Under the deal terms, a subsidiary of Ecolab (a cleaning and sanity provider based in St. Paul, Minnesota) will merge with Nalco (a water treatment company based in Naperville, Illinois) - both of which have operations in Australia.

With Ecolab sales of US$6 billion ($5.5 billion) and more than 26,000 associates, the merger is structured to provide a cash/stock election to the stockholders of Nalco, which operates in 150 countries.

Chicago corporate partner Dieter Schmitz led the Bakers global team of partners and associates from more than a dozen jurisdictions on the deal. Schmitz was supported by corporate head Craig Roeder and partner Edward Harrison as well as six lawyers in Chicago, two in McNulty in Washington, D.C. and another in Frankfurt, Germany.

Schmitz, who first started representing Ecolab 25 years ago, congratulated the company on entering into the "largest transaction in its long and successful history."

Ecolab's corporate legal team was led by its general counsel, James Seifert, and associate general counsel and corporate compliance officer, Michael McCormick.

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Seifert said the Bakers team complemented the company's in-house legal resources well for this multi-billion dollar transaction.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (Cravath) acted for Nalco in the transaction.