Benjamin S. Arfa

Education
- Cornell University, B.S. 2008
- London School of Economics and Political Science, M.Sc. 2009, with distinction
- Harvard Law School, J.D. 2014, cum laude
Benjamin S. Arfa
Benjamin S. Arfa is a Partner in Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz’s Restructuring and Finance Department. Benjamin represents borrowers, creditors, sponsors and distressed investors in connection with financing aspects of all types of transformative corporate transactions and in a wide range of bankruptcy, restructuring, liability management, direct lending, rescue and DIP financing and other high-yield financing transactions.
His recent engagements include advising:
Bankruptcy & Restructuring
- an ad hoc group of unsecured noteholders (including affiliates of Capital Group, BlackRock, CI Investments, Manulife, Mesirow and CastleKnight) in connection with the contested Chapter 11 cases of Altera Infrastructure
- an ad hoc group of first and second lien noteholders (including affiliates of Glendon, Monarch, Owl Creek and Intermarket) in connection with their acquisition of a controlling interest in Pyxus International through bankruptcy
- Centerbridge Partners in connection with its acquisition of Speedcast International through a contested Chapter 11 plan of reorganization
- Axar Capital in the strict foreclosure and out-of-court restructuring of Phillips Pet Food & Supplies
- Quorum Health Corporation in its Chapter 11 pre-packaged plan of reorganization
- Tuesday Morning Corporation in its out-of-court recapitalization and restructuring transactions
Special Situations & Liability Management
- Centerbridge Partners and King Street Capital in connection with their debt investment in an unrestricted subsidiary of U.S. Renal Care
- Caspian Capital in connection with its debt investment in an unrestricted subsidiary of Hornblower
- Littlejohn & Co. in various matters
Funds & Private Equity
- Tiger Global in various matters
- Cetus Capital in various matters
- Apollo Global Management in connection with its investment in and sale of Presidio
Corporate Financing
- Salesforce in connection with financing for its $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack and its $6.5 billion acquisition of MuleSoft
- Broadcom with respect to $32 billion of committed financing to fund its pending acquisition of VMware, $18 billion of financing to fund its acquisition of CA, Inc. and $15.5 billion of financing to fund its acquisition of the enterprise security business of Symantec Corporation
- Abbott Laboratories in connection with its $25 billion acquisition of St. Jude Medical and $2.8 billion term loan to finance its acquisition of Alere Inc.
- 3M in the $5.3 billion combination of its Food Safety business with Neogen Corporation in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction
- XPO Logistics in more than $14 billion of financing transactions, including in connection with its €3.24 billion acquisition of Norbert Dentressangle S.A., its $3 billion acquisition of Con-way and its spin-offs of GXO Logistics and RXO
- Herman Miller in connection with committed financing to fund its $1.8 billion acquisition of Knoll
- Rayonier Advanced Materials in connection with various financing transactions, including to fund its $800 million acquisition of Tembec
- Insulet in its $800 million convertible notes offering and $500 million secured term loan
Benjamin received a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University in 2008, where he was a Meinig Family National Scholar. Benjamin also received an M.Sc. in Accounting and Finance with distinction from the London School of Economics in 2009. He completed his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2014.
Prior to joining Wachtell Lipton, Benjamin worked as an analyst in the Financial Institutions Group in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Select Publications
- Corporate Bankruptcy & Restructuring: 2022-2023,
in The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Restructuring & Insolvency, Global Legal Group Ltd., Seventeenth ed. 2023.
- Financing Year in Review: The Tide Turns,
in The Harvard Law School Corporate Governance Forum, January 24, 2023.
- Developing Trends in Private Equity Financing,
in Financier Worldwide, September 2022.
- Financing Year in Review: A Robust Recovery,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, January 13, 2022.
- Financing Year in Review: From Crisis to Comeback,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, January 19, 2021.
- Post-Confirmation Entities Created Under Restructuring Plans, The "In Pari Delicto" Doctrine & The American Bankruptcy Institute's Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11,
in 41st Annual Lawrence P. King and Charles Seligson Workshop on Bankruptcy & Business Reorganization, September 16-17, 2015.