Ian G. John, P.C.
Overview
Ian John is an antitrust and competition partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He advises clients and represents them before the antitrust enforcement authorities on matters relating to mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures, including complex cross-border transactions. He has represented clients from a diverse range of industries, including aerospace, beef processing, beer, building material, chemicals, computer hardware and software, consumer goods, defense, fertilizer, financial products, food and beverage, hospitality, insurance, life sciences, managed care, media and telecommunications, natural gas and oil exploration and transportation, retail, satellites, semiconductors, skilled nursing facilities, and transportation. Ian John is noted by clients as "an incredibly responsive and practical counselor." Ian has appeared before the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Defense, state antitrust authorities, the Canadian Bureau of Competition and the European Commission, representing a number of major corporations in connection with antitrust investigations of merger and acquisition transactions, both consensual and contested.
Ian also has experience in litigated matters, such as participating in the representation of Anheuser-Busch InBev and Express Scripts in separate merger-related litigation matters, and advising four universities, each of which was then a member of the Big East Conference, in connection with the move of several schools to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
In addition, Ian advises clients on other antitrust matters, including issues related to trade associations, product distribution and pricing. He also works with clients to design and implement antitrust compliance programs.
Ian is a member of the board of directors at Row New York. Through the discipline of rowing and rigorous academic support, Row New York transforms the lives of underserved, mostly middle and high school aged, New Yorkers, regardless of background or ability.
Experience
Representative Matters
Chemicals and Agriculture
- Huntsman Corporation in its:
- $300 million acquisition of CVC Thermoset Specialties
- $350 million acquisition of Icynene-Lapolla
- $2.1 billion sale of its chemical intermediates and surfactants businesses to Indorama Ventures
- $350 million acquisition of Demilec Inc.
- merger with Clariant with a combined enterprise value of approximately $20 billion
- CF Industries in its:
- $4.7 billion unsolicited acquisition of Terra Industries and simultaneous defense of a hostile offer by Agrium. In its inaugural issue on innovative lawyers in the United States, the Financial Times recognized the Terra acquisition and Agrium defense as the most innovative M&A transaction in 2010*
- $1.4 billion sale of its phosphate business to The Mosaic Co.*
- $910 million acquisition of a stake in Canadian Fertilizers Limited, owned by Viterra*
Energy
- EQT Corp. in its $35 billion merger with Equitrans Midstream Corp. to create a vertically integrated natural gas business
- Marathon Oil Corporation in its $22.5 billion all-stock sale to ConocoPhillips
- SemGroup Corporation in its pending $5.1 billion sale to Energy Transfer LP
- Callon Petroleum Company in its $3.2 billion acquisition of Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc.
- C&J Energy Services in an approximately $1.8 billion merger-of-equals with Keane Group
- Amplify Energy Corp. in an all-stock merger-of-equals with Midstates Petroleum Company, Inc.
- H.I.G. Capital in its sale of Enerwise Global Technologies, Inc. d/b/a CPower to LS Power
- Talen Energy in its $1.6 billion sale to Riverstone
- Chevron in its $4.3 billion acquisition of Atlas Energy*
- XTO Energy in its $41 billion sale to Exxon Mobil*
- Coastal Corporation in its $16 billion acquisition by El Paso Energy*
Food and Beverage
- Butterfly-backed Orgain, a plant-based functional nutrition platform, in its sale of a majority stake to Nestlé Health Science
- Ahold Delhaize in its acquisition of FreshDirect
- L Catterton and Ainsworth Pet Nutrition in the $1.9 billion sale of Ainsworth Pet Nutrition to The J.M. Smucker Company
- Mead Johnson Nutrition in its $17.9 billion sale to Reckitt Benckiser Group plc.
- Roundy’s Inc. in its $800 million sale to Kroger Co.
- Centerbridge Partners L.P. in connection with the acquisition of Splenda by Heartland Food Products from McNeil Nutritionals, LLC.
- Anheuser-Busch InBev in its $21 billion acquisition of the remaining stake of Grupo Modelo it did not already own, including participating on the defense team in related private and public litigation*
- Archer Daniels Midland Company in its $3.1 billion acquisition of WILD Flavors GmbH (Switzerland)*
- JBS S.A. in its acquisitions of Smithfield Beef Group and Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding LLC*
Life Sciences
- Francisco Partners-backed Capsule Technologies in its $635 sale to Royal Philips
- Radiology Partners in its $885 million acquisition of MEDNAX Radiology Solutions, a division of MEDNAX, Inc.
- Riverchase Dermatology in its merger with Water’s Edge Dermatology; deal cleared in 60 days
- TerSera Therapeutics LLC in the purchase of XERMELO® from Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc.
- Kinderhook Industries in its acquisition and merger of PharMedQuest Pharmacy Services and Tailwind Capital-backed Long’s Drugs
- Cambrex Corporation in its $2.4 billion agreement to be acquired by Permira
- Paragon Bioservices Inc., a contract development and manufacturing organization backed by NewSpring Health Capital and Camden Partners, in its $1.2 billion sale to drug development and delivery technology company Catalent Inc.
- TowerBrook Capital Partners and its portfolio company TriMedx in its $300 million acquisition of Aramark's Healthcare Technologies management division
- Thomas H. Lee Partners and Curo Health Services LLC in its $1.4 billion sale of Curo to Humana Inc., TPG Capital LP and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe LP
- VWR in its $6.4 billion sale to Avantor
- CoverMyMeds, LLC in its $1.1 billion sale to McKesson Corporation
- The Gores Group in its $1.3 billion sale of Therakos, an immunotherapy company, to a subsidiary of Mallinckrodt plc
- Express Scripts in its $29.1 billion acquisition of Medco Health Solutions, including participating on the litigation defense team in a last-minute private antitrust challenge to the transaction. This acquisition was recognized in the 2012 Financial Times "US Innovative Lawyers" report*
- Genesis HealthCare Corporation in its acquisition of Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. and its $275 million acquisition of Sun Healthcare*
- Stryker Corporation in its $1.7 billion acquisition of MAKO Surgical Corp., its $1.5 billion acquisition of the neurovascular division of Boston Scientific, its $500 million acquisition of Ascent Healthcare Solutions, its $318 million acquisition of Orthovita and various other matters*
- Endo Pharmaceuticals in its $1.2 billion acquisition of Qualitest Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from Apax Partners*
- Guidant Corporation in connection with its proposed acquisitions by Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific*
- Amerigroup in its $4.9 billion merger with WellPoint*
- HealthSpring in its $3.8 billion sale to Cigna*
- Deere & Company in the sale of its health plan to UnitedHealth Group*
- PacifiCare Health Systems in its merger with UnitedHealth Group*
- UnitedHealth Group in its acquisition of Oxford Health Plans*
Media and Telecom
- Avaya Holdings Corp. in its strategic partnership with RingCentral, Inc.
- Nexstar Broadcasting Group in its $1.3 billion sale of nineteen stations in fifteen markets to TEGNA and The E.W. Scripps Company
- Nexstar Broadcasting Group in its $6.4 billion acquisition of Tribune Media Co.
- Charter Communications in its formation of a 50/50 operating platform partnership with Comcast Corporation
- Harland Clarke Holdings, the parent company of Valassis, on Valassis' acquisition of Maxpoint Interactive
- Clear Channel Outdoor in its sales of assets of its Americas Outdoor segment in certain non-strategic outdoor markets
- Blackstone in its acquisition of SESAC Holdings, a leading music rights organization, from Rizvi Traverse Management
- Tribune Publishing Co. (n/k/a tronc, Inc.) in its defense of an unsolicited acquisition proposal from Gannett Co.
- Nexstar Broadcasting Group in connection with its $4.6 billion acquisition of Media General, ending a six-month public takeover battle during which Nexstar jumped Media General’s previously announced transaction with Meredith Corp.
Technology
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its $2.5 billion sale of Sirius Computer Solutions, Inc. to CDW Corporation
- Grubhub in its $7.3 billion acquisition by Just Eat Takeaway.com
- Optimal Blue in its $1.8 billion sale to Black Knight
- Sagent Auto in its merger with defi SOLUTIONS
- Ten-X in its sale to CoStar Group
- Blackstone in its $22 billion merger of Kronos Incorporated and Ultimate Software
- MDSL and Sumeru Equity Partners in the merger of MDSL with Calero Software
- Alight Solutions in its acquisition of Wipro's Workday and Cornerstone OnDemand business
- GTCR and GreatCall, Inc. in the $800 million sale of GreatCall, Inc. to Best Buy Co., Inc.
- Silver Lake in its:
- $500 million investment in Credit Karma
- $700 million acquisition of Cast & Crew Entertainment Services and subsequent acquisition of CAPS Payroll
- Micro Focus International plc in its $8.8 billion acquisition of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company’s software business
- Epiq Systems in its $1 billion sale to OMERS Private Equity and Harvest Partners
- EQT on its sale of Automic Software to CA Technologies
- IGATE Corporation in its $4.04 billion merger with Cap Gemini S.A.
- ASML in its $2.5 billion acquisition of Cymer and its $5.2 billion sale of a 25 percent equity stake to three major customers (Intel Corporation, Samsung and TSMC) and their associated commitment to provide ASML with at least $1.7 billion in R&D funding*
- GTCR in its:
- sale of Convergex to Cowen
- and Convergex in the combination of LiquidPoint and Dash Financial
- $390 million acquisition of Fundtech*
- Novell in its acquisition by Attachmate and in the concurrent sale of its intellectual property assets to CPTN Holdings LLC, a consortium of technology companies organized by Microsoft*
Transportation
- Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, Blackstone Core Private Equity, Cascade and Global Infrastructure Partners, in the $4.73 billion proposed take private of Signature Aviation
- General Motors in its:
- $2.8 billion investment from Honda in GM Cruise Holdings LLC, GM’s autonomous vehicle (AV) business, at a $14.6 billion valuation
- $2.25 billion investment from the SoftBank Vision Fund in GM Cruise Holdings LLC, GM’s autonomous vehicle (AV) business, at an $11.5 billion valuation
- Swift Transportation in its $6 billion stock-for-stock merger with Knight Transportation
- Consolidated Aviation Services, a portfolio company of ICV Partners, in its sale to Worldwide Flight Services, a portfolio company of Platinum Equity
- Bain Capital Private Equity in its:
- acquisition of Big Tex Trailers from HIG Capital
- acquisition of American Trailer Works from Southlake Equity Group and subsequent merger with Big Tex Trailers
- Warburg Pincus in its $1.8 billion sale of Coyote Logistics to UPS
- Laidlaw International, an operator of school and passenger buses, in its $36 billion acquisition by FirstGroup, an operator of passenger trains, passenger buses and school buses*
Other
- Global Infrastructure Partners in its $12.5 billion sale to BlackRock
- BAE Systems in its $5.55 billion acquisition of Ball Corp.'s defense and commercial space unit Ball Aerospace
- Amer Sports, along with its investor consortium, in its $420 million sale of Amer’s Precor division to Peloton
- Ingersoll-Rand plc in its $1.45 billion acquisition of Precision Flow Systems
- Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation in its $4.7 billion acquisition of ILG
- SoftBank in its $3 billion acquisition of Fortress Investment Group
- Boise Cascade in its acquisition of wood products production facilities from Georgia Pacific
- Building Materials Holding Corporation in its all-stock merger with Stock Building Supply Holdings, Inc., valued at approximately $1.5 billion
- OAO Severstal, a producer of steel based in Russia, in the $2.3 billion sale of its subsidiaries Severstal Columbus, LLC and Severstal Dearborn, LLC to Steel Dynamics Inc. and AK Steel Corporation*
- BlackRock Inc. in its $9.7 billion acquisition of the Merrill Lynch Investment Management business from Merrill Lynch*
- Oakley in its $2.1 billion acquisition by Luxottica Group*
- Stillwater Mining Company in its $341 million sale of a 51 percent stake to MMC Norilsk Nickel, a mining company in Russia*
- TRW in its:
- $11.8 billion merger with Northrop Grumman*
- $1.5 billion sale of Aeronautical Systems Group to Goodrich*
- Honeywell in its $14 billion business combination with AlliedSignal and its attempted $45 billion acquisition by General Electric*
*Prior to Kirkland
Prior Experience
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Recognition
Ranked in Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business for Antitrust, 2019–2024, and listed as a Recognized Practitioner for Antitrust, 2018
Ranked as a "leading lawyer" for Competition by Who's Who Legal, 2022–2023
Recognized as “Recommended” in New York by Global Competition Review 100, 2022–2025
Recognized in Euromoney’s Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Competition & Antitrust Experts, 2018, 2021
Recognized in The Legal 500 U.S., 2015, 2017–2024
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2011–2012, 2014–2024
Memberships & Affiliations
Life Fellow, American Bar Foundation. Membership in the Fellows is limited to one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction.
Member of the Board of Directors, Row New York
Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- New York
Education
- Indiana University Maurer School of LawJ.D.magna cum laude1995Order of the Coif
- Bowdoin CollegeB.A.1990