Working for the Weekend: The Lawyers on the Bear/J.P. Morgan Deal

[WSJ_law_blog]

When the Law Blog heard last night that Bear Stearns, the deflated investment bank that was torn to pieces by the mortgage crisis, had agreed to be sold to J.P. Morgan Chase for a measly two buck a share, a couple thoughts came to mind. The first was, “Argh, we should’ve pooled our resources and made a topping bid.” The second was, “Who were the lawyers?”

For those LB readers whose eyes tend to move swiftly past all M&A-related headlines, here’s some background info on, and a summary of, today’s jaw-dropping news on Wall Street. In January, Bear was worth about $20 billion. On Friday — yes, the Friday that was three days ago — Bear had a stock-market value of about $3.5 billion. Last night, it sold for $236 million — a price that, its advisors apparently thought, was preferable to bankruptcy. The Law Blog will be interested to see whether shareholders agree. (Here are stories from the WSJ, the NYT, and the FT.)

If Bear does face shareholder suits, at least it can say it didn’t scrimp on lawyers. Representing Bear was S&C’s Rodgin Cohen, the lawyer who stood at the center of January’s slew of sovereign wealth fund deals; Cadwalader’s Dennis Block, the only lawyer we know who gets to the office as early as the Law Blog; and Skadden’s Peter Atkins.

J.P. Morgan was counseled by Wachtell Lipton’s Ed Herlihy and Nick Demmo.
Representing Lazard, as financial advisor to Bear, were Cravath partners B. Robbins Kiessling, Richard Levin, Erik R. Tavzel and associate Minh Van Ngo.

[olive]

When the Law Blog heard last night that Bear Stearns, the deflated investment bank that was torn to pieces by the mortgage crisis, had agreed to be sold to J.P. Morgan Chase for a measly two buck a share, a couple thoughts came to mind. The first was, “Argh, we should’ve pooled our resources and made a topping bid.” The second was, “Who were the lawyers?”
For those LB readers whose eyes tend to move swiftly past all M&A-related headlines, here’s some background info on, and a summary of, today’s jaw-dropping news on Wall Street. In January, Bear was worth about $20 billion. On Friday — yes, the Friday that was three days ago — Bear had a stock-market value of about $3.5 billion. Last night, it sold for $236 million — a price that, its advisors apparently thought