Profile: David A Katz

Mergers and Acquisitions

Biography: Mergers and Acquisitions

David A Katz is a corporate partner in the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York City, specialising in the areas of international and domestic mergers and acquisitions and securities transactions, and has been involved in many major corporate transactions and in a number of complex public and private offerings and corporate restructurings. In addition to representing a number of companies making public and private company acquisitions and engaging in negotiated merger transactions, he has represented a number of companies in launching and defending against hostile takeovers and proxy contests as well as special committees of boards of directors in conflict or interested-party transactions. He also counsels boards of directors and board committees on corporate governance matters and crisis management.

Mr Katz represented Washington Group in its acquisition by URS Corporation; CONSOL Energy in its offer for the publicly owned shares of CNX Gas Corporation; the special committee of the board of directors OSI Restaurants in its going-private transaction with Bain Capital and Catterton Partners; Lucent in its merger-of-equals transaction with Alcatel, Knight Ridder in its sale to McClatchy, Sanofi-Synthélabo in its unsolicited takeover of and merger with Aventis SA and its investment in Zentiva; PPR SA in its initial investment in and ultimate acquisition of Gucci Group NV, in US and international acquisitions by three of PPR's subsidiaries, Rexel SA, Redcats and Guilbert SA, and in its disposition of its mail order office supply business to Staples Inc and its office supplies business to Office Depot; Office Depot in its acquisition of the business of privately held Allied Office Products, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in its acquisition of Union Pacific Resources Group; BetzDearborn in its sale to Hercules Incorporated; Hercules Incorporated in its disposition of the BetzDearborn water treatment business to General Electric Company and Hercules Incorporated in its successful 2003 proxy contest defence. He also represented Cardinal Health in a number of its acquisitions, including, among others, VIASYS Healthcare, Alaris Medical Systems, the Intercare Group, Syncor International Corporation, Bindley-Western Corporation and Allegiance Corporation; Newmont Mining Corporation in its acquisitions of Miramar Mining Corporation, Normandy Mining, Franco-Nevada Mining Corporation, Battle Mountain Gold Corporation and Santa Fe Pacific Gold Corporation; and the special committee of the Vons Companies in its sale to Safeway.

Mr Katz, in addition to being a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, is an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, where he teaches mergers and acquisitions; a senior professional fellow at New York University Center for Law and Business; and an adjunct professor of management at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, where he co-teaches a joint law and business school course on merger and acquisitions.

Mr Katz has written extensively and lectures frequently on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and securities regulation matters and writes a bi-monthly column for the New York Law Journal on corporate governance.

Mr Katz is a graduate of Brandeis University and New York University School of Law. He is a member of the American Bar Association, section on business law, where he is chair of the committee on negotiated acquisitions Task Force on the Dictionary of M&A Terms; a member of the editorial board of the committee on negotiated acquisitions task force on public company acquisitions; and a member of the federal securities laws committee; he is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the Associations of the Bar of the City of New York, the National Association of Corporate Directors and the American Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals. In 2004, Mr Katz was chosen by The American Lawyer as one of the 45 highest performing members of the private bar under the age of 45 and in 2005 was chosen by The American Lawyer as a "Dealmaker of the Year", and, in 2007, was named by Directorship in its ranking of the 100 most influential players in corporate governance.

Corporate Governance

Biography: Corporate Governance

David A Katz is a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York City, an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, a senior professional fellow at New York University Center for Law and Business and an adjunct professor of management at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. Mr Katz is a corporate attorney specialising in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and complex securities transactions, has been involved in many major domestic and international corporate merger, acquisition and buyout transactions, strategic defence assignments and proxy contests, and has been involved in a number of complex public and private offerings and corporate restructurings. He also counsels boards of directors and board committees on corporate governance matters and crisis management.

Professor Katz has taught Mergers and Acquisitions at New York University School of Law for over 10 years, and co-teaches a joint law and business course on mergers and acquisitions at the Owens Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University and writes a bi-monthly column for the New York Law Journal on Corporate Governance. He is a graduate of Brandeis University and New York University School of Law. He is a member of: the American Bar Association, where he is chair of the committee on negotiated acquisitions task force on the dictionary of M&A terms; the editorial board of the committee on negotiated acquisitions task force on public company acquisitions; the federal securities laws committee; the New York State Bar Association; the Association of the Bar of the City of New York; the American Society for Corporate Secretaries; and the National Association of Corporate Directors. The American Lawyer chose him as one of the 45 highest-performing members of the private Bar under the age of 45, in 2005 was chosen by The American Lawyer as a dealmaker of the year, and, in 2007, was named by Directorship in its ranking of the 100 most influential players in corporate governance.