John Neal

John K. Neal, Jr. advises public and private companies, private equity sponsors, portfolio companies and other institutional investors on a wide range of corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, strategic investments and other transactions. Mr. Neal also regularly advises boards and special committees in preparing for and responding to takeover acquisitions, shareholder activism and other corporate governance situations.

Prior to joining Skadden, Mr. Neal completed a secondment at Apollo Global Management Inc.

Mr. Neal’s notable representations prior to and since joining Skadden include:

Mergers and Acquisitions

• GIC in connection with its (i) $18.3 billion take-private acquisition of Hologic, Inc. and (ii) $14 billion acquisition of McAfee Corp.
• Athene Holding in its merger with Apollo at an enterprise value of $11 billion
• Emerson Electric in its $8.2 billion acquisition of National Instruments
• FirstEnergy in its $5.9 billion transmission joint venture with Brookfield
• GO Residential REIT in its pending $2.8 billion acquisition of 27 properties owned by H&R REIT as part of a larger C$6.7 billion acquisition
• NOVAGOLD Resources in its pending acquisition of a 40% stake in Donlin Gold from Paulson & Co., creating a U.S.-domiciled gold developer with approximately $4.2 billion equity value
• Marathon Asset Management in its up to $1.6 billion sale to CVC Capital Partners
• Ancala in its acquisition of the U.S. Gulf Coast formalin business from Hexion
• AIP in its $700 million acquisition of the grain and protein division of AGCO Corp.
• Leonard Valve Company, a Bessemer portfolio company, in its sale to A. O. Smith
• One Equity Partners and Buckthorn Partners in their acquisition of Acteon Group
• Newfold Digital in its $302.5 million acquisition of MarkMonitor Inc.
• ScionHealth, an Apollo portfolio company, in its acquisition of Cornerstone Healthcare
• New Catalyst Strategic Partners, an Apollo platform, in a GP stake investment
• Wafra in its secondary sale of certain fund interests

Shareholder Engagement and Activism

• The New York Times in respect to an activist investment by ValueAct
• Hasbro in its proxy contest defense against Alta Fox and Ancora
• Sleep Number in its activism campaign defense and related cooperation agreement with Stadium Capital
• Crown Castle in its activism campaign defense against Elliott
• Alight in its settlement of an activism campaign by Starboard
• Beyond in its activism campaign defense against JAT Capital
• Cannae Holdings in its activism campaign defense against Carronade
• Comtech Telecommunications in connection with an unsolicited bid by Acacia
• Pitney Bowes in its activism campaign defense against Hestia