Samson Z. Mesele Associate, Corporate P: 212.403.1191 F: 212.403.2191 [email protected]
Samson Z. Mesele joined Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz’s Corporate Department as an associate in 2014. His practice focuses primarily on mergers and acquisitions, securities law matters, takeover defense, corporate governance and shareholder activism. Mr. Mesele has represented bidders and targets in negotiated as well as hostile acquisitions, and has advised public and private companies, private equity firms and boards of directors in a broad range of transactions and industries.
Mr. Mesele received a B.S. in economics with honors from Duke University, where he studied on a full academic scholarship as a Robertson Scholar. Mr. Mesele received a J.D. from Yale Law School, and as a law student served as a Teaching Fellow for Financial Theory in the Economics Department at Yale College and published scholarship presented at the American Law and Economics Association Conference. Prior to attending Yale, Mr. Mesele advised pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the Investment Banking Division at Morgan Stanley.
Mr. Mesele’s recent representations include:
Alcoa in its $1.5 billion acquisition of RTI International Metals Altria in its $2.8 billion investment into Cronos Group Anadarko Petroleum in its $60 billion acquisition by Occidental Petroleum Apollo Global Management’s affiliated funds in their $6 billion acquisition of Tech Data Atlas Energy in its $1.9 billion sale to Targa Resources and the spin-off of its non-midstream assets, including the general partner interest and incentive distribution rights in its E&P subsidiary, Atlas Resource Partners Atlas Pipeline Partners in its $5.8 billion sale to Targa Resources Partners BGC Partners in its unsolicited offer and subsequent $778 million acquisition of GFI Group Cadence in its $1.4 billion acquisition of State Bank CardWorks in its agreed $2.65 billion sale to Ally Financial Casino Group in its €1.7 billion sale to Grupo Éxito of an 18.8% interest in Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição (GPA) and 100% of Casino’s Argentinian subsidiary, Libertad Cigna in its $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts FBR & Co. in its successful defense to the proxy contest by Voce Capital Management FCB Financial Holdings in its $2.9 billion sale to Synovus Furmanite in its $335 million sale to Team Geeknet in its $140 million sale to GameStop, which made a topping bid after Geeknet had agreed to be acquired by Hot Topic Heartland Payment Systems in its $4.3 billion acquisition by Global Payments Hilltop Holdings in its $150 million sale of National Lloyds Corporation to Align Financial Holdings Home Depot in its $8 billion acquisition of HD Supply Investment Technology Group in its $1 billion acquisition by Virtu Financial JAVELIN Mortgage Investment in its acquisition by ARMOUR Residential REIT Johnson Controls in its $16.3 billion combination with Tyco International plc, the spin-off of its automotive business and the $1.475 billion sale of its Global WorkPlace Solutions business to CBRE Littelfuse in its $750 million acquisition of IXYS and its $104 million acquisition of a product portfolio for automotive ignition applications from ON Semiconductor Nasdaq in its acquisition of Solovis North Island in its $625 million investment in Virtu Financial to help finance Virtu’s acquisition of KCG Holdings Outside Equity Investors in Outcome Health, including Goldman Sachs, Google and Pritzker Group Venture Capital, in the settlement of all litigation with Outcome Health and recommitment of capital to Outcome Health Pfizer in its $48 billion combination of Upjohn, its off-patent branded and generic established medicines business, with Mylan in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction and in its formation of a premier global consumer healthcare joint venture with GlaxoSmithKline PNC Financial Services Group in its $11.6 billion acquisition of BBVA USA Bancshares Promontory Financial Group in its acquisition by IBM Teneo in its sale to CVC Capital Partners Whole Foods Market in its $13.7 billion acquisition by Amazon.com
Mr. Mesele is admitted to practice in the State of New York.
Recent Publications
SEC Clarifies Non-GAAP Reconciliation Rules for M&A Disclosures, in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, November 15, 2017.
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