Representative Engagements
Recently, Hurd led S&C teams in:
- The largest ever all-cash change of control in the biopharma space – Seagen’s pending sale to Pfizer.
- The largest ever all-cash change of control in the medtech space – Abiomed’s sale to Johnson & Johnson.
- The largest ever sale of a private life science company – StemCentrx’s sale to AbbVie.
- The largest ever purchase of a US company by a non-US company – Bayer’s unsolicited takeover of Monsanto.
- AbbVie’s unsolicited takeover of Shire – which, prior to the transaction termination resulting from US Treasury Department rulemaking, would have been the largest ever takeover by US company of a non-US company.
- The first super-premium deals in the biopharma space – Pharmasset’s sale to Gilead, and SynaGeva’s sale to Alexion.
- Numerous complex divestitures for European clients, including Bayer’s $8 billion divestiture of crop science assets to BASF – the largest ever forced divestiture of assets; Bayer’s $6.9 billion sale of animal health assets to Elanco – which created the world’s second largest animal health company; and The Weir Group in its $405 million sale of its entire oil and gas division to Caterpillar.
- A number of transactions for Amgen between 2005 and 2020 – including its $13.4 billion acquisition from Celgene of worldwide rights to Otezla® (apremilast) in a forced divestiture by Celgene in connection with its acquisition by Bristol-Myers.
- Novartis’s $10 billion acquisition of The Medicines Company.
- Merck KGaA’s unsolicited takeover of Versum Materials – which broke up Versum’s previously agreed merger ransaction with Entegris.
- Standard Industries’ unsolicited takeover of W. R. Grace.
- Sprout’s sale to Valeant for cash and a lucrative earnout right – and the Sprout shareholders’ subsequent one-dollar repurchase of the company from Valeant, in a distressed sale.
- All of Philips’ significant US acquisitions – including the largest M&A transactions in its corporate history.
- All of Signify’s significant US acquisitions, including the largest M&A transactions in its corporate history.
- Blockchain innovator ConsenSys Software in numerous financings from 2020 to 2022 – which took the company’s valuation from $50 million to over $7 billion.
- Numerous financial crisis transactions, including the 2005 Adelphia bankruptcy, the 2008 Morgan Stanley rescue and the 2008 sale of ABC Learning’s U.S. businesses.
Other Professional and Philanthropic Interests
In 2000, Hurd relocated to co-found our Palo Alto office with three other young partners. From 2006 through 2020, he and another partner mentored hundreds of beginning lawyers through Sullivan & Cromwell’s rigorous associate development program. Hurd is a contributor to S&C’s active pro bono practice, working on projects both for young individual refugees and for world-class opera companies, such as the Washington National Opera. His philanthropic and cultural interests include longtime service on the boards of the Metropolitan Opera and International Women’s Health Coalition and current service on the board of Episcopal Charities of the Diocese of New York.
