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    Home /  Lawyers /  Stephen M. Kotran

    Stephen M. Kotran

    Partner

    Stephen M. Kotran Headshot Photo Portrait backdrop

    New York

    +1-212-558-4963

    |

    kotrans@sullcrom.com

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    Steve Kotran is a partner in the Firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Financial Services Groups and is a member of the Firm’s FinTech, Healthcare & Life Sciences and Private Equity Practices. Among other current and former leadership positions at the Firm, Mr. Kotran is currently Co-Head of its Global M&A Financial Advisory and Valuation Group and Global Insurance Practice. He represents buyers, sellers, special committees of independent directors and other principals as well as financial advisors in connection with M&A transactions and corporate governance matters in a wide range of industries, including negotiated and hostile acquisitions of public companies, negotiated sales of private companies, subsidiaries and divisions, transactions involving special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), private equity transactions, leveraged buyouts, formation and dissolution of joint ventures and asset sales. S&C’s Global M&A Financial Advisory and Valuation Group has ranked #1 globally by deal volume in representing financial advisors on M&A transactions since 2015, having advised financial advisors on more than 500 transactions with an aggregate value of more than $2.1 trillion since 2015.

    Mr. Kotran has been named for more than 20 years as a leading M&A, private equity and insurance transactional lawyer by numerous directories, including Chambers, IFLR1000, Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Dealmakers in America, Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal), The Legal 500, The Best Lawyers in America and New York Super Lawyers.

    Mr. Kotran taught an M&A transactions course at Columbia Law School for many years. He also has lectured at NYU, Stanford, UPenn, UVA, Fordham and other law schools. He is a frequent speaker on M&A and corporate governance matters at professional programs sponsored by the ABA, the Practical Law Institute and numerous other organizations and he co-founded the Financial Advisory Task Force of the M&A Committee of the ABA.

    Mr. Kotran is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the Corporate and M&A Advisory Board of Practical Law, M&A Committee of the ABA, National Council of the American Enterprise Institute, President’s Council of the National Constitution Center, Federalist Society, Harvard Alumni For Free Speech and The Jefferson Council (UVA).

    Mr. Kotran graduated from Harvard University (A.B., 1985) and the University of Virginia School of Law (J.D., 1990) where he was an editor of the Virginia Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. He clerked for The Honorable Edward R. Becker in the United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit from 1990-1991 and served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Daniel P. Moynihan (D-NY) from 1985-1986.

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    Spotlight

    Steve Kotran and Frank Aquila Ranked Among Top 10 Advisor Lawyers in North America by MergerLinks

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    S&C Tops Financial Advisory M&A Rankings for Global Dealmaking in 2024

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    • Experience
    • Rankings and Recognitions
    • News
    • Publications, Videos and Podcasts
    • Credentials
    • Related Practices
    Experience

    Experience

    In addition to numerous principal representations, Mr. Kotran has represented Ardea Partners, Barclays Capital, BofA Securities, BMO Capital Markets, Centerview Partners, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Duff & Phelps, Evercore, FT Partners, Goldman Sachs & Co., Greenhill & Co, Guggenheim Securities, Houlihan Lokey, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Kroll, Lincoln Partners, LionTree, Macquarie Capital, Moelis & Co., Morgan Stanley, Nomura Securities International, Rothschild, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., PJT Partners, UBS, Wells Fargo Securities and other investment banks in their capacity as financial advisor in connection with approximately 1,000 transactions.

    Selected representations include advising a principal or a financial advisor in the following:

    Asset Management

    • Supervisory Board of Aegon in its $5 billion combination with a.s.r., pursuant to which Aegon combined its Dutch pension, life and non-life insurance, banking, and mortgage origination activities with a.s.r.
    • Angelo Gordon in its approximately $2.7 billion acquisition by TPG
    • Evercore Partners in its acquisition of the private fund placement agent business of Neuberger Berman and its acquisition of ISI International Strategy & Investment
    • The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Focus Financial Partners in its $7 billion acquisition by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
    • Generali Investments Holding (“GIH”), a subsidiary of Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. (“Generali”), in its agreement with BPCE S.A. to create a 50/50 joint venture between their respective asset management operations, GIH and Natixis Investment Managers, which is expected to hold assets and activities valued at approximately €9.5 billion in total and manage €1.9 trillion in assets under management
    • Gores Guggenheim, a SPAC, in its $20 billion business combination with Polestar Performance
    • Intertrust in connection with Corporation Service Company’s EUR 1.8 billion recommended public offer for Intertrust
    • ORIX USA Corporation in its acquisition Boston Financial Investment Management

    Banking

    • Goldman, Sachs & Co. in multiple strategic transactions
    • Wells Fargo Bank in its acquisition of the North American reserved-based and related diversified energy lending business of BNP Paribas

    Commercial Real Estate

    • PotlatchDeltic in its $5 billion combination with CatchMark Timber Trust
    • PropertyGuru in its $1.78 billion business combination with Bridgetown 2 Holdings, a SPAC formed by Pacific Century and Thiel Capital
    • Unibail-Rodamco in connection with its $24.7 billion acquisition of Westfield Corporation
    • Annaly Capital Management in its $2.3 billion sale of its Commercial Real Estate business to Slate Asset Management

    Consumer & Retail

    • adidas in its €2.1 billion sale of Reebok to Authentic Brands
    • Billabong International in its acquisition of the assets of RVCA
    • Capri Holdings in its $1.4 billion pending sale of Versace to Prada and $8.5 billion proposed acquisition by Tapestry, later terminated
    • Conagra Brands in its $10.9 billion acquisition of Pinnacle Foods
    • DeepGreen Metals in its $2.9 billion business combination with SPAC Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation
    • Forest Road Acquisition Corp., a SPAC, in its $2.9 billion three-way merger with The Beachbody Company and Myx Fitness
    • Grubhub in its $7.3 billion acquisition by Just Eat Takeaway.com, creating the world’s largest online food delivery company outside of China
    • Board of Directors of Kellanova in its $35.9 billion pending acquisition by Mars
    • Performance Food Group in its $2.5 billion acquisition of Core-Mark
    • Poshmark in its $1.2 billion acquisition by Naver
    • Rover Group in its $2.3 billion acquisition by Blackstone
    • TH International in its merger with SPAC Silver Crest Acquisition Corporation, implying an enterprise value of $1.4 billion for Tims China

    Energy & Natural Resources

    • Diamondback Energy in its $2.2 billion acquisition of QEP Resources
    • Energy Harbor in its $6.8 billion merger with and into a newly formed subsidiary of Vistra, referred to generally as “Vistra Vision”
    • Hygo Energy Transition in its $3.1 billion acquisition by New Fortress Energy
    • NuStar Energy in its $7.3 billion acquisition by Sunoco
    • OPAL Fuels in its $1.75 billion acquisition by ArcLight Clean Transition Corp. II, a publicly-traded SPAC
    • Patterson-UTI Energy in its $5.4 billion combination with NexTier Oilfield Solutions
    • Sempra Energy in its $3.59 billion sale of its Peruvian businesses, including its 83.6% stake in Luz del Sur, to China Yangtze Power International (Hongkong) Co. and $2.23 billion sale of its Chilean businesses, including its 100% stake in Chilquinta Energía, to State Grid International
    • TIAA-CREF in connection with TIAA Oil and Gas Investments’ acquisition of a 35% interest in Cricket Valley Energy Center from APNA Holdings, a subsidiary of Advanced Power AG

    Financial Services

    • HDFC Limited in its approximately $60 billion merger with HDFC Bank
    • MF Global in connection with certain pre-bankruptcy strategic alternatives
    • Nexi S.p.A. in its merger with SIA S.p.A., which created one of the ten largest companies by capitalization on the Italian market

    Fintech

    • Circle Internet Financial in its $9 billion proposed business combination with SPAC Concord Acquisition Corp, later withdrawn
    • Electronic Merchant Systems in a strategic majority investment by BharCap Partners
    • TradeStation Group in its $1.43 billion proposed business combination with Quantum FinTech Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC, later terminated

    Healthcare

    • Agios Pharmaceuticals in its $2 billion sale of its commercial, clinical and research-stage oncology portfolio to Servier
    • AveXis in its $8.7 billion acquisition by Novartis
    • Bristol Myers Squibb in its $4.8 billion acquisition of Mirati Therapeutics
    • ChemoCentryx in its $3.7 billion acquisition by Amgen
    • Genomic Health in its $2.8 billion combination with Exact Sciences
    • Heska in its $1.35 billion acquisition by Mars
    • HMS in its $3.4 billion acquisition by Veritas Capital-backed Gainwell Technologies
    • Immunomedics in its $21 billion acquisition by Gilead Sciences
    • Jazz Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition of $7.2 billion GW Pharmaceuticals
    • Karuna Therapeutics in its $14 billion acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb
    • Matrixx Initiatives in its sale to H.I.G. Capital
    • Meridian Bioscience in its $1.53 billion acquisition by SD Biosensor and SJL Partners
    • MyoKardia in its $13.1 billion acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb
    • Novo Nordisk in its $11 billion acquisition of three fill-finish sites from Novo Holdings, in connection with Novo Holdings’ $16.5 billion acquisition of Catalent
    • Owens & Minor in its $1.6 billion acquisition of Apria
    • Special Committee of the Board of Directors of R1 RCM in its $8.9 billion acquisition by investment funds affiliated with TowerBrook Capital Partners and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice

    Industrials & Chemicals

    • 3M in the $9.3 billion combination of its food safety business with NEOGEN Corporation
    • Aerojet Rocketdyne in its $5 billion proposed acquisition by Lockheed Martin, later terminated
    • Altra Industrial Motion Corp. in its $5 billion acquisition by Regal Rexnord
    • Atlantia in its €9 billion sale of its stake in Autostrade to a consortium consisting of CDP, Blackstone and Macquarie
    • The AZEK Company in its $8.75 billion pending acquisition by James Hardie Industries
    • Castor Maritime in the spin-off of its tankers business through a new Nasdaq-listed company, Toro Corp.
    • CIRCOR International in its more than $1.7 billion acquisition by KKR
    • Cooper Tire & Rubber Company in its $2.5 billion acquisition by The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
    • Cytec Industries in its $6.4 billion acquisition by Solvay and the divestment of its Coating Resins business to Advent International
    • Delphi Technologies in its $3.3 billion acquisition by BorgWarner
    • Diversey Holdings in its approximately $4.6 billion acquisition by Solenis
    • Emerson in its $8.2 billion acquisition of National Instruments, $14 billion sale of a majority stake in its Climate Technologies business to private equity funds managed by Blackstone and in its agreement with AspenTech under which it created a diversified, high-performance industrial software leader for $11 billion
    • Firmenich in its €25.3 billion business combination with DSM
    • FLIR Systems in its $8 billion acquisition by Teledyne Technologies
    • Hawaiian Holdings in connection with Hawaiian Airlines’ $1.9 billion acquisition by Alaska Airlines
    • HD Supply Holdings in its $8 billion acquisition by The Home Depot and sale of White Cap to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
    • Ingersoll Rand in its “Reverse Morris Trust” transaction whereby Ingersoll Rand spun-off its Industrial segment and simultaneously merged the Industrial segment with and into Gardner Denver in a combination valued at about $15 billion
    • JERA Americas in connection with Global Infrastructure Partners’ $2.5 billion sale of its 25.7% interest in Freeport LNG Development to JERA Americas
    • Knoll in its $1.8 billion acquisition by Herman Miller and PIPE transaction, consisting of the sale of newly issued convertible preferred stock to Investindustrial VII L.P.
    • Local Bounti in its $1.1 billion merger with Leo Holdings III Corp., a publicly-traded SPAC
    • Masonite International Corporation in its $3.9 billion acquisition by Owens Corning
    • Milacron in its acquisition by CCMP Capital Advisors from Avenue Capital Group
    • Momentus in its $1.2 billion acquisition by SPAC Stable Road Acquisition Corp.
    • NextGen Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded SPAC, in its business combination with Xos, Inc.
    • NextGen Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC, in its $3.2 billion acquisition of Virgin Orbit
    • Origin Materials in its $1.8 billion business combination with Artius Acquisition, a publicly-traded SPAC
    • ORIX USA Corporation in its acquisitions of Hoffman Southwest and RoadSafe
    • Pactiv Evergreen in its $6.7 billion pending combination with Novolex®
    • Primus Technologies in its acquisition by Spartronics
    • Prysmian in its €3.9 billion acquisition of Encore Wire
    • Reinvent Technology Partners Y, a SPAC, in its $13 billion business combination with Aurora
    • Tailwind Two Acquisition Corp., a SPAC, in its $1.58 billion business combination with Terran Orbital
    • Transamerican Auto Parts in its $665 million acquisition by Polaris Industries
    • Triumph Group (“TRIUMPH”) in its $3 billion pending acquisition by affiliates of Warburg Pincus and Berkshire Partners
    • The Valspar Corporation in its $11.3 billion acquisition by The Sherwin-Williams Company
    • Veoneer in its $4.5 billion acquisition by Qualcomm and SSW Partners and proposed $3.8 billion acquisition by Magna International, later terminated

    Insurance

    • American Equity Investment Life Holding Company in its approximately $4.3 billion acquisition by Brookfield Reinsurance
    • American International Group in its divestitures of United Guaranty, Alico and Transatlantic Re
    • Aon in its $13.4 billion acquisition of NFP from funds affiliated with Madison Dearborn Partners and HPS Investment Partners
    • The conflicts committee of Apollo’s board in connection with Apollo’s $11 billion merger with Athene
    • Argo Group International Holdings in its approximately $1.1 billion acquisition by Brookfield Reinsurance
    • China Oceanwide Holdings in Genworth Financial’s $1.8 billion sale of its majority interest in Genworth MI Canada to Brookfield Business Partners
    • CVS Health in its $77 billion acquisition of Aetna – The Deal’s 2019 “Deal of the Year”
    • Enstar Group in its $5.1 billion pending acquisition by Sixth Street
    • Global Atlantic Financial Group in its $2.7 billion acquisition by KKR
    • Lionheart Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC, in its business combination with MSP Recovery, resulting in a combined company with an enterprise value of approximately $32.6 billion
    • Marsh & McLennan Companies in its $6.4 billion acquisition of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group
    • New York Life Insurance in its $6.3 billion acquisition of Cigna’s group life and disability insurance business
    • Nomura in connection with Prismic Life’s agreement to reinsure approximately $7 billion of reserves backing USD-denominated Japanese whole life insurance policies which were recently originated by Prudential Financial’s Japanese affiliates, and as part of the transaction, a group of global investors including Nomura will invest additional consideration of approximately $400 million
    • Platinum Underwriters Holdings in its $1.9 billion acquisition by RenaissanceRe
    • Prudential Financial in multiple transactions, including its sale of Prudential-Bache Commodities to Jefferies
    • Swiss Re Life Capital in the $900 million sale of the U.S. portion of Swiss Re’s Admin Re division to Jackson National Life Insurance Company and in the sale of Aurora National Life Assurance Company to Reinsurance Group of America
    • The independent directors of Tower Group in its acquisition by affiliates of AmTrust Financial Services
    • Western World Insurance Group in its $690 million acquisition by Validus Holdings

    Life Sciences

    • Ipsen in its sale, together with Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, of worldwide rights to OBI-1 and Ipsen’s industrial facility in Milford, Massachusetts, to Baxter International
    • Olink in its $3.1 billion acquisition by Thermo Fisher Scientific

    Sports & Entertainment

    • NASCAR in its $2 billion acquisition of International Speedway

    Technology, Media & Telecommunications

    • Acacia Communications in its $4.5 billion acquisition by Cisco
    • The management of Acosta in its acquisitions by TH Lee and Carlyle
    • Analog Devices in its $21 billion acquisition of Maxim Integrated Products
    • ARRIS International in its $7.4 billion acquisition by CommScope
    • Buzzfeed in its $1.5 billion merger with 890 5th Avenue Partners
    • The special committee of independent and disinterested directors of the Board of Consolidated Communications Holdings in its $3.1 billion acquisition by Searchlight Capital Partners and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation
    • The Special Committee of Cvent in its $4.6 billion acquisition by Blackstone
    • Doordash in its €7 billion acquisition of Wolt Enterprises OY
    • Eastman Kodak Company in multiple transactions, including its issue and sale of $100 million aggregate principal amount of its 5.00% Secured Convertible Notes due 2021 to funds managed by Southeastern Asset Management and agreement to issue $200 million of newly created 5.50% Series A Convertible Preferred Stock to funds managed by Southeastern Asset Management
    • Emerson in its $7.2 billion pending acquisition Aspen Technology
    • FIS  in its $18.5 billion sale of a majority stake in its Worldpay Merchant Solutions business to private equity funds managed by GTCR
    • Google in its $32 billion pending acquisition of Wiz
    • Grab Holdings in its $39.6 billion business combination with SPAC Altimeter Growth
    • Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Inovalon in its $7.3 billion acquisition by a consortium led by Nordic Capital
    • Insight Enterprises in its acquisitions of PCM and Datalink
    • Intel in its $16.7 billion acquisition of Altera and $15.3 billion acquisition of Mobileye
    • International Game Technology in its Gaming & Digital business and Everi Holdings’ $6.3 billion pending acquisition by affiliates of Apollo Global Management and the proposed spin-off of its Global Gaming and PlayDigital businesses into a separate publicly listed company, pursuant to which IGT was to combine with Everi Holdings, valuing the combined company at a total enterprise value of approximately $6.2 billion, later withdrawn
    • Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Lions Gate Entertainment in connection with their pending transaction that will result in the separation of the businesses of LG Studios, which encompasses the motion picture and television studio operations, from the other businesses of Lionsgate, including the STARZ-branded premium subscription platforms
    • Magnite in its $1.17 billion acquisition of SpotX from RTL Group
    • ManTech International in its $4.2 billion acquisition by Carlyle
    • Merrill Lynch & Co. in its $4.4 billion sale of its 20% limited partnership interest in Bloomberg L.P. to Bloomberg, Inc.
    • Mindtree in its $7.5 billion combination with LTI
    • Nasdaq in its $10.5 billion acquisition of Adenza from Thoma Bravo
    • Network18 Media & Investments in a Scheme of Arrangement with TV18 Broadcast, under which TV18 and e-Eighteen.com will merge with Network18 for $1.2 billion
    • S&P Global in its $44 billion merger with IHS Markit
    • Salesforce in its $1.9 billion acquisition of Own Company
    • Spire Global in its $1.6 billion merger with SPAC NavSight Holdings
    • Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp., a SPAC, in its $4.75 billion combination with SGHC Limited
    • Tech Data in its $5.98 billion acquisition by an affiliate of funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management
    • TIM in its €18.8 billion sale of fixed network assets, including its entire equity interests in FiberCop to Optics BidCo, a vehicle controlled by KKR
    • Tyler Technologies in its $2.3 billion acquisition of NIC Inc.
    • Ultimate Software in its $11 billion acquisition by an investor group led by Hellman & Friedman
    • Walmart in its $2.3 billion acquisition of VIZIO
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    Rankings and Recognitions

    Rankings and Recognitions

    Mr. Kotran has been named as a leading M&A, private equity, and insurance transactional lawyer in:

    • Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business
    • Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
    • IFLR1000 US: Highly Regarded
    • Lawdragon 500: Leading Dealmakers in America
    • Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal): Thought Leaders – M&A; M&A and Governance; Thought Leaders – USA
    • The Legal 500: United States Hall of Fame
    • The Best Lawyers in America (Mergers and Acquisitions Law; Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law)
    • New York Super Lawyers
    • MergerLinks: Top Advisor Lawyers in North America
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    News

    News

    • S&C Advises American Equity Investment Life on $4.3 Billion Acquisition by Brookfield Reinsurance

      July 19, 2023
    • S&C Advises Perfect in Completing Its de-SPAC Business Combination with Provident Acquisition Corp. and Listing on the NYSE

      October 31, 2022
    • S&C’s Global M&A Financial Advisory Practice Continued Strong Performance in 2021

      January 31, 2022
    • S&C’s Global M&A Financial Advisory Practice Continues Strong Performance in Q2 of 2021

      July 23, 2021
    • S&C Advises Knoll in $1.8 Billion Combination with Herman Miller

      April 19, 2021
    • S&C’s Global M&A Financial Advisory Practice Sees Strong Start in Q1 of 2021

      April 12, 2021
    Read More
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    Publications, Videos and Podcasts

    Publications, Videos and Podcasts

    • Stephen Kotran Revises Practical Law: The Journal Article on Material Adverse Change Provisions

      Articles November 2018
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    Credentials

    Credentials

    Education

    • University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., Order of the Coif, 1990
    • Harvard University, A.B., 1985

    Bar Admissions

    • New York

    Clerkships

    • The Honorable Edward R. Becker, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, 1990-1991
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    Related Practices

    Related Practices

    • General Practice
    • Corporate Governance
    • Financial Services
    • Fintech
    • Healthcare & Life Sciences
    • Insurance
    • M&A Financial Advisory and Valuation
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Private Equity
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