John Robinson

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 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.

Diversified Manufacturing

• 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

• Univar in:

       - its $2 billion acquisition of Nexeo Solutions; and
       - its $640 million disposition of Nexeo’s plastics business

• AV Homes in its $963 million sale to Taylor Morrison Home
• Eagle Materials in the separation of its heavy and light materials businesses

• Hubbell Incorporated in:

       - its $1.1 billion acquisition of Aclara Technologies from an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners; and
       - the reclassification of its dual-class common stock into a single class of common stock

• 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

• 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
• Maxar Technologies in the CAD$1 billion sale of its MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates business to a consortium of financial sponsors led by Northern Private Capital

• Creative Artists Agency in:

       - the investment by TPG Capital to acquire a controlling interest in CAA, and related debt and equity recapitalization transactions;
       - a $120 million investment and joint venture transaction with a consortium led by China Media Capital; and
       - a $95 million investment from Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited

• 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

• 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

• 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:

       - nova’s initial public offering;
       - nova’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

• 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

Dartmouth College, A.B. 2003, summa cum laude
Stanford Law School, J.D. 2009, with distinction (Senior Editor, Stanford Law Review)

• Dartmouth College, A.B. 2003, summa cum laude
• Stanford Law School, J.D. 2009, with distinction (Senior Editor, Stanford Law Review)