Matthew L.
Ploszek

Mr. Ploszek’s notable private equity transactions include representing:

• Brookfield Renewable in its strategic partnership with Cameco to acquire Westinghouse for $8 billion and its $2.8 billion acquisition of Duke Energy Renewables;
• Owl Rock (now Blue Owl) in its investment in Amergin Asset Management and Fifth Season Investments’ $220 million acquisition of Fifth Season Financial and the life insurance investment assets of Chapford Capital II and Chapford Diversified Strategies Fund; and
• Lindsay Goldberg and its portfolio companies in numerous transactions, including the acquisition of Golden State Foods, the acquisition of The Kleinfelder Group and Summit Interconnect's acquisition of Royal Circuit Solutions.

Mr. Ploszek has been recognized for his work in private equity by The Legal 500 US and IFLR1000.

In addition, Mr. Ploszek has represented many corporate clients, including AerCap, Ashland, Brightline, Brunswick Corporation, Cable One, Cincinnati Bell, CommScope, Evolent Health, Ferroglobe, Forward Air, IBM, IFF, Janssen, Martin Marietta, Olin, Parker Hannifin, Pinnacle Foods, Radius Global Infrastructure, Spectranetics and Unilever.

Mr. Ploszek’s notable transactions on the corporate side include representing:

• AerCap in its $30 billion acquisition of GE Capital Aviation Services from General Electric;
• WestRock in its $20 billion combination with Smurfit Kappa, creating Smurfit WestRock;

• Pinnacle Foods in its $10.9 billion acquisition by Conagra Brands;
• CymaBay Therapeutics in its $4.3 billion acquisition by Gilead Sciences;
• Forward Air in its combination with Omni Logistics, creating a $3.7 billion company;

• Parker Hannifin in its $3.675 billion acquisition of LORD;

• Radius Global Infrastructure in its $3 billion acquisition by EQT Active Core Infrastructure and PSP Investments;

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

• Spectranetics in its €1.9 billion sale to Koninklijke Philips;

• IBM in the $1.8 billion sale of select IBM software products to HCL Technologies, the sale of its marketing platform and commerce software offerings to Centerbridge and the sale of certain Algorithmics and related assets to SS&C Technologies Holdings;

• CommScope in its $1 billion PIPE investment from The Carlyle Group as part of CommScope’s $7.4 billion acquisition of ARRIS;
• Brunswick in its $910 million acquisition of Power Products’ Global Marine & Mobile business and the $490 million sale of its Fitness business to KPS Capital Partners;
• Janssen in its $750 million acquisition of bermekimab from XBiotech;
• Cable One in its strategic partnership with Mega Broadband; the formation of Clearwave Fiber, a joint venture with GTCR, Stephens Capital Partners and The Pritzker Organization; and its $525.9 million acquisition of Fidelity Communications’ data, video and voice business;
• Intermex’s strategic alternatives committee in the pending $500 million acquisition by Western Union;
• IFF in the $220 million sale of its Flavor Specialty Ingredients business to Exponent;
• Ashland in the sale of its nutraceuticals business to Turnspire Capital Partners;
• Brightline in its acquisition of XpressWest; 
• Iris Financial, a Euronext Amsterdam‑listed SPAC sponsored by Ripplewood, in its combination with Younited; and

• Unilever in its acquisition of Seventh Generation.

Mr. Ploszek has been recognized by Lawdragon as among the “500 Leading Dealmakers in America” and the “500 X – The Next Generation.”

Mr. Ploszek is from St. Charles, Illinois. He received a B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 2007, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, a J.D. cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2014, where he was an associate editor of the Journal of Constitutional Law, and an M.B.A. with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2014.

Mr. Ploszek joined Cravath in 2014 and was elected a partner in 2021.