George Casey

George Casey

Global Chairman, Corporate, New York

Overview

Professional experience

Education and qualifications

Published works

Overview

George is Global Chairman of Corporate based in New York. He is recognized as one of the leading M&A practitioners and regularly advises Boards of Directors and management of major companies on strategic M&A transactions, corporate governance, ESG and shareholder relations issues.

George has extensive experience in US domestic and cross-border M&A transactions, ranging from public company deals to complex carve-out sales, spin-offs, acquisitions, strategic investments and joint venture transactions, representing many of the largest US and non-US corporate and investment banking clients.

George combines a very diverse transactional experience with a deep understanding of clients’ businesses across the chemicals, industrials, healthcare, mining and metals, media, cable, technology and telecommunications industries, representing leading multinational corporate clients and sovereign wealth funds.

George has been inducted by Legal 500 into the Corporate/M&A “Hall of Fame,” one of 21 M&A lawyers across the United States who were awarded this recognition, and was named a “Dealmaker of the Year” and “Transatlantic Corporate Dealmaker” by the American Lawyer for his transactional work. George has been included in the 2023 Legal 500 M&A Powerlist: USA and was named by clients as one of nine M&A “Super All-Stars” in the 2021 survey of US M&A lawyers by BTI Consulting.

Chambers quotes clients who describe him as a “phenomenal lawyer” who is “very good at giving very strategic advice” and say that his “experience and perspective…make him one of [their] most trusted advisers.”

Work Highlights

George’s recent deal highlights include advising*:

  • The Dow Chemical Company in its transaction with DuPont involving US$130bn combination of the two companies and separating them into three publicly trading entities and the resulting US$50bn spin-off of Dow Inc.; its US$5bn Reverse Morris Trust transaction with Olin; its negotiations of the US$17.4bn K-Dow joint venture with PIC of Kuwait and in the ensuing arbitration over PIC's refusal to close in which Dow was awarded and was paid US$2.16bn in damages and costs; in its US$4.8bn strategic ownership restructuring of Dow Corning; the US$1.5bn sale of its MEGlobal joint venture interest to EQUATE; its US$1.63bn auction sale of Styron to Bain Capital; its US$1.67bn auction sale of Morton Salt to K+S Aktiengesellschaft; its auction sale of the global polypropylene business to Braskem; and its divestiture of the Calcium Chloride business to Occidental Petroleum.
  • LANXESS in its US$1.075bn acquisition of Emerald Kalama Chemical.
  • Celanese in its US$11bn acquisition of DuPont’s Mobility & Materials business; in its restructuring of its 50/50 Korea Engineering Plastics Co. joint venture with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc.; and in its US$1.575bn divestiture of its interest in its Polyplastics joint venture to Daicel Corporation.
  • Liberty Global in its acquisition of a 4.92% stake in Vodafone Group Plc; its US$9.3bn spin-off of Liberty Latin America; its US$8.2bn acquisition of Cable & Wireless Communications plc; its US$23.3bn acquisition of Virgin Media in a stock and cash merger transaction; and its investment in Lions Gate Entertainment and on the creation of its tracking stock under English law for operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • GlaxoSmithKline in its US$5.1bn acquisition of Tesaro.
  • LyondellBasell in its US$2.25bn acquisition of A. Schulman.
  • Novartis in its US$3.9bn acquisition through a tender offer of Advanced Accelerator Applications S.A.; in “white knight” offer for Aventis in connection with an unsolicited offer for Aventis by Sanofi; US$2.5bn auction sale of the Medical Nutrition business to Nestlé; and auction sale of its Nutrition & Santé business to a private equity buyer.
  • Nokia in its sale of the HERE digital mapping business to a consortium comprised of Audi AG, BMW Group and Daimler AG; and in its US$8.1bn acquisition of NAVTEQ.
  • Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Amneal Pharmaceuticals in an acquisition of Kashiv Specialty Pharmaceuticals.
  • The Chefs’ Warehouse in its acquisition of Chef Middle East.
  • invoX Pharma, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sino Biopharmaceutical Limited, in connection with its tender offer for F-star Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, for approximately US$161m.
  • The Board of Directors of The Chefs’ Warehouse in its interactions and settlement with an activist shareholder.
  • Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Novel Denim in its going-private transaction.
  • SPX Technologies in its sale of its legacy asbestos liability portfolio to an entity owned by Global Risk Capital and Premia Holdings.
  • Bojangles’ Inc. in its sale to Durational Capital Management and The Jordan Company in a public company merger transaction.
  • KMG Chemicals, Inc. in its US$1.6bn sale to Cabot Microelectronics Corporation in a public company merger transaction.
  • Sasol Limited in its sale of its 50% membership interest in its polyethylene joint venture to INEOS.
  • Instrumentarium in its US$2.3bn acquisition by GE.
  • Anglo American plc in its sale of the Anglo Norte copper business to a consortium led by Audley Capital Advisors LLP; in its US$5.39bn sale to Mitsubishi of a 24.5% interest in Anglo American Sur, a Chilean copper mining company, and its subsequent settlement of a dispute and US$2.8bn sale of an interest in AA Sur to CODELCO, a Chilean State-owned company, and Mitsui; and its US$1.0bn auction sale of Moly Cop and AltaSteel businesses to OneSteel Limited.
  • ArcelorMittal in its US$1.1bn sale of a 15% interest in a joint venture comprising ArcelorMittal's Labrador Trough iron ore mining and infrastructure assets in Canada to a consortium led by POSCO of Korea and China Steel Corporation of Taiwan.
  • Arcelor in its US$4.7bn unsolicited offer for Dofasco in Canada; and in connection with the acquisition of additional interest in CST in Brazil.
  • Pechiney in connection with an initially unsolicited and later recommended US$6.7bn tender offer by Alcan.
  • Thomson Reuters in US$7.75bn auction sale of Thomson Learning to Apax and OMERS; its acquisition of MarkMonitor; its auction sale of BarBri to a private equity buyer; the divestiture of NETg to SkillSoft; the divestiture of Prometric to ETS; and the auction sale of a database to FactSet.
  • AngloGold in its US$1.9bn acquisition of Ashanti, a Ghanaian gold mining company.
  • Bell Canada International and other shareholders in its US$1.0bn sale of their interest in Hansol M.com to Korea Telecom.
  • Axel Springer in connection with the acquisition of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG.
  • Alcan in its acquisition of the cathodes business of GrafTech International Ltd.

*The above matters were handled by George prior to joining Linklaters.

Professional experience

Before joining Linklaters, George was the Global Managing Partner of Shearman & Sterling LLP, while continuing his full-time practice. He also previously served as Global Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group Leader and Global Head of Corporate.

In addition to his work with clients, George is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School where he teaches a course on Mergers and Acquisitions. He is also a regular lecturer on US M&A at l’ École de Droit de la Sorbonne – Université Paris, and a contributing editor of the inaugural Chambers’ Technology M&A Global Practice Guide.

George serves as a member of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Audit Committee of the American University and American College of Greece, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), a Washington DC think tank.

Awards & Market Recognition
  • Included in the Legal 500 M&A Powerlist: USA (2023)
  • Named by clients as one of nine M&A “Super All-Stars” in a survey of U.S. M&A lawyers by BTI Consulting (2021)
  • Named Leading Dealmaker in America by Lawdragon (2021)
  • Inducted into the Legal 500 US Corporate/M&A “Hall of Fame” (2020)
  • M&A Group led by George ranked #1 Transactional Practice by the Corporate Counsel Readers’ Survey (2020)
  • Named Most Influential M&A Lawyer (New York) by Acquisition INTL (2018)
  • Named Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer (2016)
  • Named Transatlantic Corporate Dealmaker, M&A (U.S.) by The American Lawyer (2016)
  • Finalist for the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards (2013, 2016, 2018)
  • Awarded M&A Deal of the Year for the US$3.9bn acquisition of Advanced Accelerator Applications S.A. (2019)
  • Awarded M&A Deal of the Year for The Dow Chemical Company's carve-out of its chlor-alkali business and merger of the new entity with Olin Corporation through a Reverse Morris Trust transaction. This complex and unique transaction included a carve-out, equity and debt exchanges, and a public company merger (2016)
  • M&A Group awarded the M&A Team of the Year by IFLR (2018)
  • Chambers quotes clients who describe him as a "phenomenal lawyer" who is "very good at giving very strategic advice" and say that his "experience and perspective…makes him one of [their] most trusted advisers."
  • IFLR1000 Leading Lawyer for financial and corporate law (2017)
Conferences
  • “Investor Activism,” chair a panel at the Financial Times Outstanding Directors Exchange, June 2023
  • “Corporate Governance and Geopolitical Risks,” Salzburg Forum on Corporate Governance, October 2022
  • “New Realities in M&A,” chair a panel at the Financial Times Outstanding Directors Exchange, October 2021
  • “The Board’s Role in Improving M&A Deal Outcomes,” chair a panel at the Corporate Board Member annual Boardroom Summit, September 2021
  • “ESG Considerations in M&A,” presenter at the annual American Bar Association meeting, September 2021
  • “Comparative Deal Architecture: Are US and European Deals Built the Same Way?”, chair the Conference Moderated by Chief Justice Leo Strine, March 2020
  • “To ESG or Not to ESG? That is no Longer a Question,” chair a panel at the Society for Corporate Governance 2020 Annual Conference, September 2020
  • “Shareholder Activism in the COVID-19 Era,” chair a panel at the Financial Times Outstanding Directors Exchange, October 2020
  • “Considering ESG in M&A Strategy,” chair a roundtable discussion at the Financial Times Outstanding Directors Exchange, October 2020
  • 2020 Annual Boardroom Summit, chair of a panel “Would Your M&A Transaction Withstand a Shareholder Challenge?”, November 2020
  • “Picking the Right Poison Pill: Strategies for Preventing Opportunistic Stock Sweeps and Preserving Value,” Webinar, May 2020
  • “Current Issues Relating to Spin-Offs: Two-Part Discussion,” Webinar, September 2020
  • “Reverse Morris Trust Transactions for the C-Suite,” Webinar, October 2020
  • 2019 Annual Boardroom Summit, chair of a panel “M&A Rules of Engagement for the Board,” April 2019
  • Transaction Advisors’ 2019 M&A Conference at Wharton San Francisco, chair of a panel “Joint Ventures and Minority Investments,” March 2019
  • Transaction Advisors’ 2018 M&A Conference at the University of Chicago, chair of a panel “Cross-Border Acquisition Techniques and Considerations,” 2016-2018 
  • Tulane Corporate Law Institute M&A Conference, panelist, March 2017
  • “Special Committees of the Board in M&A Transactions,” chair of a panel on Board governance and special committee considerations and best practices, NYSE Annual Boardroom Summit 2011-2017
  •  “US or EU: Which has – as a Matter of Fact – A More Open Market for Corporate Control,” chair of a conference moderated by Chief Justice Leo Strine, February 2014
  • “Special Committees of the Board in M&A Transactions”—featured in a Corporate Board Member “Board Member Series” video interviews
  • “What to Do When an Acquiror Knocks?”—chair a panel on how the Board of Directors and senior executives should respond to an unsolicited takeover proposal at the Annual Boardroom Summit

Education and qualifications

George holds a Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law where he graduated cum laude and a Diploma in International Law (with Honours) from the University of Kyiv.

Published works