US Firms
Every Folio briefing story that mentions Latham & Watkins, most recent first. Stories are sourced daily from a curated set of legal and business publications.
Energy & Tech · Tue, 12 May 2026
Private equity firm **FH Capital** has entered a definitive agreement to acquire a **75.1%** majority stake in Jinko Solar (U.S.) Industries Inc., with **JinkoSolar** retaining a **24.9%** minority interest. The transaction covers a **2 GW** (gigawatt) solar module manufacturing facility and a growing BESS (battery energy storage system) business, with FH Capital committing expansion capital to double module capacity to at least **4 GW** and launch domestic BESS production post-close. The deal's driving logic is regulatory: under **FEOC** (Foreign Entity of Concern) rules — US provisions that restrict manufacturers with certain foreign ownership from qualifying for manufacturing tax credits — a shift to majority US ownership may allow the facility to capture the full **45X manufacturing tax credit** and the domestic content bonus, which requires an increasing percentage of US-sourced components through 2027. JinkoSolar's seven-year US manufacturing track record provides an operational foundation for the restructured entity. **Latham & Watkins** is serving as legal counsel to FH Capital. **Morgan Stanley** Asia Limited is acting as financial adviser to JinkoSolar. FH Capital is led by Managing Partner Sanjeev Chaurasia, who previously headed global solar investment banking at Credit Suisse and led JinkoSolar's US IPO in 2010. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal sits within a broader US solar manufacturing boom — US module capacity reached **72 GW** earlier in 2026 — as the industry pivots from capacity-building toward vertical integration and domestic BESS manufacturing to serve the solar-plus-storage market.
M&A · Sun, 10 May 2026
A sweeping federal indictment has charged a 30-person insider trading ring that prosecutors allege operated for a decade inside the upper echelons of **Big Law**, recruiting Ivy League-trained attorneys from firms including **Wachtell**, **Latham**, **Willkie**, **Goodwin**, **Cleary**, **Sidley**, **Weil**, and **DLA Piper**. Prosecutors describe the network as one of the most extensive M&A intelligence operations ever prosecuted on American soil, with participants allegedly treating confidential merger data as a tradeable asset rather than privileged client information. The core allegation is that lawyers with access to live M&A deal information — spanning deal structuring, due diligence, and documentation phases — fed that intelligence into a coordinated trading scheme across an extended period. The breadth of firm representation across the indictment reflects the network's reach into multiple practice groups at multiple institutions simultaneously. The case speaks directly to the fundamental duty of confidentiality that underpins attorney-client privilege and the obligations of legal professionals handling material non-public information (**MNPI**) in transactional contexts. In the UK and EU, equivalent conduct would engage the **Market Abuse Regulation (MAR)** and the criminal offence of insider dealing under the **Criminal Justice Act 1993**. The US prosecution will generate immediate compliance reviews across transactional law firms globally, with London offices of affected firms likely to face questions from the **FCA** and their own ethics committees.
Disputes · Sun, 10 May 2026
Federal prosecutors in the United States have filed a sweeping indictment against a **30-person network** of lawyers, traders and financial professionals, alleging that lawyers at eight of America's most prominent firms — including **Wachtell**, **Latham & Watkins**, **Willkie Farr**, **Goodwin Procter**, **Cleary Gottlieb**, **Sidley Austin**, **Weil Gotshal**, and **DLA Piper** — systematically monetised confidential merger intelligence over approximately a decade. Prosecutors describe it as one of the most extensive M&A intelligence-based insider trading schemes ever prosecuted on American soil. The mechanics of the alleged scheme centre on attorneys exploiting the privileged access to live deal information that their transactional roles provided — across due diligence, documentation, and signing processes — to place or facilitate trades in target company securities before public announcements. The duration of the alleged conduct, spanning roughly ten years across multiple firms, suggests a coordinated network rather than isolated opportunistic behaviour. For disputes lawyers, the case raises complex issues around the scope of attorney-client privilege in enforcement proceedings, the evidentiary treatment of documents seized from law firm servers, and potential regulatory referrals to bar associations. In the UK, analogous conduct would engage the **FCA**'s market abuse enforcement regime, the **Criminal Justice Act 1993** insider dealing offences, and the **Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)**'s professional conduct rules — all of which UK firms will now be reviewing.
International · Mon, 27 Apr 2026
**Mayer Brown** has reported **record revenue of $268 million** from its London office, marking a significant milestone for the US firm's international platform. Separately, **Latham & Watkins** is advising a **Belgian investor** on a **€500 million deal** for a traffic management business, underscoring the continued cross-border M&A appetite among European institutional buyers despite macro uncertainty. Together, the two data points illustrate the dual engines driving international law firm performance in London: organic revenue growth from deepening local practices, and high-value **cross-border transaction mandates** from continental European clients deploying capital into infrastructure-adjacent sectors. The Latham mandate is notable for its size — €500 million places it firmly in the upper tier of European mid-market deals — and for the Belgian buyer profile, reflecting sustained **Benelux outbound M&A** activity into specialist business services. For Mayer Brown, the London record adds to a broader narrative of US firms consolidating top-tier positions in the City, competing directly with the Magic Circle on transactional and finance work.
Capital Markets · Sat, 25 Apr 2026
**X-Energy**, a developer of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) and advanced nuclear fuel technology, began trading on Friday after pricing an upsized **initial public offering (IPO)** at **$1 billion** — making it one of the largest US energy-sector listings of 2026. **Latham & Watkins** advised the issuer while **Skadden** acted on the transaction, though the specific roles of each firm were not separately disclosed in the available sources. The IPO is a landmark moment for the SMR sector. SMRs — compact, factory-built nuclear reactors with capacity typically below 300 MW — have attracted significant government and private backing as a baseload-power solution compatible with net-zero energy grids. X-Energy's reactor design, the Xe-100, uses a high-temperature gas-cooled pebble-bed architecture and has been supported by the US Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Programme. The timing is deliberate: the Iran conflict has driven global LNG prices sharply higher and exposed the fragility of gas-dependent grids across Europe and Asia, reigniting political and investor appetite for nuclear as a firm-power alternative that is not exposed to fossil fuel supply chains. A $1 billion listing, upsized from its original target, suggests institutional demand was strong. The transaction also adds momentum to an otherwise stop-start IPO market in 2026, offering a data point that thematic energy listings can clear the market even in an uncertain macro environment.
Capital Markets · Sat, 18 Apr 2026
**Aevex Corp.**, a US drone manufacturer with defence and government contracts, began trading after raising **$320 million** in its initial public offering (IPO). The deal was steered on the issuer side by a **Kirkland & Ellis** team, with **Latham & Watkins** advising the underwriters. Aevex joins a cluster of defence-related IPOs that have come to market in 2026 as elevated military spending and renewed government contracting activity have sharpened investor appetite for listed defence and aerospace platforms. The transaction is US-listed and governed by SEC disclosure requirements rather than UK prospectus rules, but it carries direct relevance for London-market practitioners: several of the structural techniques used — particularly around lock-up arrangements, directed share programmes, and underwriter stabilisation mechanics — are increasingly standardised across transatlantic equity capital markets practice. The deal also illustrates the continued two-track pattern in global IPO activity: defence and AI-adjacent sectors commanding strong book-building momentum, while broader IPO volumes remain constrained by macro uncertainty. At **$320 million**, Aevex sits in the mid-cap IPO bracket, where investor demand has been more resilient than at the large-cap end of the market.