Work & Clients

Our transactional lawyers work hand in hand with enterprises, investors and individuals across the globe at all stages of the business life cycle—on deals that often reshape companies, industries and markets. With a powerful combination of business savvy, legal skill and industry knowledge, we help clients initiate public offerings, identify and merge with complementary businesses, acquire competitors, and expand into untapped, lucrative markets. Recent notable examples of our transactional work include:

• Dunkin’ Brands: Represented Dunkin’ Brands Group, parent company of Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins, on its $11.3 billion sale to Inspire Brands. Dunkin' Brands is one of the world's leading franchisors of quick service restaurants.
• Novavax: Ropes & Gray’s life sciences practice played a critical role in the pursuit of a COVID-19 vaccine by longstanding client Novavax. Our work included guiding the company’s acquisition of Praha Vaccines, which enabled Novavax to produce its COVID-19 vaccine, and advising on financing transactions that helped Novavax advance its efforts to develop and mass-produce the vaccine. 
• Altimeter Growth Corp.: Advised Altimeter Growth Corp. in the $40 billion business combination that resulted in taking Grab Holdings public in the U.S. The record-breaking de-SPAC transaction is the largest-ever U.S. equity listing by a Southeast Asian company, valuing the company at nearly $40 billion. Ropes & Gray also advised Altimeter in connection with the $4 billion p>rivate investment in public equity relating to the business combination, the largest PIPE ever raised.
• Acceleron: Represented Acceleron in its $11.5 billion sale to Merck & Co. This is one of Merck’s biggest acquisitions and diversifies the pharmaceutical company’s pipeline by adding Acceleron’s drugs to target rare diseases.
• McAfee Corp.: A cross-practice team advised McAfee Corp., a global leader in online protection, in its agreement to be acquired by an investor group led by Advent International, Permira Advisers, Crosspoint Capital Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, GIC Private Limited and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
• Takeda Pharmaceutical Company: Advised Takeda in a licensing collaboration with Neurocrine Biosciences to develop and commercialize potential therapies for psychiatric disorders in a deal valued at more than $2 billion.
• Bain Capital: Advised Bain on the sale by Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory) of its semiconductor business to a group that included Apple, Seagate, Kingston, Hoya, Dell Technologies and SK Hynix. Valued at approximately $18 billion, the transaction was Asia’s largest leveraged buyout and private equity deal ever.
• TPG Capital: Represented TPG Capital in its investment in DirecTV with AT&T. TPG Capital and AT&T signed a definitive agreement under which the two parties will establish a new company named DIRECTV that will own and operate AT&T’s U.S. video business unit consisting of the DIRECTV, AT&T TV and U-verse video services.
• One Medical: Counseled One Medical, one of the largest independently held primary care practices in the nation, on the regulatory issues around the expansion of its telehealth and virtual care offerings, as well as on relationships with key strategic partners, developments in health plan offerings, and use and disclosure of data in furthering clinical integrations.
• The National Football League: Represented the NFL in a strategic partnership with Endeavor to operate On Location Experiences, a company that provides official access for corporate clients and fans looking for immersive experiences at marquee events.
• Toast: Advised the fastest-growing restaurant management platform in the United States on its acquisition of StratEx, a leading provider of HR and payroll software for restaurants.
• Spirit Music Group: Advised Spirit on its $350 million recapitalization. Spirit’s portfolio includes more than 200 #1 Billboard hits by artists such as Jay-Z, Madonna, Tim McGraw, Elvis Presley, Ed Sheeran, Frank Sinatra, The Who, Taylor Swift and Whitney Houston.
• Wright Medical: Represented this leading global medical device company in its $5.4 billion sale to Stryker Corp. Based in Amsterdam, Wright Medical focuses on extremities and biologics products. Michigan-based Stryker is one of the world’s leading medical technology companies.
• BidFair: Represented BidFair in its $3.7 billion acquisition of famed auction house Sotheby’s.
• Invesco: Advised this global provider of exchange-traded funds on the development of an innovative nontransparent ETF model.

Lawyers in our tax, employment and benefits practices advise clients on their most sensitive, high-risk and complex matters concerning issues related to tax, employment, employee benefits and executive compensation. Some recent highlights include:

• Advent International: Advised Advent International on employment matters in connection with its agreement to acquire Olaplex, a prestige and professional hair care brand. The employment team’s work included due diligence and negotiation of transaction documents and key employment and consulting arrangements.
• Dunkin’ Brands: Advised Dunkin’ Brands on the tax aspects related to its $11.3 billion sale to Inspire Brands.
• Bain Capital Private Equity: Advised Bain Capital Private Equity on employee benefits and executive compensation matters in connection with its $2.7 billion sale of a majority of the equity of Waystar to the EQT VIII Fund and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. 
• Eversource Energy: Navigated complex employee benefits and executive compensation issues in connection with Eversource Energy’s agreement to purchase the Massachusetts natural gas assets of Columbia Gas for $1.1 billion.

We are tenacious in representing client interests in connection with internal investigations, regulatory developments and complex litigations. Our leading-edge advocacy for these clients has put us at the forefront of some of the most important cases in recent years. Highlights include:

• Goldman Sachs: Secured the complete dismissal of a class-action lawsuit filed against Goldman Sachs that challenged the acquisition of CEC Entertainment (the parent of Chuck E. Cheese) by an affiliate of Apollo Global Management.
• Advocate Aurora Health: Assisted nearly 2,000 Advocate Aurora physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants in obtaining temporary licenses to practice between Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana in the fight against COVID-19.
• Oxbow Carbon: Led the company’s majority shareholder to a large, precedent-setting win in Delaware Supreme Court.
• Embraer: Appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to serve as an Independent Compliance Monitor for the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer pursuant to a deferred prosecution agreement settlement.