Daniel A. Neff served for 20 years (through October 2023) as the co-chairman of the Executive Committee in the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. He continues to serve as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. He is a corporate and securities lawyer, and has focused on mergers and acquisitions and advice to boards of directors and board committees. Throughout his career, Neff has been extensively involved in negotiated as well as hostile acquisitions, and has represented bidders and targets, public and private companies, private equity firms, leveraged acquirers and special committees of directors. He has represented companies in divestitures, cross-border transactions and proxy contests, and has counseled managements and boards of directors concerning acquisition matters, responses to shareholder activism, conflict transactions, corporate governance and other significant issues.
Lawdragon Honors
Among the significant matters he has handled are the successful defense of Airgas against a hostile takeover bid by Air Products and Chemicals (2009-2011), the sale of Airgas to L’Air Liquide S.A., the merger of Anadarko Petroleum with Occidental Petroleum and Anadarko’s response to acquisition proposals from Chevron and the $130 billion acquisition by Verizon Communications of the 45% interest in Verizon Wireless owned by Vodafone plc. Neff has represented clients in a broad range of industries including:
Energy and Related Industries
- Anadarko Petroleum in its $38 billion merger with Occidental Petroleum
- Spectra Energy Corp in its $28 billion merger with Enbridge Inc.
- El Paso in its $38 billion sale to Kinder Morgan
- Chord Energy in its $11 billion combination with Enerplus
- Talisman Energy Inc. in its $8.3 billion sale to Repsol S.A.
- Dresser-Rand Group in its $7.6 billion sale to Siemens AG
- Smith International in its $11 billion merger with Schlumberger
Technology and Telecom
- Verizon Communications in its $130 billion acquisition of the 45% interest in Verizon Wireless owned by Vodafone Plc
- VoiceStream Wireless in its $55 billion acquisition by Deutsche Telekom
- Alibaba Group in its $7.8 billion repurchase of stock from Yahoo!
Chemicals
- FMC in its simultaneous acquisition of portions of DuPont’s agricultural chemical business and sale to DuPont of its health and nutrition segment
- Airgas in its $13.4 billion acquisition by L’Air Liquide S.A.
- Rohm and Haas in its $18 billion sale to Dow Chemical
Pharmaceuticals
- Alexion Pharmaceuticals in its $39 billion acquisition by AstraZeneca
- Actelion in its $30 billion acquisition by Johnson & Johnson and spin-off of Idorsia, which holds Actelion’s R&D pipeline
- Medivation in its $14.6 billion acquisition by Pfizer
Manufacturing/Industrials
- Cooper Industries in its $11.8 billion combination with Eaton Corporation
- Litton Industries Inc in its merger with Northrop Grumman Corporation
- Vivendi Universal in its $7.8 billion acquisition of United States Filter Corporation
Retail/Consumer Products
- Whole Foods Market in responding to shareholder activism and its $14 billion merger with Amazon.com, Inc.
- Kellogg Company in its $4.6 billion acquisition of Keebler Foods Company and its $2.7 billion acquisition of Procter & Gamble’s Pringles business
Gaming
- PENN Entertainment in numerous transactions, including its exclusive strategic alliance with ESPN for U.S. online sports betting, its acquisition of Score Media and Gaming, its acquisition of Barstool Sports, its $2.8 billion acquisition of Pinnacle Entertainment, its $575 million divestiture of four casinos to Boyd Gaming and the separation of its real estate assets into Gaming and Leisure Properties, the first gaming-focused REIT
- Mirage Resorts Incorporated in its merger with MGM Grand Inc
- Wynn Resorts Limited in successful proxy contests with former directors of the company
Other
- Marsh & McLennan Companies in its $6.4 billion acquisition of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group
- Knight-Ridder, Inc in its merger with The McClatchy Company
