Daniel J.
Cerqueira

Mr. Cerqueira’s notable transactions include representing:

• Wiz in its pending $32 billion acquisition by Google;

• Disney in its $85 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox, overcoming an interloper bid by Comcast to its original $66 billion agreement; the pending combination of its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo; ESPN’s proposed joint venture with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery to launch Venu Sports; and ESPN’s strategic alliance with PENN Entertainment to launch ESPN BET;

• Paramount’s special committee in the pending $28 billion merger with Skydance;
• The Criterion Collection and Janus Films in their sale to Steven M. Rales;
• Illumina in its $8 billion acquisition and subsequent spin‑off of GRAIL;

• DRI Capital in the acquisition of a synthetic royalty interest in the worldwide sales of sebetralstat and related equity investment in KalVista Pharmaceuticals, the acquisition from Editas Medicine of payment streams based on the Cas9 gene‑editing technology for CASGEVY, the expansion of its royalty interest in Omidria, its acquisition of a royalty interest in Orserdu from Eisai, its acquisition of a second royalty interest in Orserdu from Radius Health and the $210 million sale of its TZIELD royalty interest to Sanofi;

• Hasbro in the sale of its eOne film and TV business to Lionsgate;
• RedHill Biopharma in its agreement with HealthCare Royalty to extinguish its debt obligations in exchange for Movantik;
• Altra in its $5 billion acquisition by Regal Rexnord and its $3 billion combination with four operating companies from Fortive’s Automation and Specialty platform;

• IBM in its acquisitions of Randori, ReaQta, McD Tech Labs from McDonald’s, and BoxBoat and the sale of its marketing platform and commerce software offerings to Centerbridge;

• SMBC Aviation Capital in its $6.7 billion acquisition of Goshawk Aviation;
• GreenSky in its $2.24 billion acquisition by Goldman Sachs;
• Hibu Group in the sale of its U.S. business to H.I.G. Capital;

• Univision in its sale of a majority stake to Searchlight and ForgeLight;

• Cincinnati Bell in its $2.9 billion acquisition by Macquarie Infrastructure;

• Viacom’s transaction committee in the $30 billion merger with CBS;

• Buckeye Partners in its $10.3 billion acquisition by IFM and the $975 million sale of its 50% interest in VTTI to Vitol and IFM;

• Occidental Petroleum in its $57 billion acquisition of Anadarko, topping Anadarko’s original agreement with Chevron, the $8.8 billion sale of Anadarko’s African assets to Total and the $10 billion investment by Berkshire Hathaway;

• 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;

• Brookfield Asset Management in its $3.8 billion acquisition of a controlling stake in TerraForm Power and its $1.3 billion acquisition of TerraForm Global;

• D+H in its C$4.8 billion sale to Vista Equity Partners;

• Biogen in its $1.25 billion settlement and license agreement with Forward Pharma;

• Starwood Hotels in its $13.3 billion sale to Marriott International and in connection with a competing, unsolicited acquisition proposal from a consortium consisting of Anbang Insurance Group, J.C. Flowers & Co. and Primavera Capital;

• Lindsay Goldberg in its sale of PAE to Platinum Equity;

• BDT Capital Partners in its acquisition of a majority interest in Alliance Laundry Systems from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan;

• AmerisourceBergen in its $2.5 billion acquisition of MWI Veterinary Supply; and

• AerCap in its $28 billion acquisition of International Lease Finance from AIG.

Mr. Cerqueira has also represented numerous companies in defending against hedge fund activism. Notable examples include representing:

• ARIAD Pharmaceuticals in the adoption of its shareholder rights plan and in its settlement agreement with Sarissa Capital;
• Ashland in its proxy contest and subsequent settlement agreement with Cruiser Capital;
• Disney in its support agreement with Third Point and its successful proxy contests against Trian and Blackwells;
• Hasbro in its successful proxy contest against Alta Fox Capital;
• Hertz in the adoption of its shareholder rights plan in response to an activist investor reported to be Carl Icahn; 
• Illumina in its proxy contest against Carl Icahn and its interactions with Corvex; and
• Southwest Gas in its proxy fight and settlement agreement with, and its response to an unsolicited tender offer from, Carl Icahn.

Mr. Cerqueira was named an M&A “Rising Star” by The Deal in 2021 and has been recognized for his work in mergers and acquisitions by IFLR1000 and for his work in activism defense by The Legal 500 US. He has also been recognized as one of “Hollywood’s Top Dealmakers” by The Hollywood Reporter. Additionally, Lawdragon has included Mr. Cerqueira among the “500 Leading Dealmakers in America” and “500 Leading Global Entertainment, Sports & Media Lawyers.”

Mr. Cerqueira is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a member of the International Bar Association and serves on the Mergers, Acquisitions & Corporate Control Contests Committee of the New York City Bar Association. He is a frequent speaker on legal developments in mergers and acquisitions and shareholder activism defense, having participated in events hosted by the American Bar Association, the International Bar Association and the Practising Law Institute, among others. Mr. Cerqueira has also spoken at the Cornell Tech Board Institute and DealFlow Events’ Activist Investor Conference.

Mr. Cerqueira is from Mansfield, Massachusetts. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 2010, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2013, where he was a Submissions Editor and an Executive Editor of the Business Law Review.

Mr. Cerqueira joined Cravath in 2013 and was elected a partner in 2020.