Gregory E. Pessin is a partner in Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz’s Restructuring and Finance Department. He focuses on representing borrowers with respect to all types of financing for mergers and acquisitions and other transformative corporate transactions. He also regularly represents parties to high-stakes conflicts involving debt and financing issues, and advises investors in and purchasers and sellers of distressed entities.

Greg was recently named the top financing lawyer in North America by MergerLinks. The IFLR1000 recognizes him as a “Market Leader,” describing him as “one of the true leaders [and] standout performers” in his field, with a “track record of high profile innovative deals.” Lawdragon lists Mr. Pessin as one of the 500 Leading Dealmakers in America and one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America, and the Legal 500 highlights Greg’s reputation for providing “practical and value-added solutions & advice.” Mr. Pessin has also recently been recognized by Expert Guides and Super Lawyers.

In his financing practice, Mr. Pessin has represented, among others:

• Salesforce in connection with committed bridge financing and permanent bank and bond financing for its $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack and its $6.5 billion acquisition of MuleSoft;
• Broadcom with respect to $32 billion of committed financing to fund its acquisition of VMware, $18 billion of committed financing to fund its acquisition of CA, Inc. and $15.5 billion of committed financing to fund its acquisition of the enterprise security business of Symantec Corporation and to refinance certain debt;
• AbbVie on the financing of its acquisition of ImmunoGen and related transactions, including committed bridge financing, a $5 billion term loan and a $15 billion offering of senior notes, and on all financing aspects related to its $21 billion acquisition of Pharmacyclics, including with respect to bridge financing commitments and a $16.7 billion senior notes offering;
• Nasdaq Inc. on a $5.7 billion bridge financing commitment and its issuance of euro- and dollar-denominated senior notes and entry into a term loan to find its acquisition of Adenza, on a $2.5 billion bridge financing commitment and its issuance of senior notes to finance its acquisition of Verafin and on a $1.1 billion bridge financing commitment and its issuance of dollar- and euro-denominated senior notes to finance its acquisition of International Securities Exchange;
• XPO Logistics on more than $17 billion of financing transactions, including in connection with its €3.24 billion acquisition of Norbert Dentressangle S.A., its $3 billion acquisition of Con-way and its spin-offs of GXO Logistics and RXO;
• Cigna with respect to bridge and permanent financing for its $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts;
• Kimco Realty Corporation in its $2 billion acquisition of RPT Realty, in its $3.9 billion acquisition of Weingarten Realty and on more than $6.5 billion of other financing transactions;
• Dick’s Sporting Goods on more than $3.5 billion of debt-related transactions, comprising credit facilities, senior notes and convertible notes;
• Marlins Holdings in connection with the financing of its acquisition of the Miami Marlins;
• Becton-Dickinson in connection with the spinoff of Embecta, including on the issuance of $700 million of secured notes, $950 million of secured term loans and a $500 million revolving credit facility;
• GXO Logistics on bridge commitments and permanent financing for its £943 million acquisition of Clipper Logistics and with respect to a new $800 million revolving credit facility and $800 million of senior notes in connection with its spin-off from XPO Logistics;
• Thermo Fisher Scientific in connection with committed financing for its $7.2 billion acquisition of Patheon N.V., its $2.1 billion purchase of Dionex, its $13.6 billion acquisition of Life Technologies and its $10.6 billion purchase of Fisher Scientific;
• Pfizer with respect to $12 billion of committed bridge financing in connection with the $48 billion combination of its off-patent drug business with Mylan
• MDU Resources on all financing aspects of its spin-off of Knife River Corporation, including on more than $1 billion of new high-yield bank and bond financings;
• Cabot Microelectronics Corporation on secured high-yield financing to fund its $1.6 billion acquisition of KMG Chemicals, Inc.;
• Penn National Gaming on all financing matters relating to its $2.8 billion acquisition of Pinnacle Entertainment;
• Affiliates of The Carlyle Group on their acquisitions of BenefitsMall, CFGI and Duff & Phelps;
• The J.M. Smucker Company in its issuance of $3.5 billion of senior notes and entry into an $800 million term loan facility in order to finance its acquisition of Hostess Brands and in its issuance of $3.65 billion of senior notes and its entry into a $1.75 billion term loan facility in order to finance its acquisition of Big Heart Pet Brands;
• Tesla in connection with its $2.6 billion acquisition of SolarCity;
• Regency Centers on financing matters in connection with its $15.6 billion combination with Equity One;
• PVH in connection with its $3 billion purchase of Tommy Hilfiger and its $3 billion acquisition of Warnaco;
• Agilent Technologies on its spinoff of Keysight Technologies;
• Abbott Laboratories on its spinoff of AbbVie (including with respect to $14.5 billion of senior bank and bridge financings and $14.7 billion of senior notes);
• Motorola Solutions Inc. with respect to its $1 billion issuance of convertible notes to Silver Lake;
• Cousins Properties on financing issues in its merger with Parkway Properties and simultaneous spin-off of the Houston-based assets of both companies and on its acquisition of Tier Reit; and
• Global Payments on financing matters in connection with its $21.5 billion merger with Total System Services.

Greg’s roles in high-stakes disputes involving debt and financing issues include representing Twitter in is litigation with, and ultimate acquisition at the originally agreed $44 billion purchase price by, Elon Musk; providing expert advice on the central issue in an arbitration relating to a multi-billion dollar failed cross-border acquisition in Brazil; and counseling the senior secured term lenders to Spectrum Brands, Inc. in a contested bankruptcy in which Spectrum and its junior note holders attempted to reinstate his clients’ $1 billion secured term debt facility.

In the distressed and restructuring space, among other projects, Greg has represented Google Inc. as the stalking horse bidder in Nortel Networks’ $4.5 billion sale of its patent assets in a §363 sale in bankruptcy; XPO Logistics as purchaser of 28 logistics service centers from Yellow in a §363 sale in bankruptcy; Penn National Gaming as stalking horse bidder for the Fontainebleau Las Vegas in a §363 sale in bankruptcy; and affiliates of Apollo Management in connection with their acquisition of Aleris International through a pre-negotiated bankruptcy reorganization plan.

Greg received a B.A. from Duke University in 2001, where he was the editor of The Chronicle, the daily independent newspaper of the university community. He received a J.D. with honors from The University of Chicago Law School in 2005, where he was named a member of the Order of the Coif and was a member of The University of Chicago Law Review. Greg recently served as co-chair of the Law School’s 1902 Leadership Committee and is currently a member of the Law School Council.