Erica E. Bonnett

Education
- New York University, B.A. 2007, summa cum laude
- New York Law School, J.D. 2010, summa cum laude, Trustees Prize for the Highest Cumulative Grade Point Average
Erica E. Bonnett
Erica E. Bonnett is a partner in the Executive Compensation and Benefits Department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Her practice focuses on the executive compensation and benefits aspects of mergers and acquisitions, spinoffs, divestitures, and other corporate transactions. She also regularly advises companies on governance matters, securities laws, and compensation disclosure and assists companies and executives on executive employment agreements and other compensation arrangements.
Selected representations in merger, acquisition and divestiture transactions include:
Technology and Financial Technology
- Adobe in its acquisition of Workfront Inc. and frame.io
- Broadcom in the sale of its Cyber Security Services business to Accenture and its sale of the BlazeMeter Continuous Testing platform to Perforce Software
- eBay in its sale of StubHub to viagogo, in the transfer of its Classifieds business to Adevinta, and in the sale of a majority of its Korean businesses to Emart
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise in its acquisition of Cray, its acquisition of Nimble Storage, and the spinoff and merger of its noncore software assets with Micro Focus International
- TriumphPay in its acquisition of HubTran
- Acima Holdings in its acquisition by Rent-A-Center
Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
- Hillrom in its acquisition by Baxter International
- Alexion Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition by AstraZeneca
- Celgene in its acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb
- Constellation Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition by MorphoSys
- Cigna in its acquisition of Express Scripts
- C.R. Bard in its acquisition by Becton, Dickinson
- CareFusion in its acquisition by Becton, Dickinson
Real Estate
- Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corporation in its pending acquisition by Industrial Logistics Properties Trust
- CoreSite Realty Corporation in its acquisition by American Tower
- Columbia Property Trust in its acquisition by PIMCO
- VEREIT in its acquisition by Realty Income
Financial Institutions
- TD Ameritrade’s Strategic Development Committee in the merger of TD Ameritrade with Charles Schwab
- Thomson Reuters in the sale of a majority stake in its Financial and Risk business to private equity funds managed by Blackstone
- Triumph Bancorp in various transactions, including its acquisitions of First Bancorp of Durango and Southern Colorado Corp.
- City National Corporation in its acquisition by Royal Bank of Canada
Consumer Products
- Herman Miller in its acquisition of Knoll
- Mondelēz International in its acquisitions of Tate’s Bake Shop, Give & Go, and Hu Products
- Kellogg Company in the sale of its cookies and fruit snacks business to Ferrero
Representations in initial public offerings and spinoff transactions include:
- XPO Logistics in its separation into two public companies
- Guild Holdings in its initial public offering
- United Technologies Corporation in its separation into three public companies
- Arconic Corporation in its separation into two public companies
- Hewlett-Packard Company in its separation into two public companies
- Alcoa in its separation into two public companies
- Agilent Technologies in its separation into two public companies
Representations in merger of equals transactions include:
- Cimarex Energy in its merger of equals with Cabot Oil & Gas
- United Technologies Corporation in its merger of equals with Raytheon Company
Ms. Bonnett received a J.D. degree, summa cum laude, from New York Law School in 2010, where she was a member of the New York Law School Law Review and a recipient of the Trustees Prize for the Highest Cumulative Grade Point Average, and a B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from New York University in 2007. Ms. Bonnett was named a Rising Star by Law360 for 2020.
Ms. Bonnett is a member of the Bar in New York.
Select Publications
- Compensation Season 2023,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, January 20, 2023.
- Cross-Border M&A - 2023 Checklist for Successful Acquisitions in the United States,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, January 7, 2023.
- REIT M&A and Strategy in 2022,
January 3, 2022.
- Compensation Season 2022,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, January 9, 2022 and Columbia Law School’s Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets, January 11, 2022.
- 2021 Proxy Season: Executive Compensation Considerations,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, February 15, 2021.
- Compensation Season 2021,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, January 14, 2021.
- The New SEC Regulation S-K Rules: Practical Advice for Companies,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, October 14, 2020.
- Compensation Committee Guide - 2020,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, March 19, 2020.
- Compensation Season 2020,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, January 23, 2020.
- Frequently Overlooked Disclosure Items in Annual Proxy Statements,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, February 28, 2019.
- 2018 Proxy Season: Five Ways to Improve Your Compensation Disclosure,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, November 25, 2017.