Eric M. Feinstein is a Partner in the Corporate Department of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Eric’s practice focuses on domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, spin-offs, securities law matters, hostile takeover defense, shareholder activism and general corporate governance matters. He has advised a broad range of public and private clients across multiple industries, including banking, financial services, technology, media, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, industrials, energy, real estate and sports. 

In 2024, Eric was one of five lawyers recognized by Law360 as a “Rising Star” in M&A.  Eric has also been named to the Lawdragon 500 X – the Next Generation list as one of the next generation of legal leaders in America.

Eric serves on the Board of Advisors of the Institute for Law & Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Selected technology, media, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, industrials, energy, real estate and sports representations include:

• David Rubenstein in his acquisition of the Baltimore Orioles
• FIS in its $18.5 billion carve-out divestiture of a majority interest in its Worldpay merchant solutions business
• Amgen in its $4 billion acquisition of ChemoCentryx
• Perrigo Company plc in multiple transactions, including its:
  • €275 million carve-out divestiture of its HRA Pharma Rare Diseases business
  • Divestiture of its scar-treatment business
  • $2.1 billion acquisition of HRA Pharma from Astorg and Goldman Sachs Asset Management
  • $1.6 billion carve-out divestiture of its generic Rx pharmaceutical business
  • $2.8 billion sale of its rights in the royalty stream of Tysabri®
  • Successful defense against a $26 billion hostile takeover offer by Mylan N.V.
  • Governance agreement with Starboard
• Adobe in its $1.3 billion acquisition of frame.io
• Broadcom in multiple transactions, including its:
  • $130 billion proposal to acquire Qualcomm
  • $18.9 billion all-cash acquisition of CA Technologies
  • $950 million sale of Veracode to Thoma Bravo
• United Technologies in its separation into three independent public companies and the spin-offs of Otis Worldwide Corp. and Carrier Global Corporation
• AECOM in multiple transactions, including its:
  • $2.4 billion carve-out sale of its Management Services business to American Securities and Lindsay Goldberg
  • Carve-out sale of its oil & gas maintenance business to Graham Construction
  • Governance agreement with Starboard
• Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore in their acquisition of an ownership interest in the Minnesota Timberwolves
• Quality Care Properties in its $3.9 billion acquisition by Welltower, including its related agreement with ProMedica Health System to acquire HCR ManorCare through a bankruptcy reorganization
• Derek Jeter and an investor group led by him in the acquisition of the Miami Marlins
• CIT Group in multiple transactions, including its:
  • $10 billion carve-out sale of its aircraft leasing business to Avolon Holdings Limited
  • Sale of its aircraft leasing joint ventures to Tokyo Century
• TEGNA in multiple transactions, including its:
  • Spin-off of Cars.com
  • Sale of CareerBuilder to Apollo Global Management and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board
• Periphas Capital in its convertible preferred equity investment in KAR Auction Services
• Motorola Solutions in multiple transactions, including its strategic partnership with Silver Lake and related securities transactions
• CNX Resources in the spin-off of its coal business
• Annaly Capital Management in its $1.5 billion acquisition of Hatteras Financial
• Ventas in its spin-off of its skilled nursing REIT, Care Capital Properties
• Gannett in its governance agreement with Carl Icahn and the spin-off of its publishing business

Selected bank and financial services representations include:

• Goldman Sachs in its sale of GreenSky and related loan assets to a consortium led by Sixth Street
• Royal Bank of Canada in its $CAD 13.5 billion acquisition of HSBC Bank Canada
• SoFi Technologies in multiple transactions, including its:
  • $8.6 billion merger with Social Capital Hedosophia V
  • $1.1 billion acquisition of Technisys S.A.
  • Acquisition of Wyndham Capital Mortgage
  • $1.2 billion and $860 million convertible notes issuances, $600 million common equity for convertible notes exchange and other securities transactions
• Umpqua Holdings in its $8.2 billion all-stock combination with Columbia Banking System
• Valley National Bancorp in its $1.2 billion acquisition of Bank Leumi USA
• Boston Private Financial Holdings in its $900 million acquisition by SVB Financial and successful defense against a proxy contest by activist investor HoldCo Asset Management
• BB&T Corporation in its $66 billion merger of equals with SunTrust
• Ford Financial Fund and its portfolio company Mechanics Bank in multiple transactions, including the following acquisitions and related rights offerings:
  • $2.1 billion carve-out acquisition of Rabobank
  • Acquisition of Learner Financial Corporation and Scott Valley Bank
  • Acquisition of California Republic Bancorp
• Banner Corporation in its acquisition of Skagit Bancorp
• Hampton Roads Bankshares in its acquisition of Xenith Bankshares

Eric received a B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University in 2007, where he graduated with honors and received the John Addison Porter Prize in American History.

In 2014, he completed a J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif.  He also received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in Finance and was a Palmer Scholar.