Daniel J. Cerqueira

Cerqueira’s notable transactions include representing:

• Occidental Petroleum in its $57 billion acquisition of Anadarko, topping Anadarko’s original agreement with Chevron; the $8.8 billion sale of Anadarko’s African assets to Total; the $10 billion investment by Berkshire Hathaway; and the pending $9.7 billion sale of OxyChem to Berkshire Hathaway;
• Premier’s transaction committee in the pending $2.6 billion acquisition by Patient Square;
• Disney in its $85 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox, overcoming an interloper bid by Comcast to its original $66 billion agreement; ESPN’s pending acquisition of NFL Network and other media assets from the NFL in exchange for a 10% equity stake in ESPN; the combination of its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo; ESPN’s proposed joint venture with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery to launch Venu Sports; and ESPN’s strategic alliance with PENN Entertainment to launch ESPN BET;
• Illumina in its $8 billion acquisition and subsequent spin-off of GRAIL and its pending acquisition of SomaLogic;
• Flowserve in its proposed $19 billion merger of equals with Chart Industries;
• Wiz in its pending $32 billion acquisition by Google;
• Paramount’s special committee in the $28 billion merger with Skydance;
• The Criterion Collection and Janus Films in their sale to Steven M. Rales;
• Banco Sabadell in its defense against the €17 billion unsolicited takeover bid from BBVA;

• DRI Capital in the acquisition of a synthetic royalty interest in the worldwide sales of sebetralstat and related equity investment in KalVista Pharmaceuticals, the acquisition from Editas Medicine of payment streams based on the Cas9 gene‑editing technology for CASGEVY, the expansion of its royalty interest in Omidria, its acquisition of a royalty interest in Orserdu from Eisai, its acquisition of a second royalty interest in Orserdu from Radius Health and the $210 million sale of its TZIELD royalty interest to Sanofi;

• Hasbro in the sale of its eOne film and TV business to Lionsgate;
• entrotech in the formation of PPG Advanced Surface Technologies, a joint venture with PPG Industries;
• RedHill Biopharma in its agreement with HealthCare Royalty to extinguish its debt obligations in exchange for Movantik;
• Altra in its $5 billion acquisition by Regal Rexnord and its $3 billion combination with four operating companies from Fortive’s Automation and Specialty platform;

• IBM in its acquisitions of Randori, ReaQta, McD Tech Labs from McDonald’s, and BoxBoat and the sale of its marketing platform and commerce software offerings to Centerbridge;

• SMBC Aviation Capital in its $6.7 billion acquisition of Goshawk Aviation;
• GreenSky in its $2.24 billion acquisition by Goldman Sachs;
• Hibu Group in the sale of its U.S. business to H.I.G. Capital;

• Univision in its sale of a majority stake to Searchlight and ForgeLight;

• Cincinnati Bell in its $2.9 billion acquisition by Macquarie Infrastructure;

• Viacom’s transaction committee in the $30 billion merger with CBS;
• Buckeye Partners in its $10.3 billion acquisition by IFM and the $975 million sale of its 50% interest in VTTI to Vitol and IFM;
• FS Investments (now Future Standard) in the transition of the management of its business development company (BDC) platform to investment advisory partnerships with EIG Global Energy Partners and KKR;

• Brookfield Asset Management in its $3.8 billion acquisition of a controlling stake in TerraForm Power and its $1.3 billion acquisition of TerraForm Global;

• D+H in its C$4.8 billion sale to Vista Equity Partners;

• Biogen in its $1.25 billion settlement and license agreement with Forward Pharma;

• Starwood Hotels in its $13.3 billion sale to Marriott International and in connection with a competing, unsolicited acquisition proposal from a consortium consisting of Anbang Insurance Group, J.C. Flowers & Co. and Primavera Capital;

• Lindsay Goldberg in its sale of PAE to Platinum Equity;

• BDT Capital Partners in its acquisition of a majority interest in Alliance Laundry Systems from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan;

• AmerisourceBergen in its $2.5 billion acquisition of MWI Veterinary Supply; and

• AerCap in its $28 billion acquisition of International Lease Finance from AIG.

Cerqueira has also represented numerous companies in defending against hedge fund activism. Notable examples include representing:

• ARIAD Pharmaceuticals in the adoption of its shareholder rights plan and in its settlement agreement with Sarissa Capital;
• Ashland in its proxy contest and subsequent settlement agreement with Cruiser Capital;
• Disney in its support agreement with Third Point and its successful proxy contests against Trian and Blackwells;
• Hasbro in its successful proxy contest against Alta Fox Capital;
• Hertz in the adoption of its shareholder rights plan in response to an activist investor reported to be Carl Icahn; 
• Illumina in its proxy contest against Carl Icahn and its interactions with Corvex; and
• Southwest Gas in its proxy fight and settlement agreement with, and its response to an unsolicited tender offer from, Carl Icahn.