The Real Winners in the Battle for ABN Amro

The takeover story of the week is the $100 billion contest for ABN Amro being fought between Barclays and a Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium comprising RBS, Fortis and Santander.  There is also the related sale of LaSalle Bank by ABN Amro to Bank of America for $21 billion.  Dealbreaker has a nice summary of today’s action on the deal here

But, while the battle swirls, let’s look at the real winners here:  the attorneys representing the parties as reported in part by Legal Week:

Royal Bank of Scotland:  Linklaters (Dutch, U.K. and U.S. law)

Fortis:   De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek (Dutch law), Wilkie, Farr & Gallagher (U.S. law)

Santander:  De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek (Dutch law), Slaughter & May (U.K. law)

ABN/Amro:  NautaDutilh (Dutch law), Allen & Overy (U.K. law), Stibbe (advising the bank’s supervisory board), and Davis Polk & Wardwell (U.S. law). Davis Polk is also advising ABN Amro on the sale of LaSalle Bank to Bank of America.

Barclays:  Clifford Chance (Dutch and U.K. law) and Sullivan & Cromwell (U.S. law).

Bank of America:  Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. 

It was a good week for Davis Polk in particular.  They, along with Freshfields, also advised AstraZeneca on its announced agreement to purchase MedImmune for $15.6 billion. MedImmune was represented by Dewey Ballantine. 

The list emphasizes the continued dominance of U.K. and U.S. law firms in the cross-border takeover market. And, of course, the list is wishful thinking, as the WSJ blogs today the actual real winners are the 16 investment banks involved who stand to earn approximately $275 million in fees.