Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom confirmed Thursday that it will close its five-lawyer office in Sydney, Australia, sometime in the next few months. One of the firm’s two partners there, Adrian Deitz, will remain in Sydney but also work out of Skadden’s existing offices in Hong Kong and Singapore, the firm said.
The affected lawyers specialize in corporate M&A and U.S. securities laws. The office opened in 1989, according to sister publication Legal Week, and in recent years has advised on some significant matters. In 2014 Skadden advised the Commonwealth of Australia and national private health insurer Medibank Private on Medibank’s $4.9 billion IPO, the country’s second-largest ever. It also advised energy trading company Vitol Group on its $2.6 billion purchase of Royal Dutch Shell plc’s Australia downstream businesses the same year.
