Sidley’s dedication to the financial services industry, and the clients who depend on it, is evidenced by the firm’s business model of building our practice in cities featuring the most important financial markets around the globe. We represent companies listed on the worldwide stock exchanges and advise clients on the rules related to those exchanges.
Our work encompasses:
- Representing virtually all of the world’s major investment banking firms, many regional investment banking firms and other financial intermediaries in connection with securities transactions, and serving as designated underwriters’ counsel on securities transactions by more than 100 public companies.
- Advising over 100 public companies on securities transactions and ongoing reporting and disclosure matters.
- Addressing all regulatory issues under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and providing strategic advice to clients on the Volcker Rule, proprietary trading, derivatives push-out and other Dodd-Frank provisions.
- Advising investment funds, alternative fund advisors and insurance companies on the full range of their legal and business activities.
- Counseling commercial banks on a myriad of their activities, from financings, taking deposits and structuring transactions to protecting customer privacy.
Such leadership has not gone unnoticed. Sidley consistently ranks among the top U.S. capital markets firms both by deal value and by number of offerings, with strong showings as both issuer and underwriter counsel in major security type categories, including overall debt and equity, straight debt, asset-backed securities, investment grade corporate debt, IPOs and follow-on stock offerings. Over the last 10-year period, Sidley ranks as the No. 1 issuer’s counsel and No. 2 underwriter’s counsel for U.S. capital markets offerings (equity, equity-related and debt), having worked on 2,434 offerings raising nearly $1.5 trillion in deal value as issuer’s counsel and 2,936 offerings raising nearly $1.8 trillion in deal value as underwriter’s counsel, according to data from Thomson Reuters.
The firm is acknowledged for partnering with clients to pioneer novel strategies and for continuing to develop new products and instruments for clients in the financial markets. Such innovation includes participating in Kimco Realty Corporation’s watershed IPO in 1991, the first REIT IPO of the modern era. We were at the forefront of the creation of many structured finance products: mortgage-backed securities in the 1970s; asset-backed securities and commercial paper conduits in the 1980s; structured investment vehicles and credit derivative product companies after that. We also represent financial services industry clients in every type of litigation.
