Todd Freed focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and private equity, primarily
in the financial services industry. Mr. Freed is head of the firm’s Financial Institutions Group
and leads the firm’s preeminent insurance M&A practice, which has been named Insurance
Practice Group of the Year by Law360, in addition to serving as one of the senior members of
the firm’s private equity practice, which was recently named Private Equity Practice Group of
the Year by Law360.
Mr. Freed is a trusted adviser and go-to dealmaker with significant experience representing
public and private acquirers and target companies, private equity firms, and investment banks
in a variety of U.S. and international mergers and acquisitions, capital-raising transactions,
SPACs, joint ventures, restructurings and other corporate matters. Mr. Freed is a leading
practitioner in M&A, contested transactions, activist situations, and corporate governance
and regulatory matters. In addition, he advises clients with respect to takeover preparedness,
SEC reporting obligations and cybersecurity matters.
In recognition of his work, Mr. Freed has been repeatedly selected for inclusion in Band 1 of
Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business; honored for his extensive experience
in the insurance industry, including in The Best Lawyers in America and Who’s Who Legal:
Insurance & Reinsurance; selected as one of America’s Top 250 Lawyers by Forbes; named a
leading lawyer in the mergers and acquisitions category of IFLR1000; and recognized as one of
Lawdragon’s Legends of Law, 500 Leading Lawyers in America and 500 Leading Dealmakers
in America. In addition, he has been named an Insurance MVP by Law360, selected as one of
the Top Private Equity Lawyers in North America by MergerLinks and consistently honored as
a Client Service All-Star by The BTI Consulting Group, signifying how clients highly value
and trust Mr. Freed’s hands-on and creative dealmaking approaches and experience.
Mr. Freed’s representative transactions include:
- Willis Towers Watson in its: proposed $80 billion combination with Aon plc; sale of
Willis Re to A.J. Gallagher for $4 billion; proposed divestiture sale of Willis Re and a set
of corporate risk and broking and health and benefits services to A.J. Gallagher for $3.57
billion; acquisition of Unity Group, an insurance broker that operates in Latin America;
and treaty reinsurance brokerage joint venture with Bain Capital
- Express Scripts Holding Company in its $67 billion merger with Cigna Corporation
- Principal Financial Group, Inc. in its: $25 billion reinsurance transaction with Talcott
Resolution to reinsure approximately $16 billion of in-force U.S. retail fixed annuity and $9
billion of in-force universal life insurance with secondary guarantee blocks of business; and
acquisition of the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) business of Ascensus
- NTL Incorporated (Virgin Media Inc.) in its $23 billion restructuring implemented through
a prearranged Chapter 11 filing and parallel administration in the United Kingdom
- Centene Corporation in its: $17.3 billion merger with WellCare Health Plans, Inc.; and
$6.8 billion merger with Health Net, Inc.
- Catalent, Inc. in: its $16.5 billion merger with an affiliate of Novo Holdings A/S; the sale
of its small molecule analytical services business to Pace Analytical Life Sciences; and the
sale of its oral solid dosage formulations development and manufacturing operations to
The Ardena Group