Overview | Experience | Practice Strengths
Overview
Vinson & Elkins represents issuers and underwriters in a wide variety of corporate finance transactions, including initial public offerings (IPOs), private placements, and public offerings of equity; debt (high yield and investment grade) and convertible securities; corporate recapitalizations; and mergers and acquisitions. We also provide disclosure, governance, and general corporate advice to our public company clients. Our capital markets and securities practice is closely coordinated with our mergers and acquisitions and private equity practices to provide clients with a full range of transactional services. V&E Capital Markets and Securities lawyers regularly receive accolades and high rankings from major publications.
Vinson & Elkins received nine top-10 rankings in The American Lawyer’s 2011 Corporate Scorecard. The firm ranked in a total of 11 categories. V&E ranked in the following areas:
- #1 U.S. IPOs (Issuer's Counsel, by volume)
- #1 Equities (Issuer's Counsel, by volume)
- #3 U.S. IPOs (Issuer's Counsel, by value)
- #4 Equities (Issuer's Counsel, by value)
- #5 Corporate Debt: High Yield (Issuer's Counsel, by volume)
- #8 Corporate Debt: High Yield (Issuer's Counsel, by value)
- #8 Corporate Debt: High Yield (Underwriter's Counsel, by volume)
- #10 M&A (Principal Counsel, by volume)
- #10 Corporate Debt: High Yield (Underwriter's Counsel, by value)
- #15 Municipal Bonds (Underwriter's Counsel, by volume) (read more V&E accolades)
Our capital markets practice ranks the top 10 in five categories in the First Half 2011 Thomson Reuters’ Global Capital Markets Review: Legal Advisors. V&E ranked in a total of 10 categories:
- #3 U.S. Debt, Equity & Equity Related (AB2) (Issuer Legal Adviser)
- #4 U.S. Debt, Equity & Equity Related (AB1) (Issuer Legal Adviser)
- #6 Global Equity & Equity-related (Issuer Legal Advisor)
- #8 U.S. Straight Debt Excluding ABS & MBS (AB7) (Issuer Legal Adviser)
- #9 U.S. Straight Debt Including ABS & MBS (AB6) (Issuer Legal Adviser)
- #14 Global Straight Debt Excluding ABS & MBS (Issuer Legal Advisor)
- #15 Global Straight Debt Including ABS & MBS (Issuer Legal Advisor)
- #15 All International Bonds (Issuer Legal Advisor)
- #18 U.S. Straight Debt Excluding ABS & MBS (AB7) (Manager Legal Adviser)
- #20 U.S. Straight Debt Including ABS & MBS (AB6) (Manager Legal Adviser) (read more V&E accolades)
And, Vinson & Elkins ranked in the top 10 in 13 categories in Bloomberg’s First-Three-Quarters 2011 Global Legal Adviser League Tables. Most notably, Vinson & Elkins ranked first overall in U.S. Equity Offerings, Issuer Advisers (by deal count). V&E ranked in a total of 19 categories:
- #1 in U.S. Equity Offerings (Issuer Advisers, by deal count)
- #3 in Global Eqty/Eql/Rights (Issuer Advisers, by deal count)
- #3 in U.S. High Yield (Issuer Advisers, by deal count)
- #4 in U.S. Equity Offerings IPO (Issuer Advisers, by deal count)
- #5 in Canadian Equity Offerings IPO (Issuer Advisers, by volume)
- #5 in U.S. Equity Offerings (Issuer Advisers, by volume)
- #6 in U.S. Equity Offerings IPO (Manager Advisers, by volume)
- #6 in U.S. High Yield (Issuer Advisers, by volume)
- #8 in U.S. High Yield (Manager Advisers, by volume)
- #9 in U.S. Equity Offerings IPO (Manager Advisers, by deal count) (read more V&E accolades)
A significant portion of our capital markets practice focuses on initial public offerings. Our IPO activity has been fueled by significant demand for investment in master limited partnerships (MLPs), where our lawyers have represented either the issuer or the underwriter in nearly 90 percent of all natural resource and real estate MLP IPOs completed since the tax legislation affecting MLPs was enacted in 1987. Our IPO activity has also been driven by representation of private equity funds, with a substantial number of IPOs of portfolio company investments.
Experience
During 2010, we handled more than 130 securities offerings with total transaction value of over $42 billion. In 2009, we handled more than 100 securities offerings with total transaction value of over $34 billion. Vinson & Elkins’ capital markets practice serves clients in multiple industries, with a heavy focus on energy transactions.
Our capital markets practice serves clients in multiple industries, including energy, airlines, finance, real estate, telecommunications, and technology.
Representation of both issuers and underwriters of high-yield debt securities is another important component of our capital markets practice. Our work in this area extends to convertible debt issues and related hedge transactions.
As a result of the depth of our capital markets work, we believe we have developed one of the most experienced teams of corporate partners and associates of any law firm in the country. Our lawyers are experienced in helping clients manage and complete every phase of the offering process, including corporate reorganization and recapitalization, assisting in the development and completion of SEC registration statements and the SEC review process, developing corporate governance structures, processes and procedures, implementing compensation plans and agreements, and managing the listing process, with the NYSE and NASDAQ markets.