Neil Q. Whoriskey

Primary Focus & Experience

Mr. Whoriskey’s practice focuses primarily on mergers, acquisitions, and corporate governance matters. Mr. Whoriskey’s notable experience includes the representation of:

• Western Digital in numerous transactions, including its $19 billion acquisition of SanDisk.
• OpenText in various transactions, including:
  • Its $1.42 billion acquisition of Carbonite;
  • Its $1.62 billion acquisition of Dell EMC’s Enterprise Content Division;
  • Its $1.165 billion acquisition of GXS Group; and
  • The acquisitions of Actuate, Liaison Technologies and Guidance Software.
    
    
• Carlyle Global Partners in multiple investments.
• América Móvil in various transactions, including:
  • Its $6.9 billion sale of TracFone to Verizon;
  • Its $905 million acquisition of Nextel Brazil;
  • The acquisitions of Telefónica’s operations in El Salvador and Guatemala; and
  • Its minority investments in Mobli Media, KPN, Sport 195, and other companies.
    
    
• American Tower in its $5.056 billion acquisition of the rights to over 11,000 wireless communications towers and 165 additional towers from Verizon.
• Overseas Shipholding Group in the separation and spin-off of its international business, International Seaways, into an independent, publicly traded company, and International Seaways in the $434 million acquisition of the holding companies for six 300,000 DWT VLCC vessels from Euronav.
• ABB in its $1 billion acquisition of Power-One and in the subsequent disposition of certain Power-One subsidiaries, and in its acquisition of Ventyx.
• Advice to various firms regarding activist investments.
• One of the world’s largest asset management firms in various take-private transactions and REIT transactions.
• BHP Billiton in its $40 billion all-cash offer to acquire Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.
• McDonald’s in the disposition of its assets in Latin America and China.
• The Raine Group in its investments in Imagine Entertainment, the film and television production company led by longtime partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, and Important Media, a joint venture with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the South Park television series and The Book of Mormon musical production.
• Temasek in its multibillion-dollar investment in Merrill Lynch.

Publications

Mr. Whoriskey is the author of numerous articles on mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance topics, with his most recent publication being “The New Civil Code: ISS and Glass Lewis as Lawmakers” in the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog.

Recognition & Accomplishments

Mr. Whoriskey is recognized in Banking and Mergers and Acquisitions by IFLR 1000.

Prior to joining Milbank, Neil practiced in the New York and Hong Kong offices of a leading US law firm. He also worked for a year as a foreign legal intern with the law firm of Uría & Menéndez in Madrid, Spain in 1990.

Mr. Whoriskey received his J.D. from Cornell Law School, where he was an Articles Editor of the Cornell Law Review. He is fluent in Spanish.