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ProfessionalsJames E. Langston

James E. Langston
Partner

Tel: +1-212-373-3016
Fax: +1-212-492-0016
jlangston@paulweiss.com

Tel: +1-212-373-3016
jlangston@paulweiss.com
New York

1285 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10019-6064
Fax: +1-212-492-0016

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Jim Langston is a partner in the Corporate Department and a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group. He has significant experience advising companies, boards and board committees on public company mergers, private equity transactions, private acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, activist defense, hostile takeover defense and corporate governance matters.

Jim has significant experience in cross-border and domestic transactions, including conflict of interest transactions, mergers-of-equals, LBOs, joint ventures and carve-out transactions. He also frequently represents companies and their board of directors on activist defense situations.

Jim has been recognized as an industry leader by various publications and directories including Chambers USA, Legal 500 US and IFLR 1000 – clients in Chambers refer to Jim as “very sharp, pragmatic and strategic” and commend his “outstanding judgment.” Jim was named a “Rising Star” by Law360 for his notable track record in M&A.

EXPERIENCE

Jim’s representations have included:

SELECT PUBLIC COMPANY TRANSACTIONS

  • Acadia Healthcare Company in its $1.2 billion acquisition of CRC Health Group
  • Allergan in its $160 billion announced merger with Pfizer, its $40.5 billion sale of its global generics pharmaceuticals business to Teva and its $2.1 billion acquisition of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals
  • APi Group Corporation in its $570 million acquisition of Elevated Facility Services Group from a fund managed by L Squared Capital Partners
  • ArcelorMittal in its $3.3 billion sale of ArcelorMittal USA to Cleveland-Cliffs
  • Bemis Company in its $6.8 billion merger with Amcor
  • Biomet and its private equity consortium owners—Blackstone, Goldman Sachs PIA, KKR, and TPG—in Biomet’s $13.35 billion cash and stock merger with Zimmer Holdings
  • Brookfield in its $5.8 billion acquisition of Scientific Games’ lottery business
  • Casey’s General Stores in its $1.145 billion acquisition of Fikes Wholesale, owner of CEFCO Convenience Stores
  • Conversus Capital in its $1.4 billion sale to an affiliate of HarbourVest Partners
  • dMY III in its merger with IonQ to become the first publicly traded pure-play quantum computing company
  • Duravant in its tender offer to acquire Key Technology
  • Ecolab in the $950 million sale of its surgical solutions business to Medline
  • General Mills in its $8 billion acquisition of Blue Buffalo Pet Products, its $610 million sale of its Helper and Suddenly Salad businesses to Eagle Family Foods and its sale of Yoplait’s European operations to Sodiaal
  • Lafarge in various divestitures in connection with its €40 billion merger of equals with Holcim
  • The shareholders of Levi Strauss & Co., consisting primarily of the descendants of the family of Levi Strauss and their relatives, in connection with the company’s IPO, including the adoption of a dual-class capital structure and new governance structures
  • Medtronic in its $49.9 billion acquisition of Covidien
  • OpenText in its $6 billion acquisition of Micro Focus and the $275 billion sale of its AMC/Mainframe business to Rocket Software
  • Saint-Gobain in its $1.4 billion acquisition of Continental Building Products, its acquisition of The Bailey Group of Companies, its C$1.325 billion acquisition of Building Products of Canada and its $928 million acquisition of Kaycan
  • Songa Offshore in its $3.8 billion combination with Transocean
  • Sony in its $1 billion, $250 million and $200 million minority investments in Epic Games
  • Sony Interactive Entertainment in its acquisition of Bungie
  • Suntory Holdings in its $16 billion acquisition of Beam
  • Surgical Care Affiliates in its $2.5 billion sale to United Health Group
  • Sysco in its acquisition of Edward Don & Company, its acquisition of Greco and Sons and its acquisition of The Coastal Companies
  • Thales in its $3.6 billion acquisition of Imperva
  • T-Mobile in its $4.4 billion acquisition of UScellular’s wireless operations and its up to $1.35 billion acquisition of Ka’ena and its subsidiaries and brands, Mint Mobile, Ultra Mobile and Plum
  • Westlake Chemical in its acquisition of NAKAN

HOSTILE M&A TRANSACTIONS, SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM & CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST TRANSACTIONS

  • Actavis in its $70 billion “white knight” acquisition of Allergan
  • Akamai Technologies in its negotiated settlement with Elliott Management
  • Allied Universal in its recommended $5 billion offer to acquire G4S
  • Assured Guaranty in governance and activism preparedness advice in response to a short-sale activism by David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital
  • Danfoss A/S in its tender offer to acquire the outstanding shares of Sauer-Danfoss not already owned by Danfoss
  • Genting and Kien Huat in their acquisition of all the outstanding shares of Empire Resorts not already owned by Kien Huat
  • GlaxoSmithKline in its unsolicited tender offer to acquire Human Genome Sciences and the resulting $3.6 billion negotiated acquisition
  • Hyundai Motor Company in its proxy contest against Elliott Management
  • IMAX in share accumulations by Marcato Capital Management
  • MEDNAX in the activist defense campaign by Starboard Value
  • Nokian Tyres in activism preparedness advice in response to an activist campaign by Elliott Management
  • Sony Corp. in its defense against an activism campaign by Third Point and its $3.7 billion tender offer to acquire the outstanding shares of Sony Financial Services not already owned by Sony
  • The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Spectrum Brands in the $10 billion combination of Spectrum Brands and HRG Group, the 58% stockholder of Spectrum
  • Tempur Sealy in its adoption of a limited duration shareholder rights plan during COVID-19 pandemic
  • Westlake Chemical in its unsolicited proposal to acquire Axiall Corporation, related proxy contest and the resulting $3.8 billion negotiated acquisition

SELECT PRIVATE EQUITY M&A TRANSACTIONS

  • Bausch + Lomb and Warburg Pincus in the $8.7 billion sale of Bausch + Lomb to Valeant Pharmaceuticals
  • Neiman Marcus, TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus in the $6 billion sale of Neiman Marcus to Ares Management and CPPIB
  • TPG Capital in numerous transactions, including its $2.25 billion acquisition of RCN Telecommunications and Grande Communications; its $1.7 billion acquisition of Savers; its $525 million take-private acquisition of PRIMEDIA; its investment in Creative Artists Agency; and its recapitalization of RentPath, including the sale of a significant equity stake to Providence Equity Partners
  • Warburg Pincus in numerous matters, including its acquisitions of Pregis, Universal Services of America and Guardsmark, Wencor Group, Gabriel Brothers and Duravant

OTHER SELECT CORPORATE TRANSACTIONS

  • Allied Universal in several matters, including its sale of a significant equity stake to CDPQ and investment funds affiliated with Warburg Pincus at a valuation of more than $7 billion, and its $1 billion acquisition of U.S. Security Associates
  • Biomet in its acquisition of the global trauma business of DePuy Orthopaedics
  • Duravant in its acquisition of WECO
  • GT Nexus in its $675 million acquisition by Infor
  • Pregis in its acquisition of SOPRAD
  • RCN Communications in its $2.3 billion acquisition of Wave Broadband
  • Universal Services of America in numerous matters, including its merger of equals transaction with Allied Barton and its $131 million acquisition of the security business of ABM Industries
  • ZT Systems in its $4.9 billion stock and cash sale to Advanced Micro Devices

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