Cravath Publishes Summer 2026 Issue of Alumni Journal
On January 22, 2025, CardWorks, Inc. (“CardWorks”), a leader in credit and payments, and Ally Financial Inc. (“Ally”), a financial services company with the nation’s largest all‑digital bank and an industry‑leading auto financing business, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for CardWorks, and its wholly‑owned bank subsidiary, Merrick Bank, to acquire Ally’s credit card business, including a portfolio of $2.3 billion in credit card receivables with 1.3 million active cardholders as of December 31, 2024. Cravath is representing CardWorks in connection with the transaction.
The Cravath team is led by partners Ting S. Chen and Andrew M. Wark and includes associates Ryan J. Wichtowski, Danielle A. Solaru and Juan P. Castaño and foreign associate attorney Ricardo Pedroza on M&A matters; partner J. Leonard Teti II and associate Emily R. Eskin on tax matters; partner Jonathan J. Katz, senior attorney Arian Mossanenzadeh and associate Matthew S. Johnson on executive compensation and benefits matters; partner Jelena McWilliams, of counsels Will C. Giles and Lucas E. Beirne and associate Max D. Brashear on bank regulatory matters; partner David J. Kappos, associate Kenya Rowser and foreign associate attorney Shogo Tsunoda on intellectual property matters; and partner Noah Joshua Phillips and associate Shuyu Sun on antitrust matters. Grace Lin also worked on M&A matters.
Deals & Cases
August 31, 2026
On August 31, 2026, Aon, a leading global professional services firm, announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire USI, a leading provider of property & casualty, employee benefit, personal risk and retirement solutions for the middle market and the tenth largest U.S. insurance broker, from KKR and other shareholders for a total purchase price of $17 billion. Aon expects to fund the transaction, as well as related transaction expenses and other costs, with new debt raised across a range of maturities, subject to market conditions. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Aon and the Board of Directors of USI. Cravath is representing Aon in connection with the transaction.
Deals & Cases
March 31, 2026
On March 31, 2026, Biogen Inc. and Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Biogen has agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of Apellis for $41.00 per share in cash at closing, or approximately $5.6 billion. Apellis stockholders will also receive a nontransferable CVR for each Apellis share held, entitling the holder to receive two payments of $2 per share each, contingent on certain annual global net sales thresholds being met for SYFOVRE®. Cravath is representing Biogen in connection with the transaction.
Deals & Cases
March 09, 2026
On March 9, 2026, Universal Health Services, Inc. (“UHS”) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Talkspace, Inc. (“Talkspace”) for $5.25 per share. The enterprise value for the transaction is approximately $835 million. Cravath is representing Talkspace in connection with the transaction.
Deals & Cases
February 18, 2026
On February 17, 2026, Tenax Aerospace Acquisition, LLC (“Tenax”) and Air Industries Group (“Air”) jointly announced that they have entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger to combine Tenax’s special mission aviation business with Air’s precision aerospace manufacturing business. At the time of the merger, Air will issue shares of its common stock to holders of Tenax membership units. After the closing, Tenax shareholders are expected to own approximately 95% of Air’s outstanding shares while existing Air shareholders are expected to own approximately 5%, and the combined company expects to remain listed on the NYSE American under the symbol AIRI. Cravath is representing Tenax in connection with the transaction.
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