Matthew Wheatley is a partner in the Antitrust Department who counsels clients on a wide array of competition issues arising in complex transactions and government enforcement actions. He has extensive experience advising on the premerger notification process under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act and overseeing antitrust aspects of multibillion-dollar deals in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Matt has been recognized by The Legal 500 in the Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Defense category (2022) and the Antitrust: Merger Control category (2020), and was named "outstanding" in Washington, D.C. by Global Competition Review (2022).
Matthew’s recent representative experience includes:
- ALKU and FFL Partners on New Mountain Capital's majority investment into ALKU.
- AMAG Pharmaceuticals in its $500 million sale to Covis Group.
- Avocet Partners in its acquisition of EMC National Life Insurance Company.
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Lahey Health System, New England Baptist Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, and Seacoast Regional Health System in their $5+ billion merger to create Beth Israel Lahey Health.
- Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners in their acquisition of Energy Exemplar.
- Brentwood Associates in its acquisition of a majority interest in Hissho Sushi.
- Diamondback Energy in its acquisition of certain subsidiaries of Double Eagle IV Midco for $3 billion in cash and approximately 6.9 million shares.
- GEP Haynesville II in the sale of its majority interest in South Mansfield upstream to JERA.
- HG Energy II in the $2.8 billion sale of its upstream assets to Antero Resources Corporation and the $1.1 billion sale of its midstream assets to Antero Midstream Corporation.
- HGGC in its:
- $240 million joint investment in Fullscript with Snapdragon Capital Partners; and
- majority investment in PF Atlantic Holdings, a franchise within the Planet Fitness health club system.
- Infinity Natural Resources in its $1.2 billion acquisition of upstream and midstream assets in Ohio from Antero Resources, alongside Northern Oil and Gas's concurrent 49% interest acquisition for $588 million.
- iQor Holdings in its sale of a majority stake to Mill Point Capital.
- Knox Lane in its strategic investment in Healthcare Experts Squared.
- Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (LLCP), a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, in connection with:
- the sale of its ownership stake in portfolio company Trinity Consultants, Inc. to Oak Hill Capital, with Trinity Consultants employees maintaining a significant minority ownership position;
- the sale of its portfolio company Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa (Hand & Stone) to funds managed by Harvest Partners, LP; and
- its acquisition of Technical Safety Services (TSS) from The Edgewater Funds and JZ Partners.
- Luminate Capital Partners in connection with:
- its investment in AbsenceSoft; and
- its growth investment in Facilities Management Express.
- MyoKardia in its $13.1 billion sale to Bristol Myers Squibb.
- Nautic Partners in its acquisition of American Renal Associates for $863 million.
- Option Care Health in their $3.6 billion merger with Amedisys.
- Ovintiv in the $3 billion sale of its Anadarko assets to an undisclosed buyer.
- Palistar Capital, and its portfolio company Harmoni Towers (Harmoni), in Harmoni's acquisition of Parallel Infrastructure from funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management.
- PillPack, Inc. in its $1 billion acquisition by Amazon.
- Quinbrook in connection with Blackstone's minority stake acquisition in Rowan Digital Infrastructure, a portfolio company of Quinbrook.
- Rainmaker in its $300 million sale of its LRO software and related assets to RealPage.
- Richards Manufacturing Co. and Oaktree Capital Management in their $2.3 billion sale of Richards Manufacturing Co. to TE Connectivity plc.
- SM Energy in its $2.55 billion acquisition of XCL Resources' Uinta Basin oil and gas assets, alongside Northern Oil and Gas's concurrent 20% interest acquisition for $510 million.
- Spark Therapeutics in its +$4 billion sale to Roche.
- THL Partners in its majority investment in Celerion.
- Thrive Earlier Detection in its $2.15 billion sale to Exact Sciences.
- TurnItIn in its $1.75 billion sale to Advance Publications.
- Twin Ridge Capital Acquisition Corp. in its business combination with Carbon Revolution Limited.
- VSP Vision in its:
- acquisition of Professional Eye Care Associates of America from Nautic Partners;
- acquisition of Eyemart Express from FLL Partners and Leonard Green & Partners; and
- acquisition of Marcolin from PAI Partners and other minority shareholders.
- Walgreens Boots Alliance in its sale to Sycamore Partners for up to $23.7 billion.
- Zoox in its acquisition by Amazon.
Matthew is widely published and his notable contributions include:
- “An Antitrust Roadmap for Private Equity Investment,” Antitrust by the American Bar Association, August 2020
- “Merger Control 2020, USA Chapter,” Global Legal Insights, July 2020
