Mark I.
Greene

Mr. Greene has been named “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer and The Deal, “Cross‑Border Dealmaker of the Year” by The Deal, a Mergers & Acquisitions Trailblazer by The National Law Journal and a “Mergers & Acquisitions MVP” by Law360.  He has been repeatedly recognized as a leading M&A practitioner by, among others, Chambers USA, Chambers Global, The Legal 500 US, The Legal 500 Latin America, IFLR1000, The Best Lawyers in America and Lawdragon. Mr. Greene has also been named to The Legal 500 US Hall of Fame in the M&A: Large Deals ($1bn+) category. Additionally, he has been cited as one of the most valuable M&A lawyers in Germany by Welt am Sonntag and was named to Crain’s New York Business’s inaugural “Notable Leaders in Accounting, Consulting & Law” list in 2024.

Mr. Greene counts among his diverse client base AerCap, Ahold Delhaize, Axalta, Biogen, Casa Cuervo, Central Garden & Pet, Corteva, Deutsche Börse, FS Investments, Global Media & Entertainment, KION Group, National Grid, Novartis, NRG Energy, RELX Group, Robinhood, Schneider Electric, Synthomer, Texas Capital Bank, Ulta Beauty, Unilever and Viatris.

Mr. Greene advises on matters across a broad range of industries, including healthcare, consumer products, agriculture, industrials, energy, financial services, telecommunications, media and entertainment and fintech:

• Viatris in its divestitures totaling $6.94 billion in value, including the $3.335 billion combination of its biosimilars portfolio with Biocon Biologics and the divestitures of its Over‑the‑Counter, Women’s Healthcare and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients businesses, and its $750 million acquisitions of Oyster Point and Famy Life Sciences;

• Mylan in its $50 billion combination with Upjohn, a division of Pfizer, to form Viatris; its acquisition of global marketing rights to GA Depot through an investment in and partnership with Mapi Pharma; its $9.9 billion acquisition of Meda; its acquisition of the non-sterile, topicals-focused specialty and generics business of Renaissance Acquisition Holdings for $950 million in cash at closing plus additional contingent payments of up to $50 million; its successful takeover defense against Teva Pharmaceutical’s $40 billion hostile bid; its proposal to acquire Perrigo in a transaction valued at approximately $35 billion; its acquisition of certain female healthcare businesses from Famy Care for $750 million in cash plus additional contingent payments of up to $50 million; its $5.6 billion inversion acquisition of Abbott Laboratories’ non-U.S. developed markets specialty and branded generics business; its $550 million acquisition of Bioniche Pharma; its €4.9 billion acquisition of the generic drug operations of Merck of Germany; and its acquisition of Synerx Pharma;

• Unilever in numerous M&A transactions, including the $143 billion unsolicited offer from Kraft Heinz to acquire Unilever; its acquisition of a majority stake in Nutrafol; its acquisition of OLLY Nutrition; its acquisition of Sundial Brands; its $384 million acquisition of the TAZO brand from Starbucks; its acquisition of Seventh Generation; its acquisition of Murad; its acquisition of Dermalogica; its acquisition of Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto; the sale of its Slim‑Fast brand to Kainos Capital; the $2.15 billion sale of its North America pasta sauces business under the Ragú and Bertolli brands to Mizkan Group; the $580 million sale of its Wish‑Bone and Western dressings brands to Pinnacle Foods; the $700 million sale of its global Skippy business to Hormel Foods; the $267 million sale of its North American frozen meals business to ConAgra Foods; the $325 million sale of its Culver Specialty Brands division, which includes the Mrs. Dash, Molly McButter, Sugar Twin, Bakers and Static Guard brands in the United States and Canada, to B&G Foods; its $3.7 billion acquisition of U.S.‑based Alberto‑Culver and the sale of its Alberto VO5 brand in the U.S. and Puerto Rico from the Alberto‑Culver portfolio and the Rave brand globally from the Unilever portfolio to private equity firm Brynwood Partners VI; and its $411.5 million acquisition of the TIGI professional hair product business and its supporting advanced education academies from the owners of the Toni & Guy Salons;
• Biogen in its $7.3 billion acquisition of Reata Pharmaceuticals and its $1.25 billion settlement and license agreement with Forward Pharma;
• The Snyder family in the $6.05 billion sale of the NFL's Washington Commanders to a partnership led by Josh Harris;
• AerCap in its $30 billion acquisition of GE Capital Aviation Services;
• Texas Capital Bank in the $3.4 billion sale of BankDirect Capital Finance to Truist;
• Cowen in its $1.9 billion acquisition by TD;
• Atalaya Capital Management in its $800 million sale to Blue Owl Capital;
• The special committee of the board of directors of EchoStar in the $26 billion combination with DISH Network;
• The independent members of the Neenah board of directors in the $3 billion combination with SWM;
• National Grid in its £7.8 billion acquisition of Western Power Distribution and the $3.8 billion sale of Narragansett Electric;
• Schneider Electric in its acquisition of AutoGrid, its $1.5 billion acquisition of Pelco and its $6.1 billion acquisition of American Power Conversion;
• NRG Energy in its cooperation agreement with Elliott Management;
• Corteva in its agreement with Starboard;
• Ulta Beauty in its strategic partnership with Target;
• Ahold Delhaize in the sale of its FreshDirect business to Getir;
• The special committee of the board of Eidos Therapeutics in the $2.83 billion merger with BridgeBio Pharma;

• Synthomer in its $824 million acquisition of OMNOVA;

• Deutsche Börse in its $850 million acquisition of Axioma, which was combined with Deutsche Börse’s index businesses valued at €2.6 billion, and its partnership with General Atlantic; its proposed $9.53 billion merger of equals with NYSE Euronext and the competing unsolicited proposal by NASDAQ OMX and Intercontinental Exchange, which was withdrawn;

• Cholula in its acquisition by L Catterton;

• Novartis in its $2.1 billion acquisition of Endocyte, its $470 million acquisition of Genoptix and the $5.5 billion sale of its Gerber business to Nestlé;

• RELX Group in its acquisition of Emailage, its $375 million acquisition of ID Analytics, its acquisition of Aries Systems, its acquisition of Safe Banking Systems, its £580 million acquisition of ThreatMetrix, and LexisNexis Legal & Professional’s joint ventures with Knowable and LEAP Legal Software and LexisNexis’s acquisition of Health Market Science;

• Jose Cuervo in its $205 million acquisition of Pendleton Whisky brands;

• FS Investments in the transition of the management of its business development company (BDC) platform to investment advisory partnerships with EIG Global Energy Partners and KKR;

• KION Group in its $2.1 billion acquisition of Dematic from funds managed by AEA Investors and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, among others;

• Casa Cuervo in an asset swap with Diageo in which Casa Cuervo acquired The Old Bushmills Distillery, including the Bushmills Irish Whiskey brand, and Diageo acquired full ownership and control of Don Julio Tequila plus cash in the amount of $408 million;

• The transaction committee of the board of directors of Norwegian Cruise Line in the $3.025 billion acquisition of Prestige Cruises by Norwegian;

• Central Garden & Pet in a $1.1 billion unsolicited offer from Harbinger Group;

• Integrys Energy in its $9.1 billion acquisition by Wisconsin Energy;

• The special committee of the board of directors of CNH Global in the merger of Fiat Industrial and CNH Global with and into CNH Industrial;

• The Linde Group in its $4.6 billion acquisition of Lincare, a U.S.‑based homecare health company;

• The Stanley Works in its $4.5 billion acquisition of The Black & Decker to create Stanley Black & Decker, an $8.4 billion global industrial leader, in an all‑stock transaction;

• Mangas Gaming, as U.S. counsel, in its acquisition of 60% of the online gambling software business of GigaMedia, including the Everest poker and casino brands;

• NuVox in its $643 million acquisition by Windstream;

• Perry Capital in its equity investment in Universal American Financial, the proceeds of which were used by Universal American in its $630 million acquisition of MemberHealth. Mr. Greene also represented Perry Capital, as part of a consortium led by iStar Financial, in the $1.7 billion sale of TimberStar Southwest to Mutual Financial; and

• Royal KPN, through its wholly owned subsidiary KPN, in its $93.3 million acquisition of the 44% stake in iBasis not otherwise held by KPN.

Mr. Greene is a Fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel and serves as Co‑Chair of the Board of Advisors of the Institute for Law and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania; he is a frequent guest lecturer on M&A and corporate governance matters, and serves as Adjunct Professor at Cornell Law School. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Additionally, Mr. Greene serves as a Trustee of the Randall’s Island Park Alliance in New York City and the Dwight‑Englewood School in New Jersey. 

Mr. Greene was born in Rockaway Beach, New York. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1989 and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1993. Before joining Cravath, Mr. Greene served as a law clerk to Hon. Charles Legge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Mr. Greene joined Cravath in 1994 and was elected a partner in 2000.