.2 billion dollars (approximately $68 per share), meaning they are poised to “dominate much of the world’s beer market.”1 Negotiations stretched over weeks between officers of…
New Responses to New Recessions
During the Great Depression of the 1930’s nations isolated themselves from the global economy through protectionist trade policies. This led to a near halt in global trade and the world economy faded into chaos.1 Realizing that closing off national economies was responsible for a deeper and much more prolonged depression, in the post war-era the…
Regulation FD & Social Media: Part I — Background
Fifteen years ago, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission established Regulation FD, 17 C.F.R. § 243 – a rule intended to combat the practice of “selective disclosure” of key information to analysts or institutional investors before it is announced to the general public.1 Under Regulation FD, where an issuer “discloses material nonpublic information” to certain…
SEC Regulation of Public Marijuana-Related Companies
In 1996, the California legislature passed the Compassionate Use Act, allowing an individual to obtain a “caregivers license” to engage in the sale and distribution of marijuana to medically prescribed patients1. In the decades following, twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have set up systems for the sale and distribution of marijuana for medical…