Kirkland’s record year

One Scoop: Stefano Pessina, executive chair of the Walgreens Boots Alliance, will almost double its stake in the pharmacy group as part of the acquisition by private equity group Sycamore, according to people familiar with the issue.

Another: The UK financial watchdog will ban Crispin Ody from the sector and punish the founder of a £1.8 million hedge fund for “lack of integrity” in his conduct after facing allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

And a big potential deal: Google Parent Alphabet discusses buying cybersecurity startup Wiz for about $300 billion, setting the stage for the biggest acquisition in the history of the search giant.

In today’s newsletter:

Kirkland and the Biglo Boom

Alibaba AI Fuel Turnaround

FT looks up listpop in the US

Big laws will rain again

Since the golden age of M&As in 2021 and 2022, it has been a brutal throw for many bankers and private equity executives as higher interest rates slowed trading and made Ghagantuan’s bonuses more difficult.

But big laws continue to be immunized new normal as top companies like Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins look at cash rolls and continue to be a reliable source of millions of dollars payments to rain makers.

Both law firms reported record revenues as fees were filled by models that remained relatively insulated from mal laziness that knows the world of contracts.

Equity partners at Kirkland, the world’s best-selling law firm, took home more than $900,000 on average last year, up 16% year-on-year, FT reported.

Payments came after Kirkland rose 22% to a record $8.8 billion, becoming the world’s most profitable law firm.

Above all, Kirkland is known for its large private equity practices. These clients are bear the brunt of higher fees as higher borrowing costs have been eaten up in returns.

However, the Masters of the PE Space is still in need of Kirkland to negotiate a difficult “responsibility exercise” to extend the runway with a problematic bet.

The Chicago-based hard-charged law firm has also made its way forward with regular M&A.

According to data from the London Stock Exchange Group, Kirkland was recommended to M&As of more than $431 billion worldwide last year, becoming a top-ranked legal advisor with a market share of more than 14%.

Kirkland was able to take part in some of the biggest deals in the United States. The attorney represented Pringles and Pop-Tarts maker Kellanova with a $35.9 billion sale to Mars and advised global infrastructure partners with a $12.5 billion sale to BlackRock.

On its heel was Latham, the second largest law firm in the world. Last year, it reached $7 billion in revenue for the first time, with profit per share jumping nearly 30% to $7.1 million.

However, last year’s blockbuster wages relied on an increase in activities that so far in 2025 that had virtually no longer existed, contrary to the Trump administration’s hopes of being trade friendly.

Instead, Trump’s tariff policies have forced the stock market into the market and cast wrenches into trading activities. Legal giants like Paul Weiss and Perkins Coie are targeted by the new administration, but Kirkland and Latham were among the 20 companies that received letters about diversity practices.

But things like Kirkland and Latham may have hedges built into them. They were heavily pushed into Europe and the Middle East, where the animal spirit is growing.

Alibaba regains his progress

Over two years ago, Jack Ma and Alibaba had a low decline. The Chinese high-tech founder retreated from public places and fell to Tokyo after falling to a foul in Beijing.

Alibaba’s shares plummeted, and the planned initial public offering for the Fintech Arm Ant group was scrapped.

But today things look quite different. The MA was chosen to sit in the front row among business leaders at a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month.

In this FT Big Read, Zijing Wu and Eleanor Olcott delve into what has changed within Alibaba. One major difference is that our company was once caught up in regulatory pressures and loss of market share, and is now positioned as the forefront of China’s artificial intelligence race.

After a period of political asylum, MA coordinated strategic change, elevated Joe Tsai and appointed Eddie Wu to lead the company’s AI-focused transformation.

A family of large language models, Alibaba’s Qwen is currently the market leader in China. A partnership with Apple has also been secured.

With investments in AI startups and infrastructure surges, China’s biggest cloud business has regained double-digit growth.

This revival follows a turbulent period involving cancelled ANT Group IPOs, reduced profits, and many failed attempts at restructuring.

WU’s leadership centralized decision-making, sold non-core assets, and prioritized AI development as a key driver of future growth.

Alibaba aims to make great strides in artificial general information despite competition with startups led by Bytedance, Tencent and Deepseek.

However, the company’s revival depends on translating AI advances into economic growth, leaving geopolitical risks behind, potentially reducing the high chip supply from the US.

Still, for now, it feels like the company has regained its previous approach.

“The difference between the current Alibaba campus and the six months ago is very palpable,” says Brian Wong, an entrepreneur and former Alibaba executive. “Needless of these days, there’s a sense of vitality and energy. People are in a more clear direction than they are now.”

US vs Europe: Great public debate

The traditional wisdom is that by listing on the New York Stock Exchange, companies will give them an almost automatic boost.

However, we found out that Nikou Asgari and Patrick Mathurin from FT are not the case. European companies that added US lists often did not boost their ratings.

An analysis of 12 European listed companies since 2016, including Ferguson, CRH and Flutter Entertainment, which added a US list has reached a different conclusion. In half of the cases, ratings actually decreased.

While most companies have improved overall liquidity, in many cases the number of post-stock analysts did not increase.

“The basic paper about you moving to the US and your stock price will improve is incorrect,” said Richard Werner, a partner at the law firm BCLP.

Some of the lures to the US are that the country’s stock market has been in tears until recently. This led European companies and investors to believe that they could also enjoy a higher multiple of their revenue there.

However, despite the recent decline in the US stock market, it shows that companies are considering a potential New York list.

Last week, UK broker TP ICAP is planning to list data businesses in New York, with mining group Glencore saying in February it was reviewing whether other venues, such as the US, are “more suited” for stocks.

Construction Group Ashtead is planning a switch, but ad group WPP and French asset manager Tikehau have also been considering the move recently.

Job movements

JAB has shaken up the top ranks as the group focuses on the insurance business. The company also hired Lauren Aguiar as partner and chief justice officer at Skadden Arps, promoting Gordon von Bretten and Patricia Capel to senior partners.

Rope & Gray has opened an office in Paris with Fabrice Cohen, Thierry Arachinti and Emmanuel Mimin of Paris.

The Blue Owl hired Break Shorthouse as the world’s head of the world’s capital. He is based in London and previously spent 10 years at KKR.

Morgan Stanley promoted Andrew Foster to chairman of corporate brokerage. He has been at the bank for over 14 years.

Alter Domus has appointed Mark Wiseman as chairman. He was previously in Black Rock.

Smart Lead

The prize on one side of the ring is Barrick Gold. On the other side, Hannam & Partners. FT’s Paul Murphy talks about the infamous courtroom showdown between deal makers.

Markets are rattling, consumer trust is shaking, animal minds are silenced, and the US economy is losing its luster, writes Fort.

Pure investor private equity firms are bankrupting American hospitals and sucking up money for themselves, Business Insider reports.

News Round Up

EU investigates imports of aluminum converted by Trump’s tariffs (FT)

UBS Payment Chief Sergio Hermotti $16.8 million (FT)

Missile maker MBDA is receiving more calls from EU troops seeking non-US weapons (FTs)

Pepsi taps gut health markets thriving with a $2 billion Poppi contract (FT)

US companies remove DEI from their annual report as Trump targets corporate value (FT)

Swedish companies join forces to avoid children from gang crime (FT)

Alphabet spins laser-based internet projects from the “Moonshot” hub (FT)

New York Sun is back in black to help Trump boost the title

The OECD warns Donald Trump’s trade war will undermine global growth (FT)