
Gregory T. Grogan is a Partner in the Firm’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice and focuses his work on executive retention and motivation in M&A transactions and IPOs, with a particular focus on private equity. Chambers USA has described Greg as “very technically proficient, practical, timely, responsive and just a wonderful lawyer.”
Greg routinely advises boards of directors with regard to CEO succession matters, including at Hilton Hotels, PetSmart, Johnson Controls, Gannett, SeaWorld, Change Healthcare, and Cosmopolitan Las Vegas (and, at the height of the financial crisis, both Wachovia and Washington Mutual).
Greg was recognized among the leading executive compensation lawyers in New York in the 2011-2018 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and the 2011-2018 editions of The Legal 500 United States.
Private Equity. Greg advised on the following private equity transactions:
- More than 75 acquisitions or sales by Blackstone, including Refinitiv (the Financial & Risk business of Thomson Reuters), SeaWorld Entertainment, GSO Capital, Harvest Funds, Clarus, Optiv Security, Apria Healthcare, Gates Global, PSAV, TaskUs, Performance Food Group, Vivint, Tradesmen, Ascend Learning, GCA Services, Emdeon, Pinnacle Foods, Birds Eye Foods, Travelport, and AlliedBarton
- Dozens of transactions for Blackstone Real Estate, including Hilton Hotels, Equity Office Properties, Brixmor, Motel 6, Invitation Homes, Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, Willis Tower, Gramercy Trust, IndCor Properties, StuyTown/Peter Cooper Village, BioMed, Strategic Hotels, Pure Industrial, Capital Trust, Excel Trust, Apple REIT Six, and Merrill Lynch Asia’s real estate investment business
- BC Partners’ $8.7 billion acquisition of PetSmart (and PetSmart’s subsequent acquisition of Chewy.com)
- The ADT Corporation’s $15 billion sale to Apollo (and ADT’s subsequent IPO, as underwriters’ counsel)
- Johnson Control’s pending $13 billion sale of its power solutions business to Brookfield Asset Management
- A private equity consortium’s acquisition of BankUnited through the FDIC
- Centerbridge’s acquisitions of Great Wolf Resorts, GSI, American Renal Associates and Remedi SeniorCare
- BC Partners and Silver Lake Partners’ acquisition of MultiPlan (and subsequent sale), NAVEX Global, and GFL
- Lightyear Capital’s acquisition of FIS’ healthcare benefit solutions business (Alegeus) (and subsequent sale to Vista Equity)
- Tyco International’s sale of its electrical and metal products business to Clayton Dubilier & Rice
- LPL Financial Services’ sale to TPG and Hellman & Friedman
- Financing of 3G’s acquisition of Burger King and Cerberus Capital’s acquisition of Chrysler
Strategic Transactions. Greg worked on the following non-buyout transactions:
- Microsoft’s $28.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, its $7.5 billion acquisition of GitHub, its $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s phone business, and its $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype from Silver Lake Partners
- SiriusXM’s pending acquisition of Pandora for $3.5 billion in stock
- Tyco’s merger-of-equals with Johnson Controls
- Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company’s sale of OppenheimerFunds, Inc. to Invesco Ltd. for $5.7 billion in common and preferred shares
- IPOs of Blackstone, Hilton Hotels, SeaWorld, Invitation Homes, Gates Global, Performance Food Group, Pinnacle Foods, Brixmor, Summit Materials, BankUnited, American Renal Associates and Graham Packaging (all as issuer’s counsel)
- Tyco’s separation of the company into three standalone public companies with an estimated value of $18 billion (including the merger of Tyco’s Flow Control business with Pentair in a $10 billion “reverse Morris trust” transaction)
- PPL’s spinoff of generation assets to form Talen Energy (and subsequent Reverse Morris Trust merger)
- Ameriprise’s $1 billion acquisition of Bank of America’s long-term asset management business Columbia Management
Greg also has experience advising on general M&A matters, including the independent directors of Fox Entertainment in connection with News Corp’s unsolicited tender offer for Fox; Coors in its merger of equals with Molson; the Santo Domingo family in its sale of Latin American brewer Bavaria S.A.; and Washington Mutual in the sale of its consumer finance business to Citigroup. He also represented Blackstone and KKR in numerous M&A transactions.
Greg joined Simpson Thacher in 2000 and became a Partner in 2007. He received his J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center in 1998, where he was senior editor of the Journal of Law and Policy in International Business, and his B.A., in Journalism and Political Science, from California State University, Northridge, in 1995.
Greg served as one of the Firm’s Hiring Partners from 2012-2017. Greg is a member of the Board of Visitors of Georgetown University Law Center.
Education:
- Georgetown University Law Center, 1998 J.D.
- cum laude; Journal of Law and Policy in International Business, Editor, Senior Editor, 1996–1998
- California State University, Northridge, 1995 B.A.
Associations:
- Georgetown University Law Center, Member, Board of Visitors (2018-Present)
Admissions : New York 2001
Cost
Rate : $$$