LONDON, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, a pre-eminent
 international law firm, today announced that one of the UK's leading
 mergers and acquisitions lawyers, Tim Emmerson, has been elected a partner
 of the firm and will join its London office during the first quarter of
 2007.
     A leading UK corporate lawyer, Mr. Emmerson will provide English law
 advice primarily in the M&A, private equity and equity capital markets
 areas. Mr. Emmerson has been a partner in the London office of Milbank,
 Tweed, Hadley and McCloy LLP since 2003, and prior to that was a partner at
 Freshfields for nine years. His arrival further strengthens Sullivan &
 Cromwell's leading M&A practice in Europe, as well as its English law
 practice in London, which will now comprise five partners, including
 Vanessa Blackmore, another leading UK corporate lawyer who joined the firm
 in the summer of 2006.
     Mr. Emmerson has worked on many major M&A and private equity
 transactions, as well as some of the London market's largest equity
 offerings, including privatizations. He has advised and represented
 companies, financial sponsors, investment banks and other financial
 institutions on transactional, regulatory and reputational issues.
     Mr. Emmerson will be resident in Sullivan & Cromwell's London office,
 the firm's largest office outside New York, and joins its closely
 integrated Europe-based team of more than 110 lawyers located in offices in
 London, Paris and Frankfurt. Upon Mr. Emmerson's arrival, Sullivan &
 Cromwell will have 31 partners in Europe, who among them are engaged in the
 practice of English, French, German, US and EU law.
     Rodgin Cohen, chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell, said, "We are delighted
 that Tim Emmerson, one of the UK's best known and most highly respected M&A
 lawyers, is joining us as a partner. Sullivan & Cromwell has consistently
 ranked among the top M&A firms in Europe and globally, and Tim will
 significantly strengthen our ability to serve our clients in Europe and
 elsewhere."
     William Plapinger, coordinator of Sullivan & Cromwell's European
 offices and managing partner of the firm's London office, added, "Tim's
 arrival is the latest in a series of initiatives we have taken in London,
 Paris and Frankfurt in recent years to strengthen our capabilities to serve
 our clients in Europe and worldwide, and demonstrates once again our
 commitment to Europe, which has long been part of our core practice. The
 quality and experience of our English, French, German, US and EU lawyers
 enable us to provide to our clients truly integrated legal advice."
     Richard Morrissey, head of Sullivan & Cromwell's European M&A and
 private equity practice, commented, "Tim's addition to our already superb
 pan-European M&A and private equity team further enhances our ability to
 provide the highly sophisticated level of advice on the most complex local
 and global M&A and private equity matters that is demanded by our
 corporate, financial sponsor and investment banking clients."
     The firm has consistently ranked at the very top among law firms
 involved in worldwide M&A transactions. Globally, Sullivan & Cromwell leads
 the M&A league tables, ranking first by value among law firms representing
 principals in announced transactions in 2006 (as was also the case in 2005
 and 2004), according to data from Bloomberg and Dealogic. The firm's record
 in 2006 includes acting in the three largest announced transactions
 worldwide, in five of the global top 10 transactions, and in the largest
 announced transaction in each of Europe and the United States.
     Sullivan & Cromwell's global strategy is to be the leading
 international law firm in providing value-added legal services, advising
 top business enterprises on the most novel, complex and economically
 significant transactions. The firm has deep roots in Europe and is
 committed to further developing its European capabilities in response to
 the needs of its clients. Sullivan & Cromwell has employed a measured
 strategy of lateral hiring of partners with domestic law capabilities in
 France, Germany and the United Kingdom, coupled with continuous efforts to
 grow these local law practices organically.
     Founded in 1879, Sullivan & Cromwell has almost 700 lawyers worldwide,
 including 165 partners. It opened its offices in London in 1972 and, in
 Europe, also has offices in Frankfurt and Paris. The firm also has offices
 in the United States (New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Palo
 Alto), Asia (Tokyo, Hong Kong and Beijing) and Australia (Melbourne and
 Sydney).
     NOTES FOR EDITORS
     TIM EMMERSON
     Tim Emmerson, 52, is widely regarded as one of the most highly
 respected corporate lawyers in the UK, with a broad practice covering all
 areas of M&A, including private equity and public takeovers, and equity
 capital markets, as well as certain areas of finance and infrastructure
 projects. He has been a partner in the London office of Milbank, Tweed,
 Hadley & McCloy LLP since May 2003, and was a partner at Freshfields for
 nine years prior to that. Mr. Emmerson has worked on many of the most
 significant M&A and private equity transactions in the UK and some of the
 London market's largest equity capital markets transactions, including
 privatizations. He has advised and represented companies, financial
 sponsors, investment banks and other financial institutions on
 transactional, regulatory and reputational issues.
     M&A deals in recent years on which Mr. Emmerson has played a prominent
 role include offers for ITV plc, the London Stock Exchange, Marks & Spencer
 and BAA, and Macquarie's acquisition of the London Bus business of
 Stagecoach and United Business Media's sale of SDN to ITV.
     Mr. Emmerson graduated from the University of Sussex with First Class
 Honors, following which he obtained a Class A MA in EU Law from the College
 of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. He studied for his Law Society Examinations
 at Bristol. He is also fluent in French.
     SULLIVAN & CROMWELL IN THE UK AND EUROPE
     Tim Emmerson's arrival further strengthens the firm's English law
 practice, which currently includes partners Vanessa Blackmore (who joined
 Sullivan & Cromwell in July 2006), Craig Jones, Jamie Logie and newly
 elected partner Juan Rodriguez, who specializes in EC competition law
 matters. In addition to M&A and private equity, the firm's
 English-qualified lawyers advise on project, acquisition and leveraged
 finance, equity and debt capital markets, as well as EC competition law
 matters. The combined US and UK resources of the London office currently
 comprise almost 70 lawyers, including 20 partners, one Senior Counsel, two
 European Counsel and 45 associates.
     Today, more than 110 Europe-based lawyers in London, Paris and
 Frankfurt advise clients with respect to English, French, German, US and EU
 law, including EC competition law matters. The European practice
 encompasses corporate finance (debt and equity), M&A and private equity, EU
 competition and US antitrust law, project finance and development,
 acquisition and leveraged finance, real estate, US litigation, and US and
 French tax.
     M&A
     Globally, Sullivan & Cromwell consistently leads the M&A league tables,
 ranking first by value among law firms representing principals in announced
 transactions in 2006 (as was also the case in 2005 and 2004), according to
 data from Bloomberg and Dealogic. The firm's record in 2006 includes acting
 in the three largest announced transactions worldwide, in five of the
 global top 10 transactions, and in the largest announced transaction in
 each of Europe and the United States.
     European highlights in 2006 include the pending $66.7 billion bid by
 E.ON for Endesa (representing Endesa) - the largest announced European M&A
 transaction of 2006; the pending $55.7 billion acquisition of Gaz de France
 by Suez (representing the financial advisor to GDF); the pending $29
 billion acquisition of Norsk Hydro's oil and gas business by Statoil
 (representing Statoil); the $11.3 billion acquisition of Winterthur by AXA
 (representing AXA); the $10.3 billion sale of Philips' semiconductors
 business, NXP, to a private equity consortium (representing Philips); the
 $5.4 billion acquisition of KarstadtQuelle by Whitehall Street Real Estate
 Fund (representing Whitehall); the $4.1 billion sale to KKR of a 54% stake
 in PagesJaunes (representing seller France Telecom); and many others.
     In the UK, stand-out transactions of 2006 include Hilton Hotels'
 acquisition of Hilton Group's lodging business (representing Hilton
 Hotels), NTL's acquisition of Telewest (representing Telewest),
 Telefonica's acquisition of O2 (representing the financial advisor to
 Telefonica), and Iberdrola's pending bid for Scottish Power (representing
 Scottish Power).
     In the US, significant recent transactions of the past year include the
 $86 billion acquisition of BellSouth by AT&T, the $31.6 billion sale of HCA
 to an investor group, the $25.5 billion acquisition of Golden West
 Financial by Wachovia, the $17.4 billion sale of Albertson's to an investor
 consortium, the pending $16.5 billion merger of Bank of New York and Mellon
 Financial, and the $10.5 billion merger of the New York Stock Exchange and
 Archipelago to form NYSE Group, among many others.
     CAPITAL MARKETS
     Sullivan & Cromwell is a leading law firm in international securities
 offerings and financings on both a worldwide and European basis. During the
 five-year period through 2005, the firm was involved in transactions
 representing almost 30% of the aggregate dollar value of all European SEC-
 registered and Rule 144A transactions, nearly double the market share of
 the second ranking firm (based on Thomson ONE Banker data).
     In 2005 and 2006, Sullivan & Cromwell advised on a number of the
 highest profile European transactions, including numerous initial public
 offerings by issuers such as Hogg Robinson (UK); Smartrac, TomTom and Tele
 Atlas (Netherlands); Pro Logis European Properties (Luxembourg); Ability
 Group (Norway); EDF, Eutelsat and SANEF (France); Osterreichische Post
 (Austria); Demag Cranes, Klockner & Co, openBC, Paion, PATRIZIA Immobilien,
 Petrotec, Premiere, Symrise and Wacker Chemie (Germany); and Partners Group
 (Switzerland). In addition, the firm has advised on other equity offerings
 by Barclays and Standard Chartered (UK), AXA (France), Deutsche Post
 (Germany), TomTom (Netherlands) and Metrovacesa (Spain); and debt offerings
 by Vodafone (UK), Bank of Ireland (Ireland), Deutsche Telekom and KfW
 (Germany), KommunalKredit Austria (Austria), Eksportfinans (Norway),
 European Investment Bank (supranational), ING and NXP (Netherlands) and
 Telecom Italia (Italy), among others.
     Globally, according to The Wall Street Journal, Sullivan & Cromwell
 acted in the three largest, and four of the 10 largest, stock issues of
 2006: top- ranking ICBC's $22 billion offering; second-ranking Telstra
 Corporation's $11.9 billion offering: third-ranking Bank of China's $11.2
 billion offering; and sixth-ranking Sumitomo Mitsui Financial's $5.3
 billion offering.
     SULLIVAN & CROMWELL LLP AND ITS LONDON OFFICE
     Founded in New York in 1879, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP currently has
 almost 700 lawyers worldwide, including 165 partners. In addition to its
 three European offices in London, Paris and Frankfurt, the firm has offices
 in the United States (New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Palo Alto),
 Asia (Tokyo, Hong Kong and Beijing) and Australia (Melbourne and Sydney).
 The firm has more than 110 lawyers in Europe, of whom almost 70 are based
 in London, 30 in Paris and 18 in Frankfurt.
     Sullivan & Cromwell's London office was established in 1972 and is the
 firm's largest office outside New York. Since its founding, lawyers in the
 London office have been involved in many groundbreaking transactions, and
 serve clients in the UK and throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
 The office is notable for the breadth of its practice.
     Sullivan & Cromwell LLP is a registered limited liability partnership
 established under the laws of the State of New York. The personal liability
 of its partners is limited to the extent provided in such laws. Additional
 information is available at www.sullcrom.com.
 
 

SOURCE Sullivan & Cromwell LLP