Freshfields, Latham Guide Merck’s $10 Billion Plan to Buy Verona

Two Big Law firms guided Merck & Co.'s plans to purchase respiratory drugmaker Verona Pharma Plc for around $10 billion.

Freshfields’ deal team led by corporate partners Damien Zoubek and Jenny Hochenberg in the US and Rhys Evans and Kate Cooper in the UK, steered Merck. The firm has guided Merck in the past, including on its agreement to sell a business unit to Global New Material International Holdings Ltd. last year.

Both Zoubek and Hochenberg have steered large-cap life sciences and health deals, including Johnson & Johnson’s $13.1 billion acquisition of Shockwave. Last year, Freshfields surpassed several Wall ...