Akin Gump Wins Two M&A Advisor Awards
Contact:
(Washington, D.C.) - At a ceremony in New York on December 11, 2007, industry publication The M&A Advisor recognized Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as “Law Firm of the Year,” for the second consecutive year, and also named MarkWest Energy Partners LP’s acquisition of MarkWest Hydrocarbon Inc., in which the firm played an advisory role, as “Energy Deal of the Year.” Winners were selected by a panel of independent experts drawn from the ranks of private-equity firms, law firms, consultants, turnaround managers and business school deans, who judged the finalists based on the impact of accomplished transactions on the middle-market.
J. Kenneth Menges Jr., head of Akin Gump’s corporate finance mergers and acquisitions practice, said, “As our clients continue to thrive in the marketplace, we are pleased to partner with them on sophisticated transactions and provide the strategic guidance that is integral to their success.”
Akin Gump was recognized for its impressive success rate in aggressively closing deals. The firm regularly represents mid-cap and large-cap public companies in complex M&A transactions, and, over the last 12 months, completed 74 middle-market M&A transactions.
The MarkWest deal – in which Denver-based midstream natural gas MLP MarkWest Energy Partners bought its public parent company, MarkWest Hydrocarbon Inc., for $734 million – was the first of its kind in a year characterized by frenetic activity in the Master Limited Partnership sector of the energy industry. The transaction eliminated incentive distribution rights, significantly reducing the future cost of equity capital; streamlined the corporate structure; and reduced the costly duplication of services required to maintain two public companies, creating greater long-term value for the company’s equity holders and one of the lowest costs of capital in the MLP industry. Akin Gump represented the deal committee of the board of directors of MarkWest Hydrocarbon as it negotiated between multiple parties to come to an agreement of terms with stakeholders.
Founded in 1945, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a leading international law firm, numbers more than 1,000 lawyers and advisors in 14 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.
# # #