Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and affiliates (Skadden) is a global leader among law firms involved in mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions. The transactional experience of Skaddens lawyers, the breadth of our practice and the geographical reach of our offices worldwide have allowed us to maintain our leadership position, representing a broad array of public and private companies, private equity firms and financial sponsors, investment banks, governmental entities, and other institutions and individuals in almost every type of M&A situation.

The firm ranked first in league tables published by Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters and mergermarket for announced 2014 global and U.S. M&A deals by value. We also were named Corporate/M&A Law Firm of the Year by Chambers Global 2014 and were one of only four firms ranked in the publications top tier for Global M&A. Skadden was one of seven firms to top Chambers USA 2014 s M&A Elite rankings. We were recognized, for the third consecutive year, as M&A Team of the Year at the 2014 IFLR Americas Awards, as well as at the 2012 IFLR Europe Awards. In 2013, the Financial Times ranked Skadden first in the country in its US Innovative Lawyers report, where we had the top ranked deal in the Corporate & Commercial category. We also were ranked in the top tier by IFLR1000 2014. U.S. News Best Lawyers Best Law Firms 2015 and named among Law360 s Mergers & Acquisitions Groups of 2014. For 14 consecutive years, Skadden has been named the top corporate law firm in the United States in Corporate Board Member magazines annual survey of Americas Best Corporate Law Firms (May 2014), which asked directors of publicly traded companies to select the firms they would most likely retain to handle a variety of corporate legal matters.

We recognize that every transaction, regardless of size, is important to our clients. While we advise many of the worlds largest companies, investment banks and other regular participants in the M&A market often on their most high-profile transactions Skadden also represents numerous smaller clients that are not regularly engaged in M&A transactions. Our lawyers strive to bring the same practical approach, creativity and commitment to excellence to each matter in which we are engaged.

The types of M&A matters in which Skadden lawyers engage cover the full spectrum of negotiated and contested situations, including:

• Advance preparation for prospective targets