Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is pleased to announce that Reed Brodsky has joined the firm’s New York office as a partner. Brodsky joined the firm from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Criminal Division, where he was a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Unit for the last six years.

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Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. (Ogletree Deakins), one of the largest labor and employment law firms representing management, is pleased to welcome William F. “Frank” Birchfield as a shareholder in its New York City office. Birchfield joins Ogletree Deakins after practicing as a partner in the employment group at the employment defense firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. With the addition of Birchfield, Ogletree Deakins continues the rapid growth across its network of offices. Since January, the firm has increased its shareholder ranks in its Austin, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Diego, St. Louis, and Washington offices.

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Global law firm Proskauer represented The Light Group and its founders in The Light Group’s agreement to be acquired by The Yucaipa Companies, LLC, from the Morgans Hotel Group Company.

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On April 1, card maker American Greetings Corporation announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to go private in a deal valued at $878 million. Willkie represented Peter J. Solomon Company, financial advisor to the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of American Greetings, in the transaction. The buyout will be made by a newly organized entity owned by the Weiss Family, which founded the company in 1905. The buyout group includes the company’s Chairman, Morry Weiss; Director and Chief Executive Officer, Zev Weiss; and Director, President and Chief Operating Officer, Jeffrey Weiss and related persons and entities. The deal also provides for a $240 million investment by a subsidiary of Koch Industries. Under the agreement, American Greetings Class A and Class B shareholders, excluding the Weiss Family and related entities, will receive $18.20 per share in cash.

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Simpson Thacher recently represented Walter Energy, Inc. in its offering of $450 million aggregate principal amount of 8.500% Senior Notes due 2021. Walter Energy used the net proceeds of the offering to repay $250 million of indebtedness outstanding under its credit facilities and the remainder for general corporate purposes. The offering was conducted in reliance on Rule 144A and Regulation S.

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Shearman & Sterling advised Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners in connection with a $2.5 billion aggregate financing, including a $1.5 billion 364-day credit facility and a $1 billion amended and restated five-year credit facility, for United Parcel Service, Inc.

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Sidley announced today that a group of 11 lawyers – ten partners and one counsel – will be joining the firm in multiple offices including New York and Washington, DC. The group is widely regarded as one of the most experienced and prominent securities enforcement and regulatory teams in the country.

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Continuing a string of major capital markets transactions in Latin America, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP has closed on four debt offerings in Peru valued at $1.37 billion involving leading companies in the country’s banking, mining, natural gas, and consumer products industries.

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International law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, led by Project Finance partner Jonathan Green, represented the lenders in the $850 million financing for Highstar Capital’s Star West Generation Power portfolio. The portfolio consists of five gas-fired power plants in California and Arizona and includes the 570-MW Griffith and 579-MW Arlington combine-cycle power plants in Arizona.

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Simpson Thacher recently represented J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Goldman Sachs Credit Partners L.P., Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. and the other Arrangers in connection with a $1.35 billion acquisition financing facility for NBCUniversal Enterprise, Inc. Proceeds of a drawing under the facility were used at closing to finance in part the $16.7 billion acquisition by Comcast Corporation of General Electric Company’s remaining 49% common equity interest in NBCUniversal, LLC. The transactions also resulted in the incorporation of NBCUniversal Media, LLC into Comcast’s existing cross-guarantee structure, pursuant to which Comcast Corporation and certain of its cable holding companies now guarantee the acquisition financing facility and NBCUniversal Media, LLC’s $11 billion of public debt securities and NBCUniversal Media, LLC guarantees Comcast Corporation’s $6.25 billion revolving credit facility and Comcast Corporation and such cable holding companies’ $30 billion of public debt securities.

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