
Steven J. Matays
Partner, Tax
Steven J. Matays is the head of Skadden’s New York tax practice. He represents clients on a wide range of U.S. and international tax matters, with a particular emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs and other divestitures, complex debt and equity offerings, corporate and partnership restructurings, and joint ventures.
Bio
Mr. Matays advises on the tax aspects of structuring financial instruments and executive compensation. Among others, recent notable matters include advising:
- Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. in its $71.3 billion acquisition by the Walt Disney Company and the related pre-merger spin-off of certain news, sports and broadcast businesses;
- Sprint Corporation (as co-counsel) regarding the regulatory aspects of its $59 billion merger with T-Mobile US, Inc.;
- Worldpay in its $43 billion merger with FIS;
- Ecolab in the tax-free spin-off of its upstream energy business and its $4.4 billion combination with Apergy;
- Rockwell Collins, Inc. in its $30 billion acquisition by United Technologies Corporation;
- Viagogo Entertainment in its pending $4 billion acquisition of StubHub from eBay;
- DST Systems, Inc. in its $5.4 billion acquisition by SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc.;
- Ash Grove Cement Company in its $3.5 billion acquisition by CRH plc;
- Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. in its $2.8 billion acquisition by Penn National Gaming, Inc.;
- Bruce Sherman, as part of an ownership group led by former New York Yankee Derek Jeter, in the $1.2 billion acquisition of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins;
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company in the tax-free spin-offs of:
- its enterprise services business and its combination with Computer Sciences Corp.; and
- its software business and its combination with Micro Focus International plc;
- Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. in its:
- $3.8 billion sale of the performance materials division of its materials technologies segment to Evonik Industries AG; and
- tax-free spin-off of its materials technologies business into a separate, publicly owned company called Versum Materials, Inc.
Mr. Matays has been repeatedly selected for inclusion in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Expert Guides’ Guide to the World’s Leading Tax Advisers and The Legal 500, and also was previously named a 2019 Tax MVP by Law360.
Credentials
Education
- J.D., Harvard Law School, 2000 (cum laude)
- A.B., Princeton University, 1997 (summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa)
Admissions
- New York
Steven J. Matays
Partner, Tax
steven.matays@skadden.com