Legal Counsel in Acquisition of CKX

Three top Am Law 100 listed firms have advised on Apollo Global Management's $510 million announced acquisition of U.S. entertainment company CKX, owner of television shows like American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. CKX also owns an 85% stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises, which manages the late rock star's estate, handles licensing agreements and runs tours of Presley's former Graceland home. CKX also owns the intellectual property behind the names and images of boxing legend Muhammad Ali. The deal value represented a 40% premium on the closing price for CKX stock over the past six months, Bloomberg reported.

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison corporate partner/media and entertainment practice chair James Schwab and M&A partner Neil Goldman have led a team advising Apollo on the deal. The New York-based private equity firm run by Leon Black has been a longtime M&A and litigation client of Paul Weiss, which also recently advised Warner Music Group on its $3.3 billion sale to Access Industries (see, http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2011/05/warner-deals.html).

Gregory Ezring, co-chair of the corporate finance and capital markets practice at O'Melveny & Myers in New York, has served as finance counsel to Apollo, along with O'Melveny partner Monica Thurmond and associate Rachel Springer. O'Melveny has a long history advising Apollo, and in March, SEC filings revealed that Thurmond was advising Apollo on a future initial public offering that would raise roughly $473 million (see, http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2011/03/apollo-ipo.html). (Ezring and Thurmond are leaving O'Melveny with five other corporate partners to join Paul Weiss.)

Apollo's chief legal officer John Suydam is a former O'Melveny partner who joined the firm in 2002 to head its M&A practice. Earlier this year, Apollo hired former O'Melveny corporate partner Paul Loynes as its first-ever European general counsel.

New York-based CKX turned to Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz corporate partner David Shapiro, employee benefits partner Michael Segal, tax partner Joshua Holmes, and associates Alison Zieske, Lisa Schwartz and Christina Cheng for counsel on its sale to Apollo. Wachtell has been advising CKX for over a year as the company entertained offers from rival bidders.

CKX is the parent company of 19 Entertainment, a producer of American Idol and other shows that were sold by Idol founder Simon Fuller. Last year, Fuller attempted an unsuccessful bid to take CKX private (see, www.thewrap.com/deal-central/article/ckx-confirms-acquisition-offer-simon-fuller-17866). Other bidders for CKX reportedly were One Equity Partners, the private equity arm of JP Morgan Chase, and billionaire Alec Gores's private equity firm, The Gores Group.

CKX's director of legal and government affairs is Howard Tytel, who also serves on the company's board of directors. Tytel previously worked at Baker & McKenzie and was longtime legal counsel to media entrepreneur Robert F.X. Sillerman, a founder of CKX who stepped down as chairman and CEO of the company a year ago. Sillerman continues to serve as a consultant to CKX.

The company's two largest shareholders, Sillerman and Lisa Marie Presley, the sole beneficiary of Elvis Presley's estate, approved the sale to Apollo. Michael Woronoff, head of the West Coast securities practice at Proskauer Rose, represented the Promenade Trust, which benefits Lisa Marie Presley and manages Elvis Presley's name.

Three top Am Law 100 listed firms have advised on Apollo Global Management's $510 million announced acquisition of U.S. entertainment company CKX, owner of television shows like American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. CKX also owns an 85% stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises, which manages the late rock star's estate, handles licensing agreements and runs tours of Presley's former Graceland home. CKX also owns the intellectual property behind the names and images of boxing legend Muhammad Ali. The deal value represented a 40% premium on the closing price for CKX stock over the past six months, Bloomberg reported.

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison corporate partner/media and entertainment practice chair James Schwab and M&A partner Neil Goldman have led a team advising Apollo on the deal. The New York-based private equity firm run by Leon Black has been a longtime M&A and litigation client of Paul Weiss, which also recently advised Warner Music Group on its $3.3 billion sale to Access Industries (see, http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2011/05/warner-deals.html).

Gregory Ezring, co-chair of the corporate finance and capital markets practice at O'Melveny & Myers in New York, has served as finance counsel to Apollo, along with O'Melveny partner Monica Thurmond and associate Rachel Springer. O'Melveny has a long history advising Apollo, and in March, SEC filings revealed that Thurmond was advising Apollo on a future initial public offering that would raise roughly $473 million (see, http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2011/03/apollo-ipo.html). (Ezring and Thurmond are leaving O'Melveny with five other corporate partners to join Paul Weiss.)

Apollo's chief legal officer John Suydam is a former O'Melveny partner who joined the firm in 2002 to head its M&A practice. Earlier this year, Apollo hired former O'Melveny corporate partner Paul Loynes as its first-ever European general counsel.

New York-based CKX turned to Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz corporate partner David Shapiro, employee benefits partner Michael Segal, tax partner Joshua Holmes, and associates Alison Zieske, Lisa Schwartz and Christina Cheng for counsel on its sale to Apollo. Wachtell has been advising CKX for over a year as the company entertained offers from rival bidders.

CKX is the parent company of 19 Entertainment, a producer of American Idol and other shows that were sold by Idol founder Simon Fuller. Last year, Fuller attempted an unsuccessful bid to take CKX private (see, www.thewrap.com/deal-central/article/ckx-confirms-acquisition-offer-simon-fuller-17866). Other bidders for CKX reportedly were One Equity Partners, the private equity arm of JP Morgan Chase, and billionaire Alec Gores's private equity firm, The Gores Group.

CKX's director of legal and government affairs is Howard Tytel, who also serves on the company's board of directors. Tytel previously worked at Baker & McKenzie and was longtime legal counsel to media entrepreneur Robert F.X. Sillerman, a founder of CKX who stepped down as chairman and CEO of the company a year ago. Sillerman continues to serve as a consultant to CKX.

The company's two largest shareholders, Sillerman and Lisa Marie Presley, the sole beneficiary of Elvis Presley's estate, approved the sale to Apollo. Michael Woronoff, head of the West Coast securities practice at Proskauer Rose, represented the Promenade Trust, which benefits Lisa Marie Presley and manages Elvis Presley's name.