DLA Piper, Roschier adviced Philip Morris for Swedish Match
A global firm with more than 20 locations, Mannheimer Swartling and KANTER advise clients
DLA Piper, Roschier adviced Philip Morris for Swedish Match
A global firm with more than 20 locations, Mannheimer Swartling and KANTER advise clients
The law firm DLA Piper and Roschier is advising Philip Morris Holland Holdings, a subsidiary of Phillip Morris International, on its $16 billion recommended public offer to the shareholders of Swedish Match.
Philip Morris's purchase of the Stockholm-based company, which makes a variety of smoke-free products and announced in 2021 that it would cease to manufacture all cigarettes, is the largest in the tobacco giant's history and reflects a long-term strategy of diversifying its portfolio.
Stockholm-based independent firm KANTER advices Swedish Match. Local heavyweight Mannheimer Swartling serves as its legal counsel. The financial adviser to the company, Goldman Sachs, is being advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.
Team members from DLA Piper advising on the transaction in London include corporate partners Tracey Renshaw and Tom Heylon, the managing partner of the London office, as well as senior associates Sarah Riley and Isabella Gee and associates Freddie De Boise and Kirsty Underhill.
Stasia Kelly, partner and executive director of client relations; Kathleen Ruhland, global co-chair and US chair of the firm's corporate practice; Jonathan Klein, chair of the US M&A practice and Sanjay Shirodkar, co-chair of the firm's public company and corporate governance practice, are also involved with the deal in the US. Associates Jenna Stewart and Brian Wohlberg are working on the deal with the partners.
More than 20 teams from DLA Piper's international offices are involved in the transaction, according to the firm. Swedish law firm Roschier acted as the transaction's counsel.
Kelly stated: "Our ability to work as a global team was central to the successful completion of this transaction. Since Swedish Match has a large number of US shareholders, it was very important to work closely with PMI regarding their participation in the offer."
Philip Morris employed the firm in the past to advise it on the acquisitions of asthma inhaler producer Vectura and oral drug delivery specialist Fertin Pharma, both of which closed late last year as part of the company's attempt to advance its position in the race against Big Tobacco.
The Roschier team includes partners Jens Bengtsso, Malin Leffler, Ola Sandersson, Veronica Stiller, Björn Johansson Heigis, Kristian Hugmark, and Jenny Welander Wadström as well as a team of associates.
Since 2008, Philip Morris has invested more than $9 billion in the research, development and commercialization of its smoke-free products, with the aim of becoming a smoke-free company by 2025. Bloomberg reports that the company generated nearly a third of its net revenues from smoke-free products in 2021, compared to zero in 2015.