Latham & Watkins has advised Avago Technologies Ltd on its agreement to buy Broadcom Corp for $37 billion, with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom advising the seller.
According to Reuters, this is the largest merger of chipmakers ever, turning a lesser known company run by a ferocious dealmaker into one of the biggest industry players.
The Latham & Watkins team was led by partners Christopher "Kit" Kaufman, Anthony Richmond and Luke Bergstrom, with assistance from partners Anthony Klein, James Metz, William McGlone, David Raab, Michelle Kelban, Karl Karg Jennifer Van Driesen and Manu Gayatrinath.
Broadcom co-founder Henry Nicholas was advised by a Morrison & Forester team led by partner Robert S. Townsend.
Palo Alto partners Leif King and Kenton King led the Skadden team that represented Broadcom.
Avago, which serves the wireless and industrial markets, is offering Broadcom shareholders $17 billion in cash and Avago shares valued at $20 billion.
Broadcom is best known for its connectivity chips, which are used widely in smartphones made by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.
The deal is the biggest so far by Avago Chief Executive Hock Tan, who has developed a small chipmaker into a $36 billion company through acquisitions since taking the helm nine years ago.
Tan, a serial deal-maker, has trimmed Avago's portfolio by divesting units while bulking up in faster-growing areas.
The combined company, to be based in Singapore and known as Broadcom, will be the third-largest U.S. semiconductor maker by revenue, behind Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc. The merger is the industry's second megadeal this year and is unlikely to be the last, analysts said.
