George Tepe is a partner in Wachtell Lipton’s Corporate Department.   His practice focuses primarily on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate governance, shareholder activism and securities laws matters.

George received a B.A. magna cum laude in Economics from Amherst College in 2014, where he was Student Body President, elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received the James R. Nelson Prize for a distinguished economics thesis on a matter of public policy. He received his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2017, where he was a James Kent Scholar and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Business Law Review. He received the Ruth Bader Ginsberg Prize, the Paul R. Hays Prize, awarded to outstanding first-year students in civil procedure, and the Powell Fellowship, awarded for outstanding work as a faculty research assistant.

George serves as a Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of Cranbrook Schools.

Selected representations include:

Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and Health Services

• Hologic in its $18.3 billion acquisition by Blackstone and TPG
• Pfizer in its up to $10 billion acquisition of Metsera
• CVS Health in its appointment of new directors and its confidentiality and standstill agreement with Glenview Capital Management and its $3 billion notes offering and $3 billion debt tender offers
• The Cigna Group in its $3.7 billion sale of its Medicare Advantage, Cigna Supplemental Benefits, Medicare Part D and CareAllies businesses to Health Care Service Corporation
• TruTechnologies in its sale of a majority ownership stake to LLR Partners

Technology and Telecommunications

• Palo Alto Networks in its $25 billion acquisition of CyberArk Software
• T-Mobile in multiple transactions, including:
  • $4.9 billion investment in a joint venture with KKR to acquire Metronet and investment in a joint venture with KKR to acquire U.S. Internet
  • Pending $2 billion investment in a 50/50 joint venture with Oak Hill to acquire and combine GoNetspeed and Greenlight Networks
  • Pending $700 million investment in a 50/50 joint venture with Wren House to acquire i3 Broadband
• Telesat Canada in its $4.4 billion Up-C transaction with its shareholders, Loral Space & Communications and PSP Investments
• HP Inc. in its successful defense against the $34 billion unsolicited exchange offer and associated proxy fight by Xerox
• OpenGov in its $1.8 billion acquisition by Cox Enterprises
• Intelsat in numerous financing and securities transactions

Private Equity

• TowerBrook Capital Partners in its $8.9 billion acquisition of R1 RCM with CD&R and in connection with R1 RCM’s $4.1 billion acquisition of Cloudmed
• Apollo Global Management in its $1.85 billion all-cash acquisition of U.S. Silica and its $6 billion acquisition of Tech Data Corporation
• Sixth Street in its joint venture with Figure Technology Solutions in connection with Figure’s pending acquisition of Kiavi
• Centerbridge Partners in its $500 million acquisition of reorganized Speedcast International and its affiliates pursuant to a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization
• Warburg Pincus in its minority investment in Edelman Financial Engines and its Series C investment in Beacon Platform
• Siris Capital Group in its $4.4 billion all-cash acquisition of Travelport Worldwide
• Searchlight Capital Partners in its $2 billion acquisition of Mitel Networks
• Mudrick Capital Management in the $1.085 billion out-of-court debt restructuring of Affinion Group

Financial Services, Fintech and Banking

• Global Payments in multiple transactions, including:
  • $45 billion merger of equals with Total System Services
  • $925 million acquisition of Zego
  • $3 billion senior notes offering in connection with its acquisition of Total System Services
• Triumph Financial in multiple transactions, including:
  • $160 million acquisition of Greenscreens.ai
  • $97 million acquisition of HubTran
  • Strategic minority investment in Trax Group, Inc.
  • $100 million modified Dutch auction tender offer to repurchase its common stock
  • Private placement of $70 million in aggregate principal amount of its Fixed-to-Floating Rate Subordinated Notes
• Bremer Financial in its $1.4 billion merger with Old National Bancorp
• Lincoln Financial in its $825 million strategic growth investment from Bain Capital
• Mr. Cooper Group in its $324 million acquisition of Home Point Capital
• Monticello Associates in its acquisition by Cresset
• City National Bank in its acquisition of Film Track

Consumer, Entertainment and Retail

• PENN Entertainment in multiple transactions, including:
  • Its cooperation agreement with HG Vora, including the appointment of three new independent directors
  • Strategic alliance with ESPN for U.S. online sports betting
  • $2 billion acquisition of Score Media and Gaming
  • Investment in, acquisition and divestiture of Barstool Sports
  • Its nomination of two directors following discussions with HG Vora
• Altria in multiple transactions, including:
  • $12.8 billion investment in JUUL Labs
  • Joint venture with Japan Tobacco for the U.S. marketing and commercialization of heated tobacco stick products
  • $2.2 billion underwritten global offering of ordinary shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev
• Mondelēz in its acquisition of Hu Products, its acquisition of Give & Go and its approximately $500 million acquisition of Tate’s Bake Shop
• Cengage Group in its $500 million investment from funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management

Industrials and Energy

• Honeywell Technologies in its $72 billion spin-off of Honeywell Aerospace
• National Instruments in its $8.2 billion acquisition by Emerson
• Phillips 66 in its $2.2 billion acquisition of EPIC Y-Grade
• Prysmian in its $4.2 billion acquisition of Encore Wire
• Littelfuse in its $540 million acquisition of C&K Switches
• Conflicts Committee of the Board of Directors of NuStar GP Holdings in its $780 million acquisition by NuStar Energy and its response to an unsolicited acquisition proposal by Energy Transfer