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Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is advising an investor group led by Trian Fund Management, L.P. and General Catalyst Group Management, LLC, in the $7.4 billion acquisition of Janus Henderson Group (NYSE: JHG). For more information, please see the official press release.

The Debevoise team is led by M&A partners Emily Huang, William Regner and Kevin Schmidt and includes counsel Sarah Jacobson and Molly Stockley, associates Elizabeth Aiken, Andrew Hong, Joseph Millard, Tanaya Sanyal, Saya Sharma and Jason Zhang and law clerks Jason Bach, Alexandra Edidin and Anya Mansoor, finance partner Ryan Rafferty and associates Max Lovrin, Gabriel Rudy and Hanson Yu, employee benefits and executive compensation partner Frank Mitchell, counsel Sarah Burke and associates Rebeka Cohan and Simmie Jenkelowitz, capital markets partners Ben Pedersen and Morgan Hayes, associates Chris Gallucci and Maayan Stein and law clerk Hannah Wolfe, investment management partners Christopher Dortschy, Sally Bergmann Hardesty and Marc Ponchione, counsel Paul Laszlo and associates Ali Bazzi, Sibylle Vielle-Cessay and Daniel Hyun Gu Yeo, tax partners Peter Furci, Rafael Kariyev and Jennifer Wheater, associate Jay Evans and law clerk Elaine Xie, and antitrust partner Timothy McIver and associate Megan MacDonald.

The chairman of the committee leading Newfoundland and Labrador’s independent review of the Churchill Falls memorandum of understanding with Quebec is backing the impartiality of his three-man team.

“As we understand the information, we will form an opinion. We do not have an opinion as we sit today,” Chris Huskilson told Radio-Canada on Monday.

Huskilson is the president and CEO of 5-H Holdings and the former CEO of Emera Inc. Emera helped develop the Maritime Link for power distribution alongside Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.

Premier Tony Wakeham appointed him as the committee chair on Dec. 15.

The other two members, Guy Holburn and Michael Wilson, are members of the former oversight committee created by the previous Liberal government.

Holburn is a professor of business, economics and public policy at the University of Western Ontario.

Wilson, who resigned from the original committee, has been public about what he calls a lack of independence among the former oversight committee, specifically among a limited scope of work and overstepping by the Liberal government.

“We’re all focused on getting the information, forming an opinion and writing a report for the government,” Huskilson said.

Some opinions formed, Liberals say

Meanwhile, Opposition leader John Hogan believes some of those opinions are already formed.

“Mr. Wilson clearly has an opinion. He’s expressed his opinion publicly. He expresses opinion during the general election campaign. He thinks this is a bad deal for Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Hogan.

Wilson stated in an open letter on Oct. 2 that the conditions of the MOU are “disastrous” and that the MOU “results in an outrageous transfer of wealth to HQ and is an outright betrayal of the people of this province and all future generations.”

Hogan also criticized Huskilson’s role. Hogan believes the PCs appointed the former Emera CEO to justify killing the Churchill Falls MOU since he was  also involved in Muskrat Falls.

Hogan said Huskilson’s past association with Muskrat Falls raises questions about whether he is the best person to lead the panel.

If the MOU, which was signed by the previous Liberal government, goes ahead, the province could take in more than $225 billion over the next 50 years and increase power output on the Churchill River by nearly 4,000 megawatts — largely powered by the development of the Gull Island hydroelectric project.

Huskilson said he is well qualified to serve as chairman of the independent review committee despite the Liberals’ opinion.

“This is not about Muskrat Falls. It’s about the remainder of the river,” he said. 

Committee members paid ‘reasonable rate’

Huskilson’s committee will have until April 30, when they are expected to submit a report, to decide whether the agreement in principle is in the province’s best interests.

The expert panel will cost the provincial government about $1 million, according to Wakeham.

David Sorensen, an executive council spokesperson, indicated on Monday each member of the committee will be paid $475 per hour of work.

“This is a reasonable rate considering the level of expertise required to examine the scope of a project the size of the Churchill River and Gull Island, and the billions being discussed,” Sorensen told Radio-Canada in a statement. 

The previous government, along with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and Hydro–Québec, had committed to signing a deal by April 2026.

Wakeham has frequently called that an “artificial deadline” and has said he won’t be rushed. He also re-stated his commitment to putting the deal to a public referendum in 2026.

“You will have your say on any deal before I sign it,” he said. “We will only develop our resources on our terms.”

Hogan questions whether Wakeham wants to proceed with the MOU.

“He has never expressed his own opinion about whether he thinks it’s a good deal, and if he doesn’t think it’s a good deal, how he would change it. I think he owes that to the public.”

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A coalition of 21 states along with the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Monday to prevent it from defunding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which says it will run out of money in a few weeks.

The consumer watchdog agency is funded by the Federal Reserve — unlike many other federal agencies — to insulate it from political whims. But under Acting Director Russell Vought, the CFPB is refusing to accept money from the Fed.

The CFPB argues that the law that established the agency says it must get funding from the Fed’s “combined earnings,” or profits made by the Fed. But the Fed doesn’t have those earnings, the Trump administration says, because it’s paying out more money than it’s taking in, or operating at a loss.

The attorneys general suing the administration — and some Democratic lawmakers — reject that argument. They say the CFPB is narrowly defining “combined earnings” as profits, whereas lawmakers had intended the term to mean the wider funds — or proceeds — coming into the Fed.

In their suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Oregon, the states argue Vought and CFPB are using “an unreasonable and unlawful interpretation of ‘combined earnings.’” The agency’s stance puts the “CFPB at risk of losing all of its funding as early as January 2026,” the states argue.

Such a loss of funding would hurt their residents, the attorney generals argue.

In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James — who is leading the coalition of states — argues that the CFPB is legally required to “collect and process consumer complaints and share that complaint data with states,” which the agency can’t do if it isn’t funded.

“Defunding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will make it harder to stop predatory lenders, scammers, and other bad actors from taking advantage of New Yorkers,” James said in the statement.

“My office and attorneys general across the country rely on the CFPB for consumer complaints and other data to get justice for consumers,” she added.

Under the Trump administration, much of the CFPB has been gutted, with the agency preventing many of its staff from doing their work. The administration also has tried to fire most of the CFPB’s staff, though those attempts have been blocked by the courts.

Since its creation in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB has been the target of many conservatives. They argue the agency is too aggressive when it comes to enforcement and that it’s not accountable enough to Congress.