Christopher R. Drewry

Christopher has defended global companies against all major activists, including:

• Ancora
• B. Riley Financial
• Bluebell
• Carronade Capital
• Elliott
• Engaged Capital
• Engine Capital
• Icahn Enterprises
• JANA Partners
• Legion Partners
• Macellum
• Mill Road Capital
• Saba Capital
• Sachem Head
• Starboard Value
• Tang Capital
• Trian
• ValueAct

His recent experience includes representing:

Shareholder Activism and Takeover Defense

• JetBlue in defense of a campaign by Icahn Enterprises seeking board representation
• Kohl’s in a multi-year defense including a successful proxy contest leading to the re-election of all directors against a control slate proposed by Macellum Advisors
• MindMed in one of the first proxy contests after introduction of the SEC’s universal proxy rules, leading to the re-election of all directors against a control slate by FCM
• IAA in defense of its US$7 billion take-private transaction with Ritchie Bros. against campaigns launched separately by Ancora Advisors and Discerene Group
• Independence Realty Trust in defense of a campaign by Argosy-Lionbridge Management seeking board representation
• Mercury Systems in defense of campaigns by JANA Partners and Starboard Value
• Praxis Precision Medicines in defense of a campaign by Velan Capital seeking governance and strategy changes
• New Relic in defense of a campaign by Engaged Capital seeking board representation and governance changes
• Berry Global in defense of a multi-year campaign by Ancora Holdings and Eminence Capital
• Sinovac Biotech in the triggering of a shareholder rights plan against 1Globe Capital (pending)
• Cars.com in its defense of a public campaign by Starboard Value seeking board seats
• Zagg in defense of campaigns by Roumell Asset Management and Arex Capital Management seeking board representation
• Spok Holdings:
  • In defense of unsolicited offers from Acacia Research and B. Riley Financial
  • In defense of a campaign by White Hat Capital seeking board representation
• HollySys Automation in its defense of an unsolicited offer from its former CEO and CPE Fund Management Limited
• Allison Transmission in its defense of a public campaign by Ashe Capital seeking board seats and proxy access

Transformational Strategic M&A

• SLB, a global technology company driving energy innovation, in its pending US$8 billion all-stock acquisition of ChampionX
• Webhelp, a Paris-based global customer experience leader, in its US$4.8 billion combination with US-listed Concentrix
• Silicon Motion, a global leader in supplying NAND flash controllers for solid state storage devices, in its US$3.8 billion take-private sale to Max Linear (terminated)
• Cerner, a leading provider of digital information services used within hospitals and health systems, in its US$28 billion take-private sale to Oracle
• FMC Technologies, a US-listed company, in its US$13 billion merger of equals transaction with Technip S.A., a Euronex Paris-listed designer and developer of offshore oil and gas process facilities via the EU cross-border merger regime
• Tencent in the stock-for-stock merger of Huya and DouYu, both leading game-centric live streaming platforms (terminated)
• Sinovac Biotech in a subsidiary equity sale to Advantech Capital and Vivo Capital to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development
• Orbitz Worldwide, a leading global online travel company, in its US$1.6 billion take-private sale to Expedia
• Koch Industries in its US$7.2 billion take-private acquisition of Molex Incorporated, a leading supplier of connectors
• Georgia-Pacific in its US$1.5 billion take-private tender offer acquisition of Buckeye Technologies, a leading manufacturer of specialty fibers and nonwoven materials

Multijurisdictional Global Business Separations

• TechnipFMC, a global oilfield services company, in:
  • The carveout sale of its measurement solutions business to One Equity Partners
  • Its spinoff of its engineering and construction segment, forming Technip Energies
• Worthington Industries in its spinoff of its steel processing business into two differentiated, independent, and publicly traded companies
• Colfax in its tax-free spinoff transaction to separate its fabrication technology and specialty medical technology businesses into two independent publicly traded companies
• Delphi Automotive in its US$727 million sale of its global thermal systems business to German-based MAHLE GmbH
• Aptiv (formerly Delphi Automotive) in the US$4.5 billion spinoff and listing of its powertrain systems segment, forming Delphi Technologies
• Actuant in the sale of its engineered components and systems segment to One Rock Capital Partners