Robert Katz is a partner in Shearman & Sterling’s Mergers & Acquisitions Group in New York.

He represents clients in a broad range of M&A transactions—public and private, negotiated and unsolicited—including tender and exchange offers, leveraged buyouts, takeover defense strategies, joint ventures, divestitures and cross-border transactions. His clients include financial institutions, strategic/corporates, private equity sponsors and their financial advisors.

Mr. Katz is a member of the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Mergers, Acquisitions and Contests for Corporate Control. He has been recognized by Chambers, IFLR 1000 and Legal 500. Mr. Katz joined the firm in 2001, was based in the firm’s London office from September 2002 through September 2004, and became a partner in 2009.

• Dassault Systemes in connection with its acquisition of Centre Software Systems Inc. and its acquisition of Exa Corporatio
• SS&C Technologies Inc. in its acquisition of Eze Software
• Warner Music Group Inc. in various corporate and transaction matters including its acquisition of, EMP Merchandising Inc., Sodatone, Song Kick and its investments in Audigent and MixGenius
• CVS Health Corporation in various corporate and transactional matters, including its pending acquisition of Aetna, Inc. and its sale of RxCrossroads
• Textron Inc. in various corporate and transactional matters including the sale of its Tools & Testing Business, its acquisition of Arctic Cat, Inc. and its acquisition of Beechcraft Corporation
• Liberty Global in various corporate and transactional matters, including the spin-off of its Latin American cable operation, its acquisition of Cable & Wireless Communications plc, its investment in Lions Gate Entertainment, and on the creation of its tracking stock under English law for operations in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Bunge Limited in various corporate and transactional matters including its Cooperative Agreement with affiliates of D.E. Shaw and Continental Grain
• B/E Aerospace in various corporate and transactional matters, including its acquisition by Rockwell Collins and in connection with the spin-off of its services business, KLX Inc.
• HeartWare International, Inc. in various corporate and transactional matters, including its acquisition by Medtronic plc, its settlement with Engaged Capital, its acquisition of Circulite, Inc., its acquisition of WorldHeart, Inc., its proposed transaction with Thoratec, Inc. and its first registered public offering in the United States
• S&P Global, Inc. in various corporate and transactional matters, including its sale of J.D. Power to XIO Group, its sale of Dodge Data and Analytics, its acquisition of NADA Services Corp. and its acquisition of Petroleum Research Association, Inc.
• Pall Corporation in its acquisition by Danaher Corporation
• Merrill Lynch & Co. in its sale to Bank of America Corporation
• Transaction Committee of the Board of Directors of Huntsman Corporation, in its aborted sale to a portfolio company of Apollo Management, L.P.
• The special committee of the board of Sprint Nextel Corporation in the acquisition of 78% of Sprint Nextel Corporation by Softbank Corp.
• Southeastern Asset Management Inc. in connection with Dell Inc.’s Go-Private transaction
• Lafarge SA in the sale of its North American Gypsum business to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds
• Service Corp. International in connection with its acquisition of Stewart Enterprises, Inc.
• LMA International N.V. in its initial public offering on the Singapore Stock Exchange and concurrent private placement of common shares in the U.S. pursuant to Rule 144A, its acquisition of Wolfe Tory Medical, Inc. and its sale to Teleflex, Inc.
• NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. in its joint bid together with Intercontinental Exchange, for NYSE Euronext
• Saudi Basic Industries Corp. in its acquisition of GE Plastics
• BAML Capital Partners in various transactional matters, including its acquisition of Provo Craft & Novelty, Inc., National Powersport Auctions, Inc. and Strategic Partners Holdings, Inc.
• Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity in various transactional matters, including its sale of Convermex S.A. de CV and its sale of NPC International
• North Cove Partners, LLC in various corporate and transactional matters, including its spin-off from Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Tops Holding Corporation, a company owned by Morgan Stanley Private Equity, in connection with corporate and transactional matters
• WebMD Health Corp. in various corporate and transactional matters, including its sale of Porex Corporation
• Quest Diagnostics, Inc. in various transactional matters including its acquisition of LabOne, Inc. and Celera Corporation
• Corning Incorporated in its acquisition of Axygen BioScience, Inc. from American Capital, Ltd.
• John W. Henry and New England Sports Ventures, LLC in their acquisition of the Boston Red Sox Baseball Club Limited Partnership
• Essar Group Limited in the acquisition of PeopleSupport, Inc.
• Siemens AG in its acquisition of UGS Capital Corp. from Silver Lake Partners, L.P., Bain Capital, L.P. and Warburg Pincus, LLC
• Pechiney in its hostile takeover defense and subsequently negotiated acquisition by Alcan Inc.
• Instrumentarium Corp. in its acquisition by GE Medical Devices
• Continental AG in its acquisition of the automotive electronics business from Motorola, Inc.
• Future Medical Systems N.V. in its sale to Cilag AG, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson
• Fimex Ltd. in its acquisition of Cablevisión S.A. from Liberty Media, Inc. and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, Inc.
• Macquarie Infrastructure Company Inc. in its initial public offering of shares of Macquarie Infrastructure Company Trust on the New York Stock Exchange
• Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citi and Morgan Stanley when acting as financial advisors

Professional Affiliations

• Member of the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Mergers, Acquisitions and Contests for Corporate Control

Awards & Accolades

• Clients have told Chambers that Rob is “fantastic – unflappable and pragmatic” and “very knowledgeable [in] complicated deal structures and public deal dynamics” (2016) and that “he is terrific to work with, he understands the culture of the company and works well with our internal lawyers and businesspeople” (2017).
• IFLR1000 Rising Star for financial and corporate law (2017).
• Legal 500