Our Website Uses Cookies
We and the third parties that provide content, functionality, or business services on our website may use cookies to collect information about your browsing activities in order to provide you with more relevant content and promotional materials, on and off the website, and help us understand your interests and improve the website.
For more information, please contact us or consult our Privacy Notice.
Your binder contains too many pages, the maximum is 40.
We are unable to add this page to your binder, please try again later.
This page has been added to your binder.
- Home
- Professionals
- Peter A. Laveran-Stiebar
Peter Laveran is a U.S. corporate partner who recently spent more than a decade in Covington's London office and is a vice chair of the firm’s Corporate Group. His broad-based transactional practice is largely international and he has particular transactional experience in the life sciences and media and communications industries. Mr. Laveran focuses on domestic and complex cross-border acquisitions and divestitures for private equity investors and emerging and mature companies headquartered in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, including Altice, Bayer AG GlaxoSmithKline, Indivior, Itochu, Magticom, Meda AB, Merck & Co. Inc., and Stagecoach Group PLC.
Mr. Laveran led the Covington team advising Altice in its $9.1 billion acquisition of Suddenlink and the $1 billion co-investment by funds advised by BC Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in Cablevision Systems Corporation; Bayer AG on its divestitures of the Coppertone sun care business and the Dr. Scholl’s foot care business; Meda AB in in all of its significant U.S. acquisition and divestiture activity in recent years, including the acquisitions of Acton Pharmaceuticals, MidNite, and a collection of women’s health products from Jazz Pharmaceuticals; Indivior in its demerger from Reckitt Benckiser; Itochu in the sale of PrimeSource Building Products, Inc. to Platinum Equity; funds managed by HealthpointCapital, LLC in the merger of Scient'x Groupe SAS with Alphatec Holdings, Inc.; and Magticom in its acquisition of retail and corporate ISP cable assets from Caucasus Online LLC.
Mr. Laveran also has experience with joint ventures, strategic alliances, non-controlling venture capital and private equity investments, and other corporate finance matters including international capital raising activities in London. His experience includes advising multi-national companies on the planning and development of European distribution structures and other commercial arrangements, and he has directed global post-closing merger integration efforts for clients in over 75 jurisdictions. Mr. Laveran has held leadership roles in Covington’s Middle East, Indian, and African practices.
- Represented Bayer AG in the sale of the Coppertone sun care business to Beiersdorf AG for $550 million and the Dr. Scholl's foot care business to Yellow Wood Partners for $585 million.
- Represented Stagecoach Group PLC in its $271 million sale of Coach USA to Variant Equity.
- Represented GlaxoSmithKline LLC on its collaboration with, and $300 million investment in, 23andMe and the sale of an antibody (raxibacumab) for the treatment of inhalational anthrax to Emergent BioSolutions Inc.
- Represented Leeds Equity Partners in the simultaneous acquisition of BLR (Business and Legal Resources) and three portfolio companies owned by UCG, LLC (DecisionHealth LLC, Argosy Group LLC and Center for Communications Management Information LLC) to create a leading provider of mission critical information, workflow solutions and services to the highly complex end markets of healthcare, human capital management, financial services and telecommunications.
- Represented Eisai Co., Ltd. and Eisai Inc. on the acquisition of all global development and marketing rights for the chronic weight management treatment lorcaserin hydrochloride (BELVIQ) from Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- Represented Pharming Group N. V. on the acquisition of all North American commercialization rights to Ruconest® from Valeant for an upfront fee of U.S. $60 million and potential sales milestones payments totaling a maximum of U.S. $65 million.
- Represented European telecommunications company Altice S.A. in a $9.1 billion transaction to acquire a controlling stake in Suddenlink, the seventh largest cable operator in the U.S.
- Represented Indivior plc, formerly RB Pharmaceuticals, in its demerger from Reckitt Benckiser and £1 billion listing on the London Main Market.
- Represented Meda AB on numerous acquisitions including its acquisition of Acton Pharmaceuticals, a portfolio of pharmaceutical products from Jazz Pharmaceuticals, and MidNite, an OTC sleep aid product.
- Represented Magticom Ltd., the leading mobile operator in the Republic of Georgia, in its acquisition of retail and corporate ISP cable assets from Caucasus Online LLC and its acquisition of Deltacom Ltd., a Georgian retail internet services provider.
- Represented Altice in the $1 billion co-investment by funds advised by BC Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in Cablevision Systems Corporation.
- Represented ITOCHU Corporation and ITOCHU International Inc. in the sale of PrimeSource Building Products, Inc., a North American distributor of building materials, to Platinum Equity.
- Represented Correvio LLC, a Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company, in its sale to Cardiome Pharma Corp., a Toronto Stock Exchange and NASDAQ listed company, in return for 17% of the outstanding Cardiome common shares post-transaction and deferred cash payments.
- Represented HaloIPT on Qualcomm’s Acquisition of its Automotive Wireless Charging Technology.
- Represented funds managed by HealthpointCapital, LLC in the sale of their controlling interest in Scient'x Groupe SAS to Alphatec Holdings, Inc.
- Represented CarCor Investment Holdings LLC in an offering of 1,500,000 common shares of Cardiome Pharma Corp. owned by CarCor and 1,500,000 common shares from treasury of Cardiome, each at a price of Canadian $10.00 per common share, for a combined offering of Canadian $30 million. The offering was made on a bought deal basis pursuant to an underwriting agreement with Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Cormark Securities Inc. Cardiome is a Canadian specialty pharmaceutical company that commercializes cardiovascular therapies.
- Represented Reliance Life Sciences in a $35 million investment in an MPM BioVentures Fund.
- Represented Intercell AG in connection with its acquisition of Cytos Biotechnology Ltd.’s platform technology for monoclonal antibody discovery.
- Represented Dr. George Jokhtaberidze in connection with various transactions and shareholder arrangements relating to his majority ownership interest in leading Georgian telecommunications company Magticom Ltd.
- Represented HealthpointCapital Partners as a selling shareholder in Alphatec Holdings, Inc.'s underwritten public offering of 18.4 million shares of common stock for total proceeds to HealthpointCapital and Alphatec of approximately $85 million.
- Represented Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc. in its acquisition by Pfizer Inc. for an equity value of approximately $195 million.
- Represented International Specialty Products, Inc. on the sale of its UK-based hydrocolloids ingredients business to FMC Corporation.
- Represented Trinity Equity Investments I, LLC in its investment in, and recapitalization of, Ricerca Biosciences, LLC, which was completed in connection with Ricerca’s acquisition of the Discovery and Preclinical business of MDS Pharma Services.
- Represented Scient'x S.A. in connection with a multi-jurisdictional secured loan by Oxford Finance Corporation, a life sciences venture lender, to Scient'x USA, Inc. secured by the stock and assets of Scient'x S.A. and subsidiaries in France, Italy, Australia and the United Kingdom.
- Represented Piper Jaffray Ltd., the sole financial advisor, sponsor, underwriter, and broker to Vernalis plc, the London main market listed development stage pharmaceutical company, in its placing and open offer raising £24 million.
- Represented Collins Stewart Europe Limited, as Nomad and broker, to the AIM IPO of HipCricket, Inc., a U.S.-based mobile marketing company, and the proposed AIM IPO of a U.S.-based semi-conductor company.
- Represented HealthpointCapital Partners in its €71 million acquisition by way of private purchase and public tender offer of Ideal Medical Products, S.A., a French company listed on Euronext Paris.
- Represented Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc., an OTC Bulletin Board quoted U.S. biotechnology company, on its admission to AIM and £15 million placing, valuing the company at approximately £70 million on a fully-diluted basis.
- Represented a medical device company, Scientix, S.A., in connection with its proposed initial public offering in France on Euronext Paris and simultaneous Regulation S/144A offering in the United States.
- Represented the UK-based Dunlop Slazenger Group in its disposition of the Maxfli golf brand and related assets to Taylor Made Golf Company, Inc. and in its license to a U.S.-based private equity group of the "Slazenger" golf brand for North America.
- Represented Kerr-McGee Corporation in connection with its successful repurchase of $4 billion of common stock through a modified "Dutch Auction" tender offer.
- Represented Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC, in connection with the sale of American Tire Distributors, Inc.
- Represented Calpine Corporation in a variety of debt tender offers for nearly $1 billion of outstanding secured and unsecured notes including Euro- and British pound-denominated Senior Notes listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.
- Represented Calpine Corporation in a highly structured Regulation D/Regulation S private placement of $360,000,000 of redeemable preferred shares in a Jersey, Channel Islands subsidiary of Calpine.
- Represented U.S. individuals in the development and structuring of a proposed $100,000,000 private equity fund with a focus on investments in distressed middle-market companies and represented a Russian company in the development and structuring of a proposed $100,000,000 private equity fund with a focus on investments in the Russian oil and gas and mining industries.
January 2021
Recapture of Excess COVID-19 Payroll Tax Credits Addressed in New Regs As the legal, regulatory, and commercial implications of coronavirus COVID-19 continue to evolve, our lawyers and advisors are helping clients navigate the complex considerations that companies around the world are facing and develop plans and strategies in response. Reach out to our ...
April 1, 2020, Covington Alert
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act opens up new Small Business Administration (SBA) loan opportunities to support many companies and nonprofit organizations with 500 or fewer employees.
March 27, 2020, Covington Alert
While Board duties remain unchanged in a crisis situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of a board of directors continues to be one of oversight, the disruption and dislocation resulting from the pandemic warrants greater and more frequent coordination between boards of directors and management teams which have responsibility for day-to-day ...
July 22, 2019
NEW YORK—Covington advised Bayer in a definitive agreement to sell the Dr. Scholl’s™ business to Yellow Wood Partners for a purchase price of $585 million. Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to benefit people by supporting efforts to overcome the ...
Covington Represents Bayer in $550M Sale of Coppertone™
May 13, 2019
NEW YORK—Covington advised Bayer in a definitive agreement to sell its Coppertone™ business to Beiersdorf AG, a provider of skin care products, for $550 million. Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to benefit people by supporting efforts to overcome ...
December 19, 2018
NEW YORK—Covington advised Stagecoach Group plc in its agreement to sell its North America division to an affiliate of private equity firm, Variant Equity Advisors, LLC. This transaction reflects an enterprise value for Stagecoach's North America Division of $271.4 million. Stagecoach’s North America Division operates bus and coach services. It provides ...
July 30, 2018
SILICON VALLEY—Covington advised GlaxoSmithKline on its multi-year collaboration with and $300 million equity investment in 23andMe. GSK will become 23andMe’s exclusive collaborator for drug target discovery programs. The collaboration will focus on research and development of innovative new medicines and potential cures using human genetics as the basis for ...
May 31, 2016
NEW YORK—Covington is advising MagtiCom Ltd., the leading mobile operator in the Republic of Georgia, on its definitive agreement to acquire retail and corporate ISP cable assets from Caucasus Online LLC. The deal is expected to close on or around August 1, 2016. Following the successful conclusion of the transaction, MagtiCom will be the first and only operator ...
May 22, 2015
NEW YORK, May 22, 2015 — Covington advised European telecommunications company Altice S.A. (Euronext ATC) in a $9.1 billion deal to acquire a controlling stake in Suddenlink, the seventh largest cable operator in the U.S. Under the terms of the agreement, Altice will enter the U.S. cable television and broadband market by acquiring 70 percent of the share ...
November 17, 2014
LONDON, 17 November, 2014 — Covington is advising Indivior, formerly RB Pharmaceuticals, in the demerger transaction announced today from Reckitt Benckiser, a global consumer products company. The demerger is subject to the approval of RB shareholders. Indivior PLC will be a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of addiction and closely ...
December 11, 2012
LONDON, 11 December, 2012 — Covington & Burling acted as legal advisers to Meda in its acquisition of MidNite, an OTC sleep-aid product. Meda is a leading international specialty pharmaceutical company. The Covington team was led by partner Peter Laveran with assistance from Karen Brooks. The team also included Philip Young and trainee Philippe Bradley ...
Covington Advises Meda on Acquisition of Jazz Pharmaceuticals’ Women’s Health Products
September 6, 2012
LONDON, 06 September, 2012 — Covington & Burling LLP acted as legal advisers to Meda in an agreement with Jazz Pharmaceuticals to acquire a portfolio of six pharmaceutical products for women for $95 million in cash. The largest and most important product in the portfolio is Elestrin, a patented product with sales of almost 100 MSEK, that doctors prescribe for ...
March 19, 2012
LONDON, 19 March, 2012 — Covington & Burling LLP received 46 individual mentions and 20 practice mentions in the Chambers Global 2012 edition. The guidebook, which ranks lawyers globally by pan-regional and country practice area, is designed to identify the most skilled legal practitioners based on the qualities most valued by clients. The Covington lawyers ...
Covington Advises HaloIPT on Qualcomm’s Acquisition of its Automotive Wireless Charging Technology
November 21, 2011
LONDON, 21 November, 2011 — Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) has acquired substantially all of the technology and other assets of HaloIPT, a leading provider of wireless charging technology for electric road vehicles. Covington & Burling LLP advised HaloIPT on the transaction. HaloIPT's financial adviser was Innovator Capital, the London based cleantech ...
June 2011, Financier Worldwide
5/6/2010
LONDON, 6 May, 2010 — Intercell AG today announced that it has signed an agreement with Cytos Biotechnology Ltd. to acquire Cytos’ platform technology for monoclonal antibody discovery. The technology is based on expression cloning of monoclonal antibodies from human B-cells and enables the identification of anti-infective antibodies to prevent and treat ...
4/21/2010
NEW YORK, April 21, 2010 — Alphatec Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Alphatec Spine, Inc., completed an underwritten public offering of 18.4 million shares of common stock, consisting of 9.2 million primary shares and 9.2 million shares offered by HealthpointCapital Partners. The net proceeds to HealthpointCapital Partners from the sale of the shares, after ...
March 9, 2010
NEW YORK, March 9, 2010 — Covington & Burling LLP represented Trinity Equity Investments I, LLC, an affiliate of Trinity Equity Investors, LLC, in its March 5 investment in, and recapitalization of, Ricerca Biosciences, LLC, which was completed in connection with Ricerca’s acquisition of the Discovery and Preclinical business of MDS Pharma Services. Covington ...
Covington Advises Minster Pharmaceuticals in Recommended Takeover by Proximagen Neuroscience
January 15, 2010
LONDON, January 15, 2010 — Covington & Burling LLP advised Minster Pharmaceuticals plc, the AIM-quoted drug development company specialising in compounds for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric conditions, in its recommended takeover by Proximagen Neuroscience plc. The terms of the all cash offer value Minster at £4.3 million. The Covington team ...
Covington Advises HealthpointCapital on Sale of Scient’x Groupe SAS to Alphatec Holdings
December 18, 2009
LONDON, December 18, 2009 — Alphatec Holdings, Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire Scient’x Groupe SAS, a spinal implant company based in France. Alphatec Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Alphatec Spine, Inc., is a medical device company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets products for the surgical treatment of spine disorders. ...
M&A - 2009 Whose Opportunity Is It? The Seller's Perspective
June 17, 2009, The Biopharmaceutical Conference in Europe
5/19/2009
LONDON, May 19, 2009 — Vernalis plc, the London main market listed pharmaceutical company which is developing a pipeline of clinical and early stage programmes, today announced the completion of a placing and open offer raising £24 million before expenses. It proposes to apply the proceeds of the fundraising to fund its clinical development and discovery ...
8/19/2008
LONDON, August 19, 2008 — International Specialty Products, Inc. (ISP) has completed its previously announced sale of its hydrocolloids ingredients business to FMC Corporation. The London office of Covington & Burling LLP advised ISP on the transaction. ISP is a leading global supplier of specialty chemicals and performance-enhancing products for a wide variety ...
Covington Advises Encysive on Pfizer Deal
2/21/2008
WASHINGTON, DC, February 21, 2008 — Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced yesterday that it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Pfizer Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will make a cash tender offer for all issued and outstanding shares of Encysive for $2.35 per share, representing an equity value of approximately $195 million. ...
January 9, 2008, Covington Advisory
8/7/2007
LONDON, 7 August, 2007 — Covington & Burling LLP announces its role in advising US biotechnology company Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. on its admission to AIM and £15 million placing, which valued the company at approximately £68 million on a fully-diluted basis. The transaction was particularly complex due to Northwest's quotation on the OTC Bulletin Board in ...
March 15, 2007
New York, NY, March 15, 2007 — Covington & Burling LLP represented Cowen Capital Partners LLC in its March 8 leveraged recapitalization of Ricerca Biosciences, LLC, including new equity and term facilities approaching US $50 million. Covington has represented Cowen in all of its prior investments in Ricerca Biosciences dating back to 2000.Ricerca Biosciences is ...
Covington Announces Ten New Partners
10/5/2006
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 5, 2006 — Covington & Burling LLP announced the election of ten new partners, effective October 1. Stuart Stock, chair of the firm’s management committee, commented, “These remarkable lawyers reflect the strength and diversity of our firm and its practice. We are very pleased to have them as members of our partnership.” Covington’s ...
- Chambers Global, Corporate/M&A (UK) and Corporate/M&A (US) (2012-2013)
- PLC Which Lawyer?, Capital Markets: Foreign Law Advice (2008-2011)
- Legal 500 UK, Equity Capital Markets (2013)
- Legal 500 UK, M&A - Upper Mid-Market & Premium Deals (2013)
- Legal 500 UK, Flotations, Small and Mid-Cap (2011-2012)
- Legal 500 UK, M&A US Law Capability (2008-2011)
- Legal Experts, Corporate, M&A (2010)

COVID-19: Legal and Business Toolkit
We are helping clients around the world navigate this evolving, complex situation.