Joel Greenberg Quoted in Reuters on Collapse of Leveraged Buyout of BCE Inc.

Joel Greenberg, Co-Chair of the Corporate & Finance Department, was quoted in the December 12, 2008 Reuters article titled "Solvency Opinion Hot Topic in BCE Deal." The article discusses the collapse of the BCE Inc. leveraged buyout due a negative third-party solvency opinion. "People ... don't want a transaction to be hostage to somebody's subsequent evaluation of it," said Mr. Greenberg. "It's an issue of deal certainty. As this deal proved so dramatically, any time one of the impediments to (a deal closing) can be a subjective judgment by a third party, that really introduces uncertainty to the transaction."

The collapse of the high-profile BCE deal may focus attention on the use of solvency opinions in the current market. "Inevitably, if you're a careful deal lawyer and you've seen a particular provision become a very hot issue on another transaction, you'll pay some more attention to it," Mr. Greenberg said. "I don't think anyone in this market will forget about this deal," he added. "This deal was obviously an enormously high profile transaction and it's one that everyone in the industry has been following very carefully."