Matthew M. Guest, a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, is a corporate and transactional lawyer who primarily focuses on advising public companies on strategic matters, acquisitions and dispositions, dispute resolutions, securities law matters, takeover defense and general corporate matters. A substantial portion of his practice involves representing banks and other financial services companies.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America | 2026 | M&A, Banks |
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2026 | M&A, Securities |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2025 | M&A, Securities |
| The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2024 | M&A, Securities |
Selected recent publicly disclosed representations include:
- Capital One in its $35.3 billion acquisition of Discover
- Comerica in its pending $10.9 billion merger with Fifth Third Bancorp
- The Charles Schwab Corporation in its pending $660 million acquisition of Forge Global Holdings
- Chemours in numerous transactions and settlements
- TowneBank in its $203 million acquisition of Old Point Financial Corporation and its pending $476 million acquisition of Dogwood State Bank
- Wells Fargo in its sale of its non-agency commercial mortgage servicing business
- Bremer Financial Corporation in its $1.4 billion sale to Old National Bancorp
- Southport Acquisition Corporation in its $1.6 billion merger with Angel Studios
- CapStar Financial Holdings in its $344 million sale to Old National Bancorp
Selected historical publicly disclosed matters include:
- Capital One in many transactions, including the acquisitions of ING Direct USA, the HSBC U.S. card business, Chevy Chase Bank, and numerous card partnerships and acquisitions and dispositions of card portfolios and other businesses
- Valley National Bancorp in its acquisition of Bank Leumi USA and in other transactions and capital markets issuances
- Webster Financial in numerous transactions
- Thermo Fisher Scientific in numerous acquisitions, including Patheon, FEI, Life Technologies, Affymetrix and Dionex
- South State Corporation in its 2020 merger-of-equals with CenterState Bank Corporation, its 2017 acquisition of Park Sterling and numerous prior acquisitions
- The Strategic Development Committee of the Board of TD Ameritrade in TD Ameritrade’s 2020 merger with The Charles Schwab Corporation, as well as TD Ameritrade in its 2017 acquisition of Scottrade and numerous other transactions
- BB&T in its merger-of-equals with SunTrust, and numerous other acquisitions, including the acquisitions of Susquehanna Bancshares and Bank of Kentucky
- Several of the most significant transactions arising out of the financial crisis, including Wells Fargo in its acquisition of Wachovia, Bank of America in its acquisition of Merrill Lynch and PNC in its acquisition of National City
- Representing numerous banks on bids for and acquisitions of failed banks from the FDIC
- Representing a principal party to more than 50 community bank mergers
- Representing major financial institutions on dozens of acquisitions of, and non-control investments in, financial technology businesses and teams
Guest graduated from Yale Law School. While at Yale, he was notes editor of Volume 109 of the Yale Law Journal. Prior to attending law school, Matt received his A.B. in Economics and International Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he graduated with highest distinction and honors and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Matt is a member of the Board of the Arts and Sciences Foundation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.