Sullivan & Cromwell in eight-day M&A deal

US firm Sullivan & Cromwell got the call to represent French bank Societe Generale only eight days before its merger with Paribas went ahead, the lawyer who headed the deal reveals.
Pierre Servan-Schreiber, partner at the Paris office, says that the firm's size was one of three deciding factors in its selection.
"SocGen needed a firm that could do everything that needed to be done in eight days, which needs certain logistical requirements," says Servan-Schreiber, who admits that he has missed out on his full quota of beauty sleep in recent weeks.
He is unlikely to be able to catch up on his rest in the immediate future - as Banque Nationale de Paris this week crashed the SocGen wedding party and announced a hostile takeover bid for the new couple which, if successful, would create the world's first $1 trillion bank.
Sullivans' US origins helped towards winning it the work because both SocGen and Paribas are defendants in the holocaust law suits taking place in the US.
Lastly, the merger included aspects of anti-trust legislation, in which Sullivans specialises.