Eric L. Schiele, P.C.
Overview
Eric Schiele is a corporate partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice encompasses M&A and public company board and special committee advisory work, including hostile takeover and hedge fund activism defense. Over the course of his career, Eric has advised on announced M&A transactions with an aggregate value of approximately $1.2 trillion.
Eric has been repeatedly recognized as a leading lawyer in mergers and acquisitions. In 2021, Insider profiled him as one of 29 M&A lawyers “leading the way on billion-dollar M&A deals.” In 2020, Eric was one of six M&A attorneys nationwide chosen as a Law360 MVP, and one of seven attorneys nationwide chosen by The American Lawyer as a finalist for its 2020 “Corporate Lawyer of the Year” award. He was recognized for his M&A work by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business from 2015 through 2024. Eric was also recognized by IFLR1000 from 2015 through 2024 and was named to Lawdragon’s list of the “500 Leading Lawyers in America” in 2016, 2017 and 2020–2025. He has also been recognized by The Legal 500 for his transactional work in the media and entertainment industry in 2017 and 2018, for his work on mergers & acquisitions (large deals – $1bn+) in 2018 through 2024, for his transactional work in the telecoms and broadcast industry in 2014 and 2017, and for his transactional work in the technology industry in 2015.
Eric is a frequent speaker on M&A topics, including co-chairing PLI’s Hot Topics in Mergers and Acquisitions conferences from 2014–2021 and chairing its Shareholder Activism conference in 2016 and co-chairing it in 2018 and 2019.
Representative Clients
Corporate clients that Eric has represented include, among others, AbbVie, Amcor, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Constellation Brands, Disney, DreamWorks Animation, Fox Corporation, GlaxoSmithKline, H.J. Heinz, Honeywell, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Kellanova, McDonald’s, Northrop Grumman, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Taubman Centers, The Washington Post Company, Time Warner, Toll Brothers, Wynn Resorts, Xerox, Yahoo! and Zale Corporation. He also has extensive experience in hedge fund activism defense, including against, among others, Carl Icahn, Elliott Management, Greenlight Capital, Relational, Starboard Value and Trian.
Experience
Representative Matters
Mergers & Acquisitions
- Amcor in its pending $37 billion merger with Berry Global
- Kellanova in its pending $35.9 billion sale to Mars
- AbbVie in its $8.7 billion acquisition of Cerevel Therapeutics
- Fox Corporation in the proposed combination of Fox and News Corp. (which proposal was withdrawn)
- Express, Inc. in its strategic partnership with WHP Global and in its agreement with WHP to acquire Bonobos, Inc. from Walmart
- The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Safehold Inc. in connection with Safehold’s strategic merger with its controlling shareholder iStar Inc. and related spinoff of iStar assets into a new publicly traded company
- Kellogg Company in the separation of its North American cereal business, resulting in two independent public companies, WK Kellogg Co and Kellanova
- Constellation Brands in connection with its stock declassification
- Constellation Brands in connection with its cooperation and information sharing agreements with Elliott Management
- Wynn Resorts in its pending sales of its Michigan iGaming Operations to Caesars Entertainment and its Mobile Sports Wagering Licenses in New York to PENN Entertainment
- Wynn Resorts in its $1.7 billion sale of the land and real estate assets of Encore Boston Harbor to Realty Income
- Owens & Minor, Inc. in its $1.6 billion acquisition of Apria, Inc.
- Owens & Minor in its pending $1.4 billion acquisition of Rotech Healthcare Holdings
- McDonald’s in its sale of Dynamic Yield to Mastercard
- McDonald’s in its sale of McD Tech Labs to IBM
- Polestar Performance AB in its $20 billion combination with Gores Guggenheim Inc.
- Carlisle Companies Incorporated in the $2.025 billion sale of Carlisle Interconnect Technologies to Amphenol Corporation
- Carlisle Companies Incorporated in its $1.575 billion acquisition of Henry Company
- Pioneer Merger Corp. in its proposed $2.2 billion combination with Acorns Grow Incorporated
- Wynn Resorts in its proposed $3.2 billion combination of its Wynn Interactive business with Austerlitz Acquisition Corporation
- AbbVie in its $550 million acquisition of Soliton
- Investindustrial in its voting agreement and $253 million sale of Knoll Inc. preferred stock to Herman Miller in connection with Herman Miller’s $1.8 billion acquisition of Knoll
- TDR Capital in its offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Target Hospitality Corp. not owned by TDR or its affiliates
- Wynn Resorts in its acquisition of Betbull
- Tribune Publishing in its cooperation agreement with Alden Global Capital
- Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. in its PIPE investment from L Catterton as part of Norwegian’s multi-tranche financing for aggregate proceeds of $2.4 billion
- TDR Capital, as controlling stockholder of WillScot Corporation, in the $6.6 billion combination of WillScot and Mobile Mini, Inc.
- The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Taubman Centers, Inc. in Taubman’s $9.8 billion merger and joint venture with Simon Property Group.
- Delphi Technologies PLC in its $3.3 billion sale to BorgWarner Inc.
- Centerview Partners and Lazard in their capacities as financial advisors to the special committee of CBS Corporation in connection with its $48 billion combination with Viacom Inc.
- Sonic Financial Corporation in its $1 billion take-private acquisition of Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
- AbbVie in its $63 billion acquisition of Allergan
- Bristol-Myers Squibb in its proxy fight with Starboard Value in connection with its $90 billion acquisition of Celgene
- Cambridge Franchise in its business combination with Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc.
- GlaxoSmithKline in its $12.7 billion joint venture with Pfizer to combine their consumer health businesses
- Amcor Ltd. in its $6.8 billion acquisition of Bemis Co.
- Wynn Resorts in its engagement and settlement agreement with shareholder Elaine Wynn
Prior to joining Kirkland, Eric’s representative transactions included:
- Disney in its $66 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox
- Time Warner on a number of M&A transactions, including its $109 billion sale to AT&T, the unsolicited $80 billion proposal from 21st Century Fox to acquire Time Warner (which was withdrawn) and its $735 million acquisition of 100% of truTV
- Honeywell in its $90 billion proposal to acquire United Technologies (which was withdrawn) and its $300 million sale of Honeywell Technology Solutions to KBR
- Anheuser‑Busch InBev in its $123 billion acquisition of SABMiller and the $12 billion sale of SABMiller’s U.S. and global Miller branded businesses to Molson Coors
- Northrop Grumman in its $9.2 billion acquisition of Orbital ATK
- The Strategic Review Committee of the Board of Directors of Yahoo! in the $4.5 billion acquisition of Yahoo!’s operating business by Verizon
- DreamWorks Animation in its $4.1 billion sale to Comcast, its acquisition of Classic Media and the formation of the Oriental DreamWorks partnership with China Media Capital and Shanghai Media Group
- Cable ONE in its $735 million acquisition of NewWave Communications
- Montpelier Re Holdings in its $1.8 billion acquisition by Endurance Specialty Holdings
- H.J. Heinz and 3G Capital in Heinz’s $60 billion merger with Kraft Foods Group to form The Kraft Heinz Company
- Sapient in its $3.7 billion acquisition by Publicis
- The transaction committee of the board of directors of Norwegian Cruise Line in the $3.0 billion acquisition of Prestige Cruises International by Norwegian
- Zale Corporation in its $1.5 billion sale to Signet Jewelers and its related successful proxy fight with TIG Advisors, and in its PIPE financing with Golden Gate Capital
- Hologic Inc. in its engagement and settlement with Carl Icahn
- Toll Brothers in its $1.6 billion acquisition of the home building business of Shapell Industries
- The Washington Post Company in the $250 million sale of The Washington Post newspaper to Jeff Bezos
- IBM in a number of public and private transactions with an aggregate value of approximately $5.0 billion, including its acquisitions of SoftLayer Technologies, Ascential and Micromuse and the sale of its worldwide customer care business process outsourcing services business to SYNNEX, as well as in the formation of Open Invention Network
- Mondelez in its engagement and settlement with Trian
- Time Inc. in the sale of its Parenting Group, Time4 Media and Grupo Expansión businesses, and in its acquisition of QSP
- Starbucks in its $620 million acquisition of Teavana
- Flagstone Reinsurance in its $625 million sale to Validus
- Jacobs Private Equity in its control-PIPE acquisition (the first of its kind) of XPO Logistics
- Johnson & Johnson in its $430 million acquisition of Omrix Biopharmaceuticals.
- Biovail Corporation in its financing in connection with its $3.3 billion merger‑of‑equals with Valeant Pharmaceuticals and its $200 million acquisition of the worldwide tetrabenazine business of Cambridge Labs
- Chevron Corporation in its contested $18 billion acquisition of Unocal
- The Board of Directors of MCI in connection with the contested $8.5 billion acquisition of MCI by Verizon
- Sprint in its $35 billion merger with Nextel
Spin‑offs and Split-offs
- Time Warner in its spin‑offs of Time Inc., AOL and Time Warner Cable
- Honeywell in its spin‑off of AdvanSix
- Xerox in its spin‑off of Conduent
- Graham Holdings in its spin‑off of Cable ONE and its $1.1 billion split‑off of WPLG to Berkshire Hathaway
- Mondelez in its $30 billion spin‑off of Kraft
- Turner Broadcasting in its $1.5 billion split‑off of the Atlanta Braves to Liberty Media
Prior Experience
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
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Partner, 2008–2018
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Associate, 2000-2007
More
Thought Leadership
Moderator, “The View from the Bench,” 19th Annual International Bar Association Mergers & Acquisitions Conference, New York, June 14, 2022
Panelist, “State of the New York Legal Market: What Should You Be Examining Now and in the Year Ahead?,” New York Legal Market Conference 2022, New York, April 27, 2022
Conference Co-Chair and Panelist, “Current Landscape of the M&A Market,” Hot Topics in Mergers & Acquisitions 2021, Practising Law Institute, New York, September 8, 2021
Conference Co-Chair and Panelist, “Current Landscape of the M&A Market,” Hot Topics in Mergers & Acquisitions 2020, Practising Law Institute, New York, September 25, 2020
Contributor, “The Deals and Deal Makers That Made the Year in M&A,” The Wall Street Journal, December 30, 2019
Conference Co-Chair and Panelist, Preparing for Shareholder Activism: What You Need to be Doing Now 2019, Practising Law Institute, New York, October 17, 2019
Conference Co-Chair and Panelist, “Current Landscape of the M&A Market,” Hot Topics in Mergers & Acquisitions 2019, Practising Law Institute, New York, September 27, 2019
Panelist, “Shareholder Activism & Engagement: Lessons from the Trenches,” Governance Week, June 18, 2019
Speaker, "Key M&A Issues for 2019," LexisNexis Webinar, February 20, 2019
Conference Co-Chair and Panelist, “Preparing for Shareholder Activism: What You Need to Be Doing Now 2018,” Practising Law Institute, New York, November 16, 2018
Conference Co-Chair and Panelist, “Current Landscape of the M&A Market,” Hot Topics in Mergers & Acquisitions 2018, Practising Law Institute, New York, October 10, 2018
Conference Co-Chair and Panelist, “Current Landscape of the M&A Market,” Hot Topics in Mergers & Acquisitions 2017, Practising Law Institute, New York, September 26, 2017 & Chicago, October 20, 2017
Guest, “Bloomberg Markets,” Bloomberg TV, December 12, 2016
Conference Chair and Panelist, “The Current State of Hedge Fund Activism,” Preparing for Shareholder Activism: What You Need to Be Doing Now, Practising Law Institute, New York, December 9, 2016
Conference Co-Chair and Panelist, “Current Landscape of the M&A Market,” Hot Topics in Mergers & Acquisitions 2016, Practising Law Institute, Chicago, September 30, 2016 & New York, October 13, 2016
Recognition
Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Business Lawyers
- Corporate/M&A (International & Cross-Border) - USA, 2022–2024
Law360
- M&A MVP, 2020
Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business
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Corporate/M&A - New York, 2015–2024
IFLR1000
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Mergers and Acquisitions - US, 2015–2024
Lawdragon
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500 Leading Lawyers in America, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
The Legal 500 US
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M&A: Large Deals ($1bn+), 2018–2024
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Shareholder Activism: Advice to Boards, 2019–2022
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Media & Entertainment, 2017, 2018
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Telecoms and Broadcast: Transactional, 2014, 2017
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Technology: Transactions, 2015
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Capital Markets: Debt Offerings, 2011–2013
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Capital Markets: Global Offerings, 2011, 2012
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Capital Markets: High-Yield Debt Offerings, 2012, 2013
Memberships & Affiliations
New York City Bar Association
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Mergers and Acquisitions Committee
University of Texas Law School Alumni Association
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Executive Board, 2011–2017
Member of Board of Directors of Volunteers of America - Greater New York
Member of Alumni Board of the University of Texas Law Review
Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- New York
Education
- University of Texas at Austin School of LawJ.D.with Highest Honors2000
Chancellors Honor Society
Associate Editor, The Texas Law Review
- Ohio Wesleyan UniversityB.A.summa cum laude1996