Many Firms Involved in LyondellBasell Bankruptcy Proceedings

Erik Even — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:06:16 +0000

In the wake of chemical giant LyondellBasell filing for Chaptel 11, several top firms in the United States and the United Kingdom find themselves involved.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has secured a leading role for the company in the US, with financial restructuring group heads Deryck Palmer and John Rapisardi leading the team. In the UK, LyondellBasell has procured Clifford Chance for advice. That team is led by the head of restructuring, Mark Hyde.

Creditors involved in the case, both in the US and the UK, have secured firms such as Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Ashurst, Simmons & Simmons, Bingham McCutchen, Latham & Watkins and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy.

Lyondell Chemical, the company’s US arm, filed for Chapter 11 in January. It did not include most of the groups operations in Europe. The decision was made to avoid having the company’s European assets liquidated.

Ashurst head of restructuring Nick Angel said: “As a generalization, an insolvency process almost anywhere in the world is to be avoided because it damages value. This is especially true where you have the prospect of different insolvency processes in different countries but it is less true for the US, where Chapter 11 processes are more readily accepted.

“What has happened here illustrates the difficulty in dealing with international groups because Chapter 11 will not be recognized throughout the world and there is no alternative worldwide process for insolvency.”

Google Faced With Antitrust Lawsuit

Erik Even — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:14:02 +0000

TradeComet.com LLC, a New York-based company, claimed in federal court on Tuesday that Google Inc. violated antitrust laws by raising a subsidiary’s advertising rates after deciding the subsidiary was a competitor.

In its suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, TradeComet.com claims that Google initially supported SourceTool.com, TradeComet’s subsidiary. SourceTool.com is a business-to-business search engine that connects suppliers of industrial products to buyers. Google eventually deemed SourceTool.com a competitior, and according to TradeComet.com, raised its search advertising rates by 10,000 percent “with no notice.”

A Google spokesman said in a statement that, “We have not yet had a chance to review the complaint in detail, but, as we have consistently made clear, the advertising market in which Google operates is highly competitive, and advertisers have a huge range of choices.”

TradeComet.com is represented by the law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP. Rick Rule, of Cadwalader said in a press release that “We believe this complaint has strong merit and represents a serious antitrust violation.”

JD Journal » Taft

Many Firms Involved in LyondellBasell Bankruptcy Proceedings

Google Faced With Antitrust Lawsuit