Insurance mega-merger involves top-tier firms in the US, UK, and Ireland
Six top-tier law firms in the US, UK, and Ireland are working on the blockbuster combination of Aon and Willis Towers Watson (WTW).
The insurance mega-merger will create a global company with implied combined equity value of US$80bn. The all-share deal will result in Aon shareholders owning approximately 63% and WTW shareholders owning about 37% of the combined company.
Latham & Watkins, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and Arthur Cox are advising Aon on the deal. Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; and Matheson are acting for WTW.
The Latham & Watkins team is led by partners Charles Ruck and Bradley Faris. It also included partners Daniel Rees, Marc Williamson, Michael Egge, Lars Kjølbye, Héctor Armengod, Jeffrey Tochner, Christopher Lueking, Benjamin Stern, Nicholas DeNovio, Sean Finn, Laurence Stein, Bradd Williamson, Julie Crisp, Noah Weiss, Les Carnegie, James Brandt, and Kevin McDonough. Counsels Manasi Bhattacharyya, Cindy Caillavet, Annie Froehlich, and Rachel Alpert also advised.
The Freshfields team is led by partners Julian Long, Martin McElwee, Andrew Murphy, and James Smethurst.
The Arthur Cox team is led by partner Cian McCourt. It also includes partners Brian O’Gorman, Fintan Clancy, Ailish Finnerty and Stephen Hegarty.
The Weil team is led by partner Michael Aiello. It also includes partners Matthew Gilroy, David Avery-Gee, Amanda Fenster, Joe Pari, Devon Bodoh, Jenny Doak, Paul Wessel, Amy Rubin, Daniel Dokos, Vynessa Nemunaitis, Corey Chivers, Karen Ballack, Jeffrey Perry, and Megan Granger. Counsel Caroline Geiger also advised.
The Skadden team includes New York M&A partners Joseph Coco, Todd Freed, and Blair Thetford.
The Matheson’s team is led by partners David Fitzgibbon, David Jones, and Tim Scanlon.
Aon's financial adviser is Credit Suisse, while WTW’s financial adviser is Goldman Sachs.
