Nathaniel L. Asker

Nathaniel L. Asker advises public companies, private equity firms, and their portfolio companies on antitrust aspects of mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures.

Nate’s clients come from a range of industries, including technology and software, consumer products, aerospace and defense, industrials, pharmaceuticals, and financial services, among others. He regularly represents clients before the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission in obtaining antitrust approvals for their most critical strategic transactions and in other investigations.

Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business consistently recognizes Nate as a leading practitioner in Antitrust, quoting clients who say “he is terrific” and “you want him on your side on mergers.” Nate is further described as “absolutely outstanding,” “very strong analytically,” and “a top-notch antitrust lawyer” who is “extraordinarily responsive and, more importantly, very thoughtful in his responses.” Chambers sources also report that Nate is “knowledgeable about the subject matter, has contacts at the regulators, and is excellent at client communication.”

Nate was selected as a “Global Leader” by Who’s Who Legal: Competition and is consistently recognized by Legal 500 in Antitrust: Merger Control. Legal 500 cites clients who describe Nate as “excellent,” and notes that “he’s great at talking to high level executives and CEOs and also good at explaining complicated concepts into simple, easy-to-understand terms.”

Work highlights:

• Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in its $930 million sale to Alcon
• Goldman Sachs in its $3.55 billion sale of Lucid Energy to Targa Resources Corp.
• Permira in numerous engagements, including its $5.8 billion acquisition of Mimecast Limited and its $14 billion acquisition of McAfee Corporation.
• ProQuest in its $5.3 billion acquisition by Clarivate plc.
• A confidential industrials company in an FTC investigation of a consummated acquisition.
• Extended Stay America in its $6 billion sale to Blackstone and Starwood Capital.
• BlackRock in numerous matters, including its $1.05 billion acquisition of Aperio from Golden Gate Capital and its $1.3 billion acquisition of eFront from Bridgepoint.
• CVC Partners and its portfolio company Kount Inc. in the $640 million sale of Kount to Equifax Inc.
• Menarini Group in its $677 million acquisition of Stemline Therapeutics Inc.
• Leidos Holdings in its $1 billion acquisition of L3Harris’s Security, Detection and Automation business.
• Aleris in its $2.8 billion acquisition by Novelis, Inc.
• OMERS Private Equity and Caliber Collision Centers in the sale of a majority interest in Caliber Collision Centers to funds affiliated with Hellman & Friedman LLC.
• Reis, Inc. in its sale to Moody’s Corporation.
• Landmark Media Group in numerous matters, including the sale of its ForRent.com business to CoStar Group, Inc.
• Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. in numerous matters, including its $3.27 billion acquisition of CH2M Hill Cos. Ltd.
• Genesys in numerous matters, including its $1.4 billion acquisition of Interactive Intelligence Group, Inc.

Nate writes frequently on antitrust issues and has authored or co-authored articles that have appeared in publications including Concurrences, the M&A Lawyer, Competition Law International, and the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. He is a co-author of Fried Frank’s Antitrust & Competition Law Alert®, which reports on significant developments in antitrust and competition law.

Nate serves on the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and is a member of the Antitrust Sections of the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association. He is also on the Editorial Board of Antitrust Magazine Online, the online journal of the ABA Antitrust Section, and is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.