John L. Robinson is a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.  He focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and general corporate and securities matters.  John’s practice includes cross-border and domestic mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, joint ventures, carve-outs and private equity transactions. He also advises companies on takeover defense and in responding to shareholder activism and proxy contests.

John received his A.B. in economics, summa cum laude, from Dartmouth College, where he was a Rufus Choate Scholar. He received his J.D. with distinction from Stanford Law School, where he was a senior editor of the Stanford Law Review.

Prior to law school, John worked as an associate consultant at the business strategy consulting firm L.E.K. Consulting, in its Boston and Paris offices.

John has represented clients in a variety of industries, including:

Diversified Manufacturing

• Univar Solutions in:
  – its $8.2 billion acquisition by Apollo Global Management and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
  – its $2.0 billion acquisition of Nexeo Solutions; and
  – its $640 million disposition of Nexeo’s plastics business
• Hubbell Incorporated in:
  – its $1.1 billion acquisition of Systems Control, a portfolio company of Comvest Partners
  – its $1.1 billion acquisition of Aclara Technologies from Sun Capital Partners;
  – in the $350 million sale of its Commercial and Industrial Lighting Business to GE Current, a Daintree Company; and
  – the reclassification of its dual-class common stock into a single class of common stock
• RTX Corporation in its $1.3 billion sale of its Cybersecurity, Intelligence & Services business
• M3-Brigade Acquisition III Corp. in its $950 million business combination with Greenfire Resources
• WESCO International in its $4.8 billion acquisition of Anixter International
• Rockwell Automation in its response to a $29 billion unsolicited takeover bid by Emerson Electric
• AV Homes in its $963 million sale to Taylor Morrison Home
• Eagle Materials in the separation of its heavy and light materials businesses
• United Technologies in its $3.5 billion sale of its Hamilton Sundstrand industrial products businesses to BC Partners and Carlyle
• EADS NV in its proposed €35 billion dual-listed company combination with BAE Systems plc
• Apollo Management Group and CEVA Logistics in the sale of CEVA’s Pallecon container logistics business unit to Brambles Industries Limited

Technology, Media and Telecommunications

• Maxar Technologies in
  – its $6.4 billion acquisition by Advent International
  – the CAD$1 billion sale of its MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates business to a consortium of financial sponsors led by Northern Private Capital
• Michael Jordan in the sale of the Charlotte Hornets to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall
• Creative Artists Agency in:
  – the acquisition by Groupe Artémis of a majority stake in Creative Artists Agency, previously held by TPG Capital.
  – its acquisition of ICM Partners
  – the investment by TPG Capital to acquire a controlling interest in CAA, and related debt and equity recapitalization transactions; and
  – a $120 million investment and joint venture transaction with a consortium led by China Media Capital.
• M3-Brigade Acquisition II Corp. its $2.85 billion merger with Syniverse
• Telesat Corporation in its $5.0 billion Up-C transaction with Loral Space & Communications Inc. and PSP Investments
• CenturyLink in:
  – its acquisition of Level 3 Communications in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $34 billion, including the assumption of debt; and
  – its $2.5 billion acquisition of SAVVIS, Inc.
• Verizon Communications in its $130 billion acquisition of Vodafone Group Plc’s 45% interest in Verizon Wireless
• Searchlight Capital Partners in its co-investment in the $4.3 billion acquisition of Rackspace Hosting, Inc. by funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management
• Grupo Prisa in its $1.5 billion combination with Liberty Acquisition Holdings and its related rights issuance
• Goldman Sachs Capital Partners in the sale of its interests in a joint venture with Canwest Global Communications Corp. in connection with Canwest’s approximately C$2 billion sale of its broadcasting assets to Shaw Communications

Healthcare and Biotechnology

• Actelion in its $30 billion acquisition by Johnson & Johnson and the spin-off of its drug discovery operations and early-stage clinical assets
• Abbott Laboratories in the $4.3 billion sale of its vision care business to Johnson & Johnson
• Cardinal Health in:
  – its $1.9 billion acquisition of Johnson & Johnson’s Cordis business; and
  – its $2.1 billion acquisition of AssuraMed

Financial Institutions

• Visa in its €21.2 billion acquisition of Visa Europe Ltd.
• MetLife in its disposition of $7.5 billion in retail banking deposits, representing the majority of its depository business, to GE Capital
• Knight Capital Group in:
  – its acquisition of Penson Futures; and
  – the sale of its institutional fixed income and trading business to Stifel Financial
• Santander Holdings USA in various public debt securities transactions
• AllianceBernstein in its acquisition of SunAmerica’s alternative investments group
• Bank of America in its $2.5 billion sale of Grupo Financiero Santander to Banco Santander

Utilities

• MDU Resources Group in:
  – its spin-off of Knife River Corporation, including a related debt-for-equity exchange and the secondary offering of MDU’s retained stake in Knife River; and
  – the announced spin-off of its construction services business, MDU Construction Services Group
• SUEZ in its €26 billion acquisition by Veolia
• Duke Energy in its $32 billion merger with Progress Energy
• NextEra Energy in:
  – its $6.5 billion acquisition of Gulf Power Company, Florida City Gas and the Stanton and Oleander Power Projects from The Southern Company; and
  – its proposed $4.3 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Electric Industries

Retail and Consumer Goods

• American Eagle Outfitters in its $350 million acquisition of Quiet Logistics and other strategic supply chain investments
• Altria in its $2.8 billion investment in Cronos Group
• Tim Hortons in its $12.2 billion combination with Burger King Worldwide, Inc.
• Groupe Casino and Cnova N.V. in:
  – Cnova’s initial public offering;
  – Cnova’s reorganization of Cnova Brazil within Casino’s Brazilian affiliate, Via Varejo; and
  – Casino’s take-private tender offer for Cnova
• Dufry AG in:
  – its €328 million acquisition of the remaining interest in Folli Follie Group;
  – its CHF 1.4 billion acquisition of The Nuance Group; and
  – its CHF 3.8 billion acquisition of World Duty Free S.p.A.
• DSW in:
  – its $375 million acquisition of Camuto Group’s operations; and
  – a joint venture with Authentic Brands Group for the Camuto Group intellectual property

Recent Financing and Capital Markets transactions

• TPG Capital and Sixth Street Partners in connection with their preferred investment in Vice Media
• WESCO International in:
  – its $2.8 billion senior notes offering in connection with the acquisition of Anixter International; and
  – its cash tender offer for up to $600 million of Anixter International’s notes, and related consent solicitations, in connection with the acquisition of Anixter
• Edison International in its $800 million registered direct offering of common stock
• American Eagle Outfitters in its Rule 144A offering of up to $460 million of convertible senior notes
• DICK’S Sporting Goods in its $575 million convertible senior notes offering with related call spreads
• Telesat Canada in:
  – its $400 million senior secured notes offering and $1.9 billion term loan refinancing; and
  – its $550 million senior notes offering