Michael J. Alter

Michael J. Alter, managing partner of the Washington, DC office, represents public and privately-owned companies and private equity firms in connection with the tax aspects of complex transactions, with a particular emphasis on the structuring and negotiation of mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs, and joint ventures, as well as tax planning for debt and equity securities offerings and financings.

Work highlights:

• Becton, Dickinson in its acquisitions of Scanwell Health, Tepha, and ZebraSci.
• Catalent in its acquisitions of Bettera Holdings, Cook Pharmica, MaSTherCell Global, Metrics Contract Services, and Paragon Bioservices.
• CVS Health in its pending acquisition of Signify Health, and its sales of Coventry Workers Comp Services, PayFlex Holdings, and bswift.
• Jacobs Engineering in its acquisitions of BlackLynx, The Buffalo Group, CH2M Hill, KeyW, and StreetLight Data, its strategic partnership with PA Consulting, and the sale of its energy, chemicals, and resources business.
• Knight Transportation in its merger with Swift Transportation, and the combined company's pending acquisition of US Express.
• Leidos in its acquisition of L3Harris Technologies' security detection and automation businesses, and the sale of its commercial cybersecurity business.
• Lockheed Martin in its acquisition of Sikorsky Aircraft.
• Media General in its acquisition of LIN Media, its merger with New Young Broadcasting, and its merger with Nexstar.
• Standard General LP in its pending acquisition of TEGNA.
• Tapestry in its acquisitions of Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman.
• Tradeweb Markets in its up-C IPO.

Additional representative clients include Goldman Sachs, OMERS, Onex, and Stella Point Capital, and their portfolio companies.

Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business consistently recognizes Mike as a leading individual in Tax, where he receives praise from one client for his “very strong technical tax background, strong deal experience and ability to determine what is critical in a transaction.” Another client describes him as an “outside-the-box thinker, who is relentless in his pursuit of the best solution,” and notes that he is “thoughtful, pragmatic and highly responsive” and “understands his clients’ needs.” Mike is also recognized by Legal 500 in Tax: US Taxes: Non-Contentious, where clients have said that he “sets you up as an individual to succeed within your company and sets up the company to succeed in its transaction.”