Oliver J. Board

About Oliver J. Board

Oliver focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, securities law and corporate governance matters. He regularly advises management and boards of directors in connection with public and private acquisitions and divestitures, domestic and international transactions, spin-offs, joint ventures and private equity transactions. He also advises on takeover defenses and proxy contests.

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Oliver held several academic positions at the University of Pittsburgh, Amherst College and the University of Oxford.

Recent work

Healthcare

• AstraZeneca on its $2.4 billion acquisition of Fusion Pharmaceuticals
• AstraZeneca on its $1.1 billion acquisition of Icosavax
• PhenomeX on its $108 million sale to Bruker Corporation
• Berkeley Lights on its acquisition of IsoPlexis
• Zymergen on its $300 million sale to Ginkgo Bioworks—the first-ever sale of a publicly-listed public benefit corporation
• Casdin Capital on its $125 million investment in convertible preferred shares of Fluidigm
• Translate Bio on its $3.2 billion sale to Sanofi
• Alexion Pharmaceuticals on its $39 billion sale to AstraZeneca
• Celgene on its $89 billion sale to Bristol-Myers Squibb
• Medivation on its $14.6 billion acquisition by Pfizer

Technology, Media and Telecoms

• Dalian Wanda Group on the sale of its stake in Legendary Entertainment
• Coupa on its $8 billion sale to Thoma Bravo
• Pearson plc on the sale of its international Online Program Management business, Pearson Online Learning Services, to an affiliate of Regent LP
• Ericsson on the sale of its IoT Accelerator and Connected Vehicle Cloud businesses and related assets to Aeris Communications
• SEAKR Engineering on its sale to Raytheon Technologies
• TEGNA on its successful defense against a proxy fight by Standard General in the first ever contested virtual meeting
• Convergys on its $2.8 billion sale to SYNNEX
• Cengage Learning on its merger of equals with McGraw-Hill Education
• XO Group on its $933 million merger with WeddingWire

Consumer

• Whole Foods Market on its $13.7 billion sale to Amazon.com
• Edgewell Personal Care on the $122.5 million sale of its infant and pet care business to Le Holding Angelcare
• Ad Hoc Group of First and Second Lien Noteholders on the reorganization of Pyxus International and $1.5 billion of debt in a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy
• Kellogg on the $1.3 billion sale of its cookies, fruit and fruit flavored snacks, pie crusts and ice cream cones businesses to Ferrero International
• WH Smith plc on its $198 million acquisition of InMotion Entertainment

Financial Institutions

• Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Independence Holding Company on its $315 million sale to Geneve Holdings
• eNett on its sale to WEX by parent company Travelport, a portfolio company of Siris Capital and Elliott Management
• Siris Capital Group on its provision with Elliot Management of $500 million of financing and financing commitments to Travelport
• Goldman Sachs Asset Management on the $900 million sale of Goldman Sachs Middle Market Lending to Goldman Sachs BDC
• BayBoston Managers, together with a consortium of investors, on its acquisition of Caribbean Financial Group
• Altisource Asset Management on its entry into a new asset management agreement with Front Yard Residential

Transportation and Logistics

• Kansas City Southern on its $29 billion sale to Canadian Pacific
• XPO Logistics on its $850 million senior notes offering and $300 million tack-on senior notes offering
• XPO Logistics on its $3.5 billion acquisiton of Norbert Dentressangle

Other

• Ara Partners on its acquisition of a majority stake in USD Clean Fuels and USD Clean Fuels
• FMC on its acquisition of DuPont’s Crop Protection business in exchange for FMC’s Health and Nutrition business and $1.2 billion in cash