Christopher M. Barlow

Mr. Barlow regularly advises public and private companies, financial sponsors, alternative asset managers, SPACs and financial institutions across a broad spectrum of strategic transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, financial advisor engagements, financings, leveraged buyouts, shareholder activism, corporate governance and takeover preparedness. A trusted counselor to clients operating at the forefront of innovation, he is well-versed in navigating the regulatory complexities and commercial realities unique to the technology, artificial intelligence, health care and digital assets industries.

In recognition of his work, Mr. Barlow has been named one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Dealmakers in America, honored as one of MergerLinks’ Top Advisor Lawyers in North America and recognized as a Rising Star by The Deal. He has also provided pro bono legal services to a variety of New York-based clients and is a member of the Board of Trustees of All Souls School in New York City.

Mr. Barlow’s representations have included:

Technology, Communications and Digital Assets

• Spotify in numerous acquisitions, including Anchor FM Inc.; Betty Labs Incorporated; Bill Simmons’ The Ringer; Chartable, Inc; Cutler Media, LLC; Findaway; Gimlet Media Inc.; Loudr.fm; Megaphone; Podsights; Podz, Inc.; SoundBetter; and The Echo Nest
• Open Text Corporation in its sales of:
  • eDOCS to NetDocuments Software, Inc.
  • Vertica Systems, Inc. to Rocket Software Inc., a portfolio company of Bain Capital, LLC
• Shopify in its sales of Deliverr, Inc. and 6 River Systems, LLC
• Squarespace, Inc. in its $7.2 billion going-private acquisition by Permira Advisers
• Hut 8 Corp.:
  • and American Bitcoin Corp. in American Bitcoin’s merger with Gryphon Digital Mining, Inc. to become a publicly traded company
  • in the strategic contribution of substantially all of its Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) miners to, and in exchange for, a majority interest in American Data Centers, Inc., a company formed by a group of investors, including Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., to launch American Bitcoin Corp.
• Keel Infrastructure (f/k/a Bitfarms Ltd.) in its:
  • $175 million acquisition of Stronghold Digital Mining, Inc.
  • settlement agreement with shareholder Riot Platforms, Inc.
• Elon Musk in his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, Inc.
• NXP Semiconductors N.V. in its proposed (but terminated) acquisition by Qualcomm Inc.

Private Equity and Financial Services

• Permira Funds in numerous transactions, including:
  • its $4.2 billion sale of a majority stake in Duff & Phelps
  • its acquisition of a majority stake in Reformation
  • the $1.9 billion sale of an 80% stake in its portfolio company Netafim Ltd. to Mexichem, S.A.B. de C.V.
  • the sale of a majority stake in Teraco Data Environment to Berkshire Partners
  • its investment in Curriculum Associates
  • its acquisition of a majority stake in Cielo, Inc. from Accel-KKR
  • its acquisition of Evonik Jayhawk Fine Chemicals Corporation from Evonik Industries AG
• Thoma Bravo, the largest shareholder in MeridianLink, Inc., in MeridianLink’s $2 billion going-private acquisition by funds advised by affiliates of Centerbridge Partners, L.P.
• DESRI Inc. in the pending $1.7 billion acquisition of a significant minority stake in the company by funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management
• The Blackstone Group and Stearns Holdings in the sale of Stearns Lending to Guaranteed Rate, Inc.
• Integrated Whale Media Investments, a Hong Kong-based investor group, in its acquisition of a majority stake in Forbes Media LLC
• financial advisors, including Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Centerview Partners LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Guggenheim Securities, LLC and Lazard Frères & Co. LLC, in numerous transactions

Health Care, Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals

• The special committee of Select Medical Holdings Corporation in its pending $3.9 billion going-private acquisition by a consortium led by Robert Ortenzio, executive chairman, co-founder and director of Select Medical, Martin Jackson, senior executive vice president of strategic finance and operations of Select Medical, and Welsh, Carson Anderson & Stowe
• Permira Funds in its $2.4 billion acquisition of Cambrex Corporation
• Theravance Biopharma, Inc. in:
  • the $1.5 billion sale of its TRELEGY ELLIPTA royalty interests to Royalty Pharma plc
  • the redemption of $420 million of TRELEGY Triple II notes in connection with Theravance’s $1.5 billion sale of its TRELEGY ELLIPTA royalty interests to Royalty Pharma plc
• Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. III in its merger with Clover Health Investments, Corp. at an enterprise value of $3.7 billion. As a result of the merger, Clover Health became a publicly traded company
• Centerview Partners LLC:
  • and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC as financial advisors to Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. in its $23.7 billion going-private acquisition by Sycamore Partners
  • and Jefferies LLC as financial advisors to Intra-Cellular Therapies Inc. in its $14.6 billion acquisition by Johnson & Johnson
  • and Lazard Frères & Co. LLC as financial advisors to CymaBay Therapeutics, Inc. in its $4.3 billion acquisition by Gilead Sciences, Inc.
  • as financial advisor to Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd. in its $11.6 billion acquisition by Pfizer Inc.
  • as financial advisor to Cerevel Therapeutics in its $8.7 billion acquisition by AbbVie Inc.
• Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC:
  • as financial advisor to Signify Health in its $8 billion acquisition by CVS Health
  • as financial advisor to Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in its $7.3 billion acquisition by Biogen Inc.
  • and Centerview Partners LLC as financial advisors to GW Pharmaceuticals plc in its $7.2 billion acquisition by Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc
  • and Centerview Partners LLC as financial advisors to SpringWorks Therapeutics, Inc. in its $3.9 billion acquisition by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany