Case Profiles
Mergers & Acquisitions
In one of the most politically sensitive M&As of the last decade, the Group provided extensive media and communications counsel to the acquirer. The transaction required extensive regulatory sign-off for which critics were demanding that regulators impose significant constraints on our client.
The Group helped to draft those parts of the legal briefs that journalists and political players would read, ensuring that the briefs carried the client's core public messages. We coordinated a network of more than 70 local public relations firms in the major cities of the states where the clients had operations, making the case for the acquisition in all affected communities.
The Group developed a comprehensive list of the client's customers - something the client did not have at that time. Working from the list, the Group had each customer contacted by phone to determine which ones supported the transaction and to solicit from supporters a letter for the regulators. Then, based on over-the-telephone answers to a questionnaire we developed, the Group drafted personalized letters. These were sent to the supporters to be printed on their letterheads, signed, and returned to the Group for submission to the regulators. The regulator received over a thousand letters of support for the M&A, eliminating all doubts about public approval.
In part as a result of this comprehensive and sophisticated communications strategy, the transaction was approved without any costly regulatory mandates attached.
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