Aaron M.
Gruber

Notable transactions include representing:

• FS Investments in its combination with Portfolio Advisors, creating a $75 billion alternative investment firm, and in the transition of the management of its business development company (BDC) platform to investment advisory partnerships with EIG Global Energy Partners and KKR;
• 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;
• 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’s $40 billion hostile bid, its proposal to acquire Perrigo in a transaction valued at approximately $35 billion, its $5.6 billion inversion acquisition of Abbott Laboratories’ non-U.S. developed markets specialty and branded generics business and its $550 million acquisition of Bioniche Pharma;

• Unilever in 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 $2.15 billion sale of its North America pasta sauces business under the Ragú and Bertolli brands to Mizkan Group and its $3.7 billion acquisition of Alberto‑Culver;
• Vista Outdoor in the $2.225 billion sale of The Kinetic Group to Czechoslovak Group and the $1.125 billion sale of Revelyst to SVP;
• HCSC in its $3.3 billion acquisition of Cigna’s Medicare businesses and CareAllies;
• Biogen in its $7.3 billion acquisition of Reata Pharmaceuticals;
• The Snyder family in the $6.05 billion sale of the NFL's Washington Commanders to a partnership led by Josh Harris;
• RWE in its $6.8 billion acquisition of the Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses;  
• The Aquarion Water Authority in its pending $2.4 billion acquisition of Aquarion Water Company from Eversource Energy;
• The special committee of the board of directors of EchoStar in the $26 billion combination with DISH Network;
• BDT and its affiliates in the take-private acquisition of Weber, valuing Weber at $3.7 billion;
• Atalaya Capital Management in its $800 million sale to Blue Owl Capital;
• Thrivent in its acquisition of a majority stake in College Avenue;
• Cowen in its $1.9 billion acquisition by TD;
• Convey Health Solutions in its $1.1 billion take‑private acquisition by TPG Capital;
• Schneider Electric in its acquisition of AutoGrid;
• RELX Group in its acquisition of Human API, its acquisition of Interfolio, its acquisition of BehavioSec, its acquisition of Osmosis, its acquisition of Shadow Health, 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, its acquisition of bepress and LexisNexis Legal & Professional’s joint ventures with Knowable and LEAP Legal Software;
• The independent members of the Neenah board of directors in the $3 billion combination with SWM;
• NRG Energy in its cooperation agreement with Elliott Management;
• Corteva in its agreement with Starboard;
• Eurazeo in its acquisition of Scaled Agile and its acquisition of WorldStrides;
• Ulta Beauty in its strategic partnership with Target;
• The special committee of the board of Eidos Therapeutics in the $2.83 billion merger with BridgeBio Pharma;

• Barrick Gold in its proposed $42 billion merger and subsequent joint venture with Newmont Mining;

• Deutsche Börse in its €3.9 billion acquisition of SimCorp, the combination of ISS and Qontigo’s index business as ISS STOXX, its previous $2.275 billion acquisition of ISS and its $850 million acquisition of Axioma;

• Linde in its $70 billion merger of equals with Praxair, its acquisition of American HomePatient and its $4.6 billion acquisition of Lincare Holdings;
• Knorr-Bremse in its $149.5 million acquisition of R.H. Sheppard and the sale of R.H. Sheppard to Balmoral Funds;

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

• Cigna in its proposed $54.2 billion merger with Anthem;

• Element Financial in its acquisition of PHH Arval, PHH Corporation’s North American fleet management services business, for $1.4 billion in cash and the assumption of $3.5 billion of PHH Arval debt;

• The special committee of the board of directors of Assisted Living Concepts in the $485 million sale to TPG Capital;

• Gerber Scientific in its $283 million sale to Vector Capital;

• Novartis in its $470 million acquisition of Genoptix;

• Biovail Pharmaceuticals in its $6.5 billion merger of equals with Valeant Pharmaceuticals;

• EMBARQ in its $11.6 billion merger with CenturyTel;

• Alpharma in the $395 million sale of its active pharmaceutical ingredients business to 3i; and

• Alcoa in the $2.7 billion sale of its packaging and consumer business to Rank Group.

Mr. Gruber has been recognized for his work in mergers and acquisitions by Chambers USA, The Legal 500 US, IFLR1000 and Lawdragon and has also been recognized by The Legal 500 US for his transactional work in the technology industry. He was named to Bloomberg Law’s “40 Under 40” list in 2022 and was named a “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer magazine in 2018. In 2019, he received Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Rising Star Award for “Best in Mergers & Acquisitions,” as well as a “Deal of the Year” award in recognition of his work on behalf of Linde in its $70 billion merger of equals with Praxair. Mr. Gruber’s work on this transaction was also featured by the Financial Times in its annual FT North America Innovative Lawyers 2018 report. In 2018 and 2019, he was selected to serve as a member of Law360’s Mergers & Acquisitions Editorial Advisory Board. Mr. Gruber also presents on developments in corporate and mergers and acquisitions law, having participated in events such as TechGC’s Global Summit.

Mr. Gruber was raised in Newport Beach, California. He received a B.S. summa cum laude from Yale College and an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. He received a J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Mr. Gruber joined Cravath in 2007 and was elected a partner in 2014.