Gregory B. Astrachan

Greg is a member of the American Bar Association and the International Bar Association, where he is vice-chair officer of the Securities Law Committee. He has lectured at the IBA and at the Practicing Law Institute and is an annual contributor to The Business Lawyer’s "Annual Review of Federal Securities Regulation."

M&A
Greg’s representative M&A transactions include:

• Bluestar Alliance on its acquisition of luxury streetwear brand Off-White
• HBC, parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue, on its $2.65 billion acquisition of Neiman Marcus Group
• Bamboo Ide8 Insurance Services, LLC in its approximately $285 million sale of a majority stake to White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.
• Fresh Express Incorporated, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chiquita Holdings Limited, in the acquisition of Dole plc’s Fresh Vegetables Division
• Truist Insurance Holdings in its approximately $3.4 billion acquisition of BankDirect Capital Finance, a nationwide premium finance company
• Truist Insurance Holdings in its acquisition of BenefitMall, the nation's largest benefits wholesale general agency
• Eaton Vance WaterOak Advisors on the acquisitions of its investment advisory and wealth management business by CI Financial Corp. and Pathstone
• HBC in its investment in Convene and creation of a leading flex space operator
• Truist Insurance Holdings in its acquisition of Constellation Affiliated Partners
• Galaxy Universal in its agreement to acquire Apex Global Brands

• Truist Insurance Holdings in its acquisition of Kensington Vanguard National Land Services

• Truist Insurance Holdings in its acquisition of Wellington Risk Holdings
• The Hudson’s Bay Company Shareholder Group in its $1.4 billion agreement with HBC to take the company private
• BNP Paribas Cardif in the negotiation of a long-term bancassurance strategic alliance in Latin America with Scotiabank
• Aquiline Capital Partners in its agreement to acquire human resources outsourcing provider CoAdvantage from Morgan Stanley Capital Partners
• Neuberger Berman in its acquisition of Cartesian Re and affiliated reinsurer Iris Re
• Perella Weinberg as financial advisor to AIG in a $5.6 billion acquisition of reinsurer Validus
• Institutional investors in the sale of significant stake in HighTower Holdings LLC to funds managed by Thomas H. Lee Partners
• Morgan Stanley as financial advisor to Fortress Investment Group in its $3.3 billion acquisition by SoftBank Group
• Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Ltd in its agreement to establish a joint venture with Bradesco Seguros, creating a leading commercial large-risk insurer in Brazil
• BB&T Corporation in its acquisition of Swett & Crawford from Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford for $500 million in cash
• Canadian retailer Hudson’s Bay Company in its €2.82 billion cross-border acquisition of German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its $2.9 billion acquisition of U.S. retailer Saks Incorporated. He also assisted HBC in its formation of a joint venture with Simon Property Group valued at $1.8 billion (and on the subsequent sale of $533 million of its equity in the joint venture), its $250 million acquisition of Gilt, and its $100 million sale of the Lord + Taylor brand to Le Tote
• Fortis in the largest ever banking merger - the $101 billion consortium acquisition of ABN AMRO
• Morgan Stanley’s sale of Saxon Mortgage Services to Ocwen Financial for $59.3 million plus an estimated $1.4 billion for servicing advance receivables outstanding
• Credit Suisse in Novartis AG’s $12.9 billion acquisition of the remaining 23% stake in Alcon, Inc.
• Credit Suisse in the proposed combination of the NYSE and Deutsche Börse
• The $3.6 billion sale of Stiefel Laboratories, Inc. to GlaxoSmithKline plc
• Converium Holding AG in its $2.8 billion unsolicited acquisition by SCOR SA
• Converium in its $2.0 billion spin-off and IPO
• Swiss Re in numerous acquisitions and dispositions, including:
  • Swiss Re Corporate Solutions in its acquisition of a majority stake in Compañía Aseguradora de Fianzas S.A. Confianza
  • The merger of Compañía Española de Seguros y Reaseguros de Crédito y Caución, S.A. (Crédito y Caución) and Atradius N.V.
  • Swiss Re’s acquisitions of Conning & Company and Underwriters Reinsurance Company
• Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, AG’s $8.5 billion bid for Transatlantic Holdings, Inc.
• The sale of Velcera, Inc. to the Perrigo Company
• The $600 million sale of Eurand to Axcan Pharma
• Time Warner in its $240 million equity investment in Central European Media Enterprises
• The $1.9 billion acquisition of AIG’s Personal Auto Group by Farmers Group, Inc.
• The $600 million sale of the Wright Insurance Group
• The Wright Insurance Group’s  acquisitions of Fidelity Flood and RMI
• Aspen Holdings in its sale to Markel Corporation

Capital Markets
Greg’s securities underwriter representations include numerous debt and equity offerings for Credit Suisse, BAML, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS across a broad range of industries.  Greg’s representative capital markets transactions include advising

• Fortis in its $18.8 billion rights issue, one of the largest ever equity offerings
• Royal & SunAlliance in multiple capital markets transactions including its ₤960 million rights issue
• Zurich Financial Services in its $2.5 billion rights issue
• The underwriters in the $3.0 billion equity and hybrid debt financing for Swiss Re’s acquisition of GE Insurance Solution
• Credit Suisse in the aborted $10 billion spin-off and IPO of its insurance business, Winterthur Swiss Insurance Company.
• Converium Holdings in its $2.0 billion spin-off and IPO

Greg’s private equity representations include transactions for Aquiline, Candover, 3i, Bridgepoint, and Warburg, Pincus & Co.