Cravath and Cadwalader snare key roles on $16.6bn Johnson & Johnson deal

New York firms Cravath Swaine & Moore and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft have both grabbed the top roles on Johnson & Johnson’s $16.6bn acquisition of Pfizer Consumer Healthcare.

Cravath partner George Schoen said old connections helped the firm win its role: “Johnson & Johnson is a long term client of Cravath. It’s a carve-out business deal, and a fairly typical acquisition around the price that the seller expected.”

Cravath corporate partners Robert Townsend and George Schoen will lead Johnson & Johnson through the transaction. Dennis Block and William Mills, partners at Cadwalader, will advise Pfizer Consumer Healthcare.

Pfizer also attracted bids from healthcare companies GlaxoSmithKline, Colgate-Palmolive and Reckitt Benkiser, but selected Johnson & Johnson’s bid.

“My understanding is that it was a competitive situation,” said Schoer.