Amr Razzak represents clients in a broad range of corporate transactions and corporate governance matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, investment and capital markets transactions, and situations involving shareholder activism.

Bio

Mr. Razzak’s practice encompasses transactions involving public and private companies, private equity funds, friendly and unsolicited situations, and U.S. and cross-border transactions. He has significant experience handling transactions in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia.

Before joining the firm’s Palo Alto office in 2004, Mr. Razzak was resident in Skadden’s New York and Singapore offices, where he worked on many transactions recognized by industry publications in their annual reviews of the year’s largest and most innovative deals.

Mr. Razzak has been recognized annually as a leading lawyer by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, which ranks Skadden’s Palo Alto M&A practice as the only Band 1 Corporate/M&A practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was also named a 2024 BTI Client Service All-Star, has been repeatedly selected as one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Dealmakers in America and recognized by IFLR1000 and The Best Lawyers in America. In addition, he is a key member of the Skadden deal teams recognized as 2024 Tech Industry Advisory Team of the Year, 2019 California Leaders in Technology Law and 2017 Corporate Department of the Year by The Recorder.

Mr. Razzak is one of the lead attorneys in Skadden’s award-winning pro bono initiative “Know Your Rights and Know the Law: Sex, Bullying and Social Media,” which provides high school students with critical tools and information for navigating their legal rights and responsibilities in the realm of social media.

He serves as chair of the Palo Alto office’s Diversity Committee and is a member of Skadden’s Global Women’s Initiative Committee.

Mr. Razzak’s notable experience includes the representation of:

  • Airbnb, Inc. in its acquisition of HotelTonight, Inc.
  • Advantest Corporation (Japan), in an initially unsolicited, but subsequently agreed upon, $1.1 billion acquisition of Verigy Ltd. (Singapore). This transaction was recognized in the 2011 Financial Times US Innovative Lawyers report
  • Anaplan, Inc., as co-counsel, in its $10.7 billion acquisition by Thoma Bravo
  • Apple Inc. in numerous transactions
  • Broadcom Inc. in various matters, including its acquisition of Bay Dynamics, Inc.
  • carsales.com Ltd. in its $624 million acquisition of a 49% stake in Trader Interactive, the related option to acquire the remaining 51% of the company and the subsequent exercise of that option for $809 million
  • Flex Ltd. in the $273 million sale of the China-based operations of its subsidiary Multek Corporation to Multi-Fineline Electronix, Inc.
  • Fox Paine & Company, LLC in numerous transactions, including the $1 billion sale of Paradigm Ltd. to Apax Partners L.P. and JMI Equity; the sale of Penhaligon’s and L’Artisan Parfumeur to affiliates of PUIG; and the sale of Erno Laszlo to an affiliate of RBS Capital
  • Freescale Semiconductor, Ltd. and a private equity consortium including The Blackstone Group L.P., The Carlyle Group L.P., Permira Funds and TPG Capital, L.P. in Freescale’s $11.8 billion acquisition by NXP Semiconductors NV
  • The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (Japan) in its $99 million sale of a controlling interest in Optical Communications Products, Inc.
  • Global Indemnity, plc in numerous transactions, including its acquisition of American Reliable Insurance Company and its redomestication from Ireland to the Cayman Islands, the first-ever move of a public company from Ireland to the Cayman Islands
  • The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. in its receipt of an unsolicited proposal from Carl Icahn
  • Hanwha Group in connection with various matters
  • Hexaware Technologies Limited (India), a developer of computer software and a provider of information technology services, in its $34 million acquisition of FocusFrame, Inc. and its $182 million acquisition of Mobiquity Inc.
  • Hitachi Global Storage Technologies in its $4.3 billion acquisition by Western Digital Corporation
  • Innoviva, Inc. in response to activist shareholder Sarissa Capital Management LP’s proxy fight to elect three directors to Innoviva’s board of directors
  • Intel Corporation in its proposed but terminated $5.4 billion acquisition of Tower Semiconductor; its collaboration with United Microelectronics Corporation to develop a 12-nanometer semiconductor process platform; its $4.2 billion spin-off and joint venture with TPG Capital, L.P. to form the independent cybersecurity company McAfee, as well as in connection with McAfee’s subsequent IPO; its sale of its Wind River subsidiary to TPG; and its sale of its home gateway platform division to MaxLinear, Inc.
  • Juniper Networks, Inc. in its $14 billion acquisition by Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • Juno Therapeutics, Inc. in its $9 billion acquisition by Celgene Corporation
  • LSI Corporation in its $6.6 billion sale to by Avago Technologies Limited (Singapore)
  • McKesson Corporation in several transactions, including its $208 million acquisition of D&K Healthcare Resources, Inc.
  • Meridian Gold in its defense against an unsolicited exchange offer by Yamana Gold Inc. and its subsequent acquisition by Yamana in a three-way combination with Northern Resources Inc.;
  • Openwave Systems Inc. in several transactions, including an unsolicited offer from activist hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, and in its $46 million sale of Musiwave SA (France) to Microsoft Corporation
  • PMC-Sierra, Inc. in numerous matters including its $2.5 billion acquisition by Microsemi Corporation; its $240 million acquisition of Wintegra, Inc.; its $34 million acquisition of the channel storage business of Adaptec, Inc.; its acquisition of Maxim Integrated Products’ 12 GB/s SAS expander technology; its acquisition of HP’s Smart Array business; and in its dealings with activist fund Relational Investors
  • PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia in a series of related acquisition and sale transactions with PT Indonesian Satellite Corporation valued at $1.2 billion (the 2001 FinanceAsia Most Innovative M&A Deal of the Year)
  • Rhapsody in connection with the transfer of Telefonica’s music streaming business in South America and the related investment by Telefonica into Rhapsody
  • Ripple Labs Inc. (as co-counsel) in its strategic partnership with MoneyGram International, Inc.
  • The Sage Group plc in its acquisition of certain assets of Allocate, Inc., its acquisition of Startup Compass Inc., its $850 million acquisition of Intacct Corporation and its acquisition of Budgeta Inc.
  • Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in its acquisition of Joyent, Inc.
  • SanDisk Corporation in its $19 billion acquisition by Western Digital Corporation and its $1.1 billion acquisition of Fusion-io, Inc.
  • the special committee of the board of directors of Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. in the $512 million acquisition of Steinway by private investors
  • Theravance Inc. in various matters, including the separation of the company into two publicly traded companies, Theravance and Theravance Biopharma
  • Theravance Biopharma in the $1.5 billion sale of its interests in Theravance Royalty Company LLC, representing its TRELEGY ELLIPTA royalty interests, to Royalty Pharma plc, and related $40 million investment in Theravance Biopharma’s ampreloxetine program; in a $450 million royalty monetization private placement; and in connection with the offering and sale by GlaxoSmith-Kline plc, acting through its subsidiary GSK Finance (No. 3) plc, of $280 million of senior notes due 2023 exchangeable into ordinary shares of Theravance held by GSK and its affiliates
  • Viking Cruises, Ltd. in its $500 million investment from TPG Capital, L.P. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
  • VMware, Inc. in its $1.1 billion initial public offering of Class A common stock
  • Yahoo! Inc. in numerous transactions, including in connection with Microsoft’s unsolicited $44.6 billion acquisition proposal; its $160 million acquisition of Musicmatch, Inc.; its $300 million acquisition of BlueLithium Inc.; its joint venture with Australian broadcaster Channel Seven; and Yahoo! Australia’s joint venture with New Zealand Telecom
  • Zilog, Inc. in its evaluation of a $76 million unsolicited bid by Universal Electronics, Inc. and a $73 million bid by IXYS Corporation

Credentials

Education

  • J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 1998 (cum laude)
  • M.S.F.S., Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 1998
  • A.B., Brown University, 1990

Admissions

  • California
  • New York

Languages

  • French
  • Arabic (spoken)
  • Fulfulde

Amr Razzak