Retail

Cravath represented the underwriters in connection with the $850 million registered senior notes offering of The Sherwin‑Williams Company, a global leader in the manufacture, development, distribution and sale of paint, coatings and related products to professional, industrial, commercial and retail customers. The transaction closed on August 9, 2024.

Cravath represented the administrative agent, joint lead arranger and joint bookrunner in connection with $14.5 billion of credit facilities made available to The Home Depot, Inc., the world’s largest home improvement retailer, as part of the financing transactions undertaken in connection with the pending acquisition of SRS Distribution Inc. The facilities consisted of a $10 billion revolving credit facility, $3.5 billion 364‑day revolving credit facility and $1.0 billion three‑year revolving credit facility. The transaction closed on May 7, 2024.

Cravath, together with Hengeler Mueller, represented Douglas AG in connection with its €890 million initial public offering of ordinary bearer shares. The DOUGLAS Group is a leading omnichannel premium beauty destination in Europe. The shares were listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Prime Standard). The transaction closed on March 25, 2024.

Cravath represented Booking Holdings Inc. in connection with its €2.75 billion registered senior notes offering. Booking Holdings Inc. is a leading provider of online travel and travel‑related reservation and search services. The transaction closed on March 1, 2024.

On November 14, 2023, engineering and technology company Technip Energies announced the launch of Reju, a company focused on PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) recycling of textiles that will leverage technology co‑developed in a joint venture with IBM and Under Armour. IBM, Under Armour and Technip Energies have been working together since 2021 to bring VolCat, an IBM technology for rejuvenating waste PET packaging and polyester, to an industrial scale. VolCat allows the selective breakdown of polymers which IBM first applied to technologies like semiconductor lithography and microelectronics packaging, which Reju intends to use to address hard‑to‑recycle polyester garments and PET packaging lost to the waste stream. Cravath is representing IBM in connection with the joint venture and matters relating to the establishment of Reju.

On July 29, 2024, Cravath partner G.J. Ligelis Jr. was featured in Bloomberg Law’s “They’ve Got Next: 40 Under 40” series, which recognizes “the accomplishments of stellar young lawyers nationwide,” based on their work on key client matters, assumption of leadership roles, pro bono commitments and more. In a Q&A, G.J. described his work on transformative deals, including for client AerCap in its $30 billion acquisition of GE Capital Aviation Services, the largest M&A deal in the history of the aircraft leasing industry. G.J. also highlighted Just Eat Takeaway.com’s $7.3 billion combination with Grubhub as a matter in which he was “particularly proud of” his role, having led the Cravath team representing Just Eat Takeaway.com on M&A matters during his third year as partner. G.J. emphasized the importance of teamwork in providing clients with seamless legal advice and praised the quality of the Firm’s attorneys across practice groups: “Nothing is more rewarding than introducing an M&A client to one of my litigation or investigations partners, capital markets partners or antitrust/regulatory partners and watching my client’s reaction as they realize they get the exact same level of quality, dedication, and personal touch across every area of Cravath.”

On May 31, 2024, Cravath partner Paul H. Zumbro participated in Continuing Legal Education Weekend 2024, a conference hosted by The Association of Commercial Finance Attorneys from May 31‑June 2, 2024, in Manchester, VT. Paul spoke on a panel entitled “Annual Bankruptcy Update,” which reviewed recent developments in bankruptcy law of interest to lenders. Paul spoke about restructuring support agreements and “lockup” agreements; avoidance action as collateral; Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code; third party releases; and valuation considerations for secured lenders in retail bankruptcy cases.

Between July 28 and August 11, 2023, Cravath advised on nine announced deals, including seven deals in a span of three business days. Cravath is representing:

On March 8, 2023, Cravath partner Noah Joshua Phillips participated in the 2023 Retail Law Summit, which was hosted virtually by the National Retail Federation from March 7‑9, 2023. Noah spoke on a panel entitled “Playing by the Rules: How the FTC is Impacting Retailers,” which reviewed the biggest issues facing the FTC and what retailers should be aware of relating to enforcement, antitrust and future regulations.