Christopher M. Ludwig

Christopher Ludwig is a Partner in the Firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions Practice, where he leads the Firm’s shareholder engagement and activism defense group. Based in New York, Christopher advises clients on a full suite of shareholder engagement and activism defense strategies, including proxy contests, withhold campaigns, short attacks, stock accumulations, strategic defense measures and corporate governance matters. He has nearly two decades of combined legal and investment banking experience, having led high-profile shareholder activism defense, contested and special situations mandates during that span. Throughout his career, he has also advised on over $250 billion of announced M&A transactions, including hostile, cross-border and complex unsolicited defense matters.

Before joining Simpson Thacher, Christopher was Managing Director and Head of Shareholder Advisory for the Americas at Barclays Capital. Prior to that, he spent a decade at Credit Suisse (USA) LLC where he served as Managing Director, Global Head of Strategic Shareholder Advisory, Mergers and Acquisitions.

Notable activism defense experience (including prior to joining Simpson Thacher) includes representing:

• Teleflex Incorporated in its ongoing defense mandate following shareholder activism by Irenic Capital Management;
• The Wendy's Company in its ongoing defense mandate following shareholder activism by Trian Partners
• Anavex Life Sciences Corporation following shareholder activism by PVG Asset Management;
• Fortrea Holdings following shareholder activism by Starboard Value;
• THG following shareholder activism by Sparta Capital;
• ZoomInfo Technologies following shareholder activism by Sachem Head Capital;
• Watches of Switzerland following shareholder activism by Gatemore Capital;
• Harley-Davidson following shareholder activism by H Partners;
• Deliveroo following shareholder activism by Sachem Head Capital;
• United States Steel following shareholder activism by Ancora;
• R1 RCM following shareholder activism by Coliseum Capital;
• Rentokil Initial following shareholder activism by Trian Partners;
• Glanbia following shareholder activism by Clearway Capital;
• SSE following shareholder activism by Elliott Management;
• Taylor Wimpey following shareholder activism by Elliott Management;
• Dana following shareholder activism by Icahn Enterprises;
• Ovintiv following shareholder activism by Kimmeridge;
• ON Semiconductor following shareholder activism by Starboard Value;
• Loral Space & Communications following shareholder activism by GAMCO;
• easyJet following shareholder activism by Stelios Haji-Ioannou;
• Peabody Energy following shareholder activism by Elliott Management;
• Scout24 following shareholder activism by Elliott Management;
• Gannett following shareholder activism by MNG Enterprises;
• Eldorado Resorts following shareholder activism by UNITE HERE;
• Mellanox following shareholder activism by Starboard Value; and
• ABB following shareholder activism by Artisan Partners.

Notable contested situations experience (including prior to joining Simpson Thacher) includes representing:

• CrossCountry Mortgage in its approximately $1.13 billion acquisition of Two Harbors Investment Corp.;
• TrueBlue following an unsolicited offer by HireQuest Inc.;
• Sunoco in its approximately $9.1 billion acquisition of Parkland Corporation;
• Frontier Communications in its approximately $20.0 billion sale to Verizon Communications;
• R1 RCM in its approximately $8.9 billion sale to Towerbrook and CD&R;
• Rio Tinto in its approximately $3.1 billion acquisition of Turquoise Hill Resources;
• Loral Communications in its approximately $7.0 billion sale to Telesat;
• CNX Resources following an unsolicited offer by EQT;
• AES Brasil Energia following an unsolicited offer by Eneva;
• Chevron in its approximately $50.0 billion uncompleted acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum;
• Energy Transfer Equity, LP in its $37.7 billion uncompleted acquisition of The Williams Companies; and
• Halliburton Company in its $34.6 billion uncompleted acquisition of Baker Hughes Company.

Christopher received his MBA from Columbia Business School in 2010, his JD from Tulane University Law School in 2007 and his BSBA in Accounting from the University of Tennessee in 2003. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Texas.