Gregory T. Grogan

Greg Grogan is Head of the Firm’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice and focuses his work on executive retention and motivation in M&A transactions and IPOs, with a particular focus on private equity. Greg is rated in the highest categories of Chambers (Band 1) and Legal 500 (Hall of Fame). Chambers has described Greg as “a fabulous commercial lawyer,” “very technically proficient, practical, timely, responsive and just a wonderful lawyer.”

Greg has advised principals in connection with some of the most significant corporate transactions of the past 20 years, including: 

• 150+ acquisitions or sales by Blackstone, including Hilton Hotels, Equity Office Properties, GSO Capital, Refinitiv, Bumble, Medline, Ancestry, SeaWorld Entertainment, Motel 6, Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, QTS Realty and Emerson's Climate Technologies business
• $150 billion in pending or completed acquisitions by Microsoft, including Activision Blizzard, LinkedIn, Nuance Communications, GitHub, ZeniMax Media, Nokia’s phone business, and Skype
• $44 billion sale of Twitter to Elon Musk
• Vodafone’s $130 billion sale of its U.S. group to Verizon Communication
• IPOs of Blackstone, Hilton Hotels, Bumble, SeaWorld, Carlyle, Invitation Homes, ZoomInfo, Change Healthcare, and Gates Global.

Greg routinely advises boards of directors with regard to CEO succession matters, including at Hilton Hotels, PG&E Corporation, PetSmart, Ancestry, Johnson Controls, Gannett, SeaWorld, Change Healthcare, and Cosmopolitan Las Vegas (and, at the height of the financial crisis, both Wachovia and Washington Mutual).

Greg has also advised on the following transactions:

• Blackstone’s acquisitions and/or sales of Vivint, Change Healthcare, Travelport, AlliedBarton, Chamberlain Group, Ellucian, Sphera, Phoenix Tower, Advarra, Life Science Logistics, Simpli.fi, International Data Group, Cheniere, Harvest Funds, Clarus, Optiv Security, Liftoff Mobile, Vungle, DCI, SERVPRO, Apria Healthcare, Gates Global, PSAV/Encore, TaskUs, Performance Food Group, Tradesmen, Ascend Learning, GCA Services, Emdeon, Pinnacle Foods, and Birds Eye Foods
• Blackstone Real Estate’s acquisitions or sales of BioMed, IndCor Properties, Willis Tower, Brixmor, Gramercy Trust, StuyTown/Peter Cooper Village, Strategic Hotels, Pure Industrial, Capital Trust, Excel Trust, Apple REIT Six, and Merrill Lynch Asia’s real estate investment business
• ADT Corporation’s $15 billion sale to Apollo (and ADT’s subsequent IPO, as underwriters’ counsel)
• GGP’s $15 billion sale to Brookfield Property Partners L.P.
• Invitation Homes’ $20 billion merger-of-equals with Starwood Waypoint Homes
• Tyco’s $35 billion merger-of-equals with Johnson Controls
• Johnson Control’s $13 billion sale of its power solutions business to Brookfield Asset Management
• BC Partners’ $8.7 billion acquisition of PetSmart (and PetSmart's subsequent acquisition of Chewy), as well as BC Partners’ acquisitions of MultiPlan, NAVEX Global, GFL, and Teneo
• Change Healthcare’s $13.8 billion sale to UnitedHealth Group
• SiriusXM’s acquisition of Pandora for $3.5 billion in stock
• Vivint Solar’s $3.2 billion sale to Sunrun
• Vivint Smart Home's $2.8 billion sale to NRG Energy
• New Mountain Capital’s acquisitions of ILC Dover, Citrin Cooperman, Flexan, AmWINS, and Ascensus Specialties
• Centerbridge’s acquisitions and/or sales of Great Wolf Resorts, GSI, American Renal Associates, Suntex Marinas, and Remedi SeniorCare
• IPOs of Apria, GFL, Performance Food Group, Pinnacle Foods, Brixmor, Summit Materials, BankUnited, American Renal Associates and Graham Packaging (all as issuer’s counsel), as well as “reverse” IPOs of Vivint Smart Home and Finance of America
• A private equity consortium’s acquisition of BankUnited through the FDIC
• Tyco International’s $1 billion sale of its electrical and metal products business to Clayton Dubilier & Rice
• LPL Financial Services’ sale to TPG and Hellman & Friedman
• Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company’s sale of OppenheimerFunds, Inc. to Invesco Ltd. for $5.7 billion in common and preferred shares
• Mars’ acquisition of KIND snack foods
• Hilton’s spinoff of Park Hotels and Hilton Grand Vacations
• Blackstone’s spinoff of its advisory business to form PJT Partners
• Tyco’s separation of the company into three standalone public companies with an estimated value of $18 billion (including the merger of Tyco’s Flow Control business with Pentair in a $10 billion “reverse Morris trust” transaction)
• Tyco’s $2 billion acquisition of Broadview Security (f/k/a Brink’s Home Security) and Tyco’s acquisition of Chemguard
• Johnson Control’s $2 billion sale of its Scott Safety business to 3M
• PPL’s spinoff of generation assets to form Talen Energy (and subsequent Reverse Morris Trust merger)
• PPL’s $7.6 billion acquisition of E.ON US LLC
• ITC Holding’s $11.3 billion sale to Fortis
• AIG’s $4.8 billion sale of its Japan-based life insurance subsidiaries
• IBERIABANK’s $3.9 billion sale to First Horizon and IBERIABANK’s $1 billion acquisition of Sabadell United Bank
• Ameriprise’s $1 billion acquisition of Bank of America’s long-term asset management business Columbia Management
• CBRE’s $940 million acquisition of the global real estate investment management business from ING
• Bowne & Co.’s $500 million all-cash merger sale to R.R. Donnelley & Sons
• AOL’s $850 million acquisition of Bebo
• Graham Packaging’s $4.5 billion sale to Reynolds Group
• Financing of 3G’s acquisition of Burger King and Cerberus Capital’s acquisition of Chrysler

Greg has been recognized among the leading executive compensation lawyers in New York in the 2011-2023 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and the 2011-2023 editions of The Legal 500 United States.

Greg joined Simpson Thacher in 2000 and became a Partner in 2007. He received his J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center in 1998, where he was senior editor of the Journal of Law and Policy in International Business, and his B.A., in Journalism and Political Science, from California State University, Northridge, in 1995. 

Greg served as one of the Firm's Hiring Partners from 2012-2017. Greg is a member of the Board of Visitors of Georgetown University Law Center.