Thomas Roberts is a corporate partner in the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. He also served as Chairman of the Corporate Department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP from 2000 through 2011.
Mr. Roberts’ practice primarily involves domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, contested takeovers, and private equity, as well as advising boards of directors generally, and on strategic matters. Mr. Roberts was named Dealmaker of the Year in The American Lawyer’s April 2012 issue and was previously named “Dealmaker of the Month” in December 2011 and was also named “Dealmaker of the Year” in 2001.
Mr. Roberts is consistently recognized in Chambers USA as a leader in the field of Private Equity: Buyouts and Corporate/M&A, in Chambers Global as a leader in Corporate/M&A, and is recognized in Best Lawyers in America.
Mr. Roberts is active in the representation of major foreign and domestic public and private companies, several of the leading private equity funds in the nation, and a number of leading investment banks. His clients include AMR, Avista, General Electric, Kinder Morgan, MGM Resorts, Providence Equity, TH Lee and Willis Holdings.
Recent Experience:
- AMR and its Board of Directors in connection with its chapter 11 proceeding.
- Kinder Morgan in its $38 billion acquisition of El Paso Corporation.
- Board of Directors of Apache Corporation in connection with its purchase of $3.25 billion of assets from BP.
- Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Continental Resources, Inc. in connection with a pending approximately $350 million related party transaction with Continental’s controlling shareholder.
- Committee of Independent Directors of J.P. Morgan with respect to various matters.
- Independent Directors of MGM Mirage with respect to various matters.
- Committee of Independent Directors of Massey Energy Company with respect to various matters
- General Motors in its $45 billion sale to a government-sponsored entity.
- Counsel to Texas Rangers Baseball Partners in its $593 million sale of the Texas Rangers to Rangers Baseball Express.
- Lehman Brothers in the $1.35 billion Chapter 11 sale of its investment banking, capital markets and trading businesses and its New York headquarters to Barclays plc.
- Willis Holdings Limited in its $2.1 billion acquisition of Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Company.
- Providence Equity Partners in the $13.7 billion going private acquisition of Univision Communications Inc.
- Providence Equity Partners, Inc. in its bid for Clear Channel Communications.
- Hughes Supply, Inc. in its $3.47 billion sale to Home Depot Inc.
- Microsoft Corp. in a proposed joint venture with AOL.
- Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Huntsman Corporation in connection with an unsolicited $11 billion purchase proposal.
- Six Flags, Inc. in its defense against a consent solicitation and potential tender offer.
- UnitedHealth Group Inc. in its $8.1 billion merger with PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.
- Whirlpool Corporation in its $2.7 billion acquisition of Maytag Corporation.
- General Electric Company in its $8.5 billion sale of its insurance portfolio, GE Insurance Solutions Corporation including Employers Reinsurance Corporation (ERC), to Swiss Reinsurance Company.
- General Electric Company in the $1.9 billion acquisition of Vetco Gray.
- UnitedHealth in its internal investigation of its option granting practices.
- McData Corporation in its $713 million merger with Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
- Florida Rock Industries Inc. in its $4.6 billion merger with Vulcan Materials Co.
- Armstrong World Industries, Inc. in a terminated sale auction.
- Affiliated Computer Services Inc. in the $5.9 billion proposed buyout of ACS by Darwin Deason (CEO of ACS) and Cerberus Capital Management LP.
- Unnamed Bidder in its potential acquisition of TXU.
- Lone Star Technologies in its $2.1 billion sale to United States Steel Corp.
- MGM Mirage in the potential sale by MGM Mirage of several properties, including the Bellagio Hotel and CityCenter development project in Las Vegas.
- Reuters Group plc in its £8.7 billion business combination with The Thomson Corporation.
- Goldman Sachs Capital Partners in the $27.5 billion going private acquisition, with TPG Capital, of Alltel Corp.
- Getty Images in connection with its $ 2.4 billion sale to Hellman & Friedman.
- Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe; Lee Equity Partners LLC; Perry Capital LLC; Union Square Partners Management LLC; Universal American Financial Corp. $630 million acquisition of MemberHealth Inc.
- Capital Z Partners and Lee Equity Partners in their bid to take private Universal American Financial Corp.
- MCI, Inc. (formerly WorldCom, Inc.) in its $10.632 billion sale to Verizon Communications, Inc.
Mr. Roberts has a BA and JD from Georgetown University where he served on the Georgetown Law Journal. He is a frequent speaker and author on the topics of disclosure and securities issues, mergers & acquisitions, and corporate governance matters.
Mr. Roberts is the past Chairman and a current member of the Board of Directors of Make-A-Wish Foundation of Metro New York. He is also a member of the Board of Visitors of the Georgetown University Law Center.