Ben Roth has been a member of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz’s Corporate Department for nearly 25 years and was elected to the partnership in 2009. His practice focuses on advising boards of directors, management teams and financial sponsors in connection with domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and other private equity transactions, capital markets transactions, including IPOs, spinoffs and other forms of securities offerings, and general corporate governance and securities law matters, including proxy fights and activism preparedness and defense. He has advised a broad range of public and private companies and financial sponsors in the United States and abroad in a variety of industries, including technology, health care, pharmaceuticals, retail, energy, industrials and financial institutions.
Roth is a key leader in Wachtell Lipton’s Technology Transactions practice. He spends a significant amount of time advising public and private clients in the technology sector on transactional and governance matters, as well as advising other companies seeking to acquire high-tech assets. He spends a significant amount of his time on the West Coast.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2027 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers | 2027 | M&A, Capital Markets, Private Equity |
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2026 | M&A, Capital Markets, Private Equity |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Energy Lawyers | 2025 | Energy M&A |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2025 | M&A, Capital Markets, Private Equity |
| The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2024 | M&A, Capital Markets, Private Equity |
Selected publicly-disclosed representations include:
Technology and Gaming
- Twitter in its acquisition by Elon Musk
- Airbnb in numerous aspects of its corporate governance in connection with its initial public offering
- Google in its “stalking horse agreement” to acquire a portfolio of 6,000 patents and related assets from Nortel pursuant to Nortel’s bankruptcy process
Life Sciences, Pharma and Healthcare
- Hologic in its acquisition by Blackstone and TPG as well as in its acquisition and subsequent disposition of Cynosure
- Walgreens in its transactions with Alliance Boots and AmerisourceBergen, and its acquisitions of Duane Reade and Option Care
Retail
- Wal-Mart in its acquisition of The Seiyu, Ltd. of Japan
- The Sports Authority in its acquisition by Leonard Green & Partners
Energy and Renewables
- ConocoPhillips in its acquisition of Burlington Resources
- Cinergy in its merger with Duke Energy
Consumer Products, Restaurants and Packages Goods
- Yum! Brands in the spinoff of its China business, as well as the concurrent investments by Primavera Capital and Ant Financial into Yum China
- Kellogg in its sale of certain cookies and other businesses to Ferrero International and its acquisition of the Pringles® business from Procter & Gamble
- Clorox in its successful defense against an unsolicited offer by Icahn Enterprises
Financial Services
- Sears, Roebuck & Co. in the sale of its U.S. credit card and financial product businesses to Citicorp
- CIT Group in various exchange and new securities offerings
Industrial, Aerospace, Other
- Barnes Group in its acquisition of MB Aerospace
- Raytheon Technologies in its $9.2 billion private exchange offer and related consent solicitation and offering of new notes
- United Technology’s Pratt & Whitney division in the restructuring of its International Aero Engine joint venture
Select public activist defense representations:
- Yum! Brands in its engagement with Corvex Management
- Apple in its engagement with Carl Icahn
- The Clorox Company in its engagement with Carl Icahn