Sean Skiffington
Image of Sean Skiffington

Sean Skiffington

Partner

Email

sean.skiffington@aoshearman.com

Phone

+1 416 360 2976

+1 212 848 4038

Offices

Toronto

New York

V-CARD
Sean has extensive experience representing clients in all aspects of public and private company transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, consortium investments, minority investments and joint ventures, particularly Canada/U.S. cross-border transactions, involving a broad range of sectors, including the asset management, insurance, infrastructure, metals and mining and aerospace and defense sectors, and regularly represents sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and private equity sponsors.

Sean also advises clients on corporate and securities law issues, including securities law compliance and general corporate advisory work.

Sean was the chair of Shearman & Sterling’s Pro Bono Committee beginning in 2023 and currently serves as one of the four global social impact partners at A&O Shearman and as the Chairperson of the A&O Shearman Foundation.

Expertise

Industries

Experience

Representative matters

  • Fairfax Financial Holdings in its pending USD1.65 billion consortium acquisition of NYSE-listed Kennedy-Wilson, its sale of Sigma Companies International, its financing of the acquisition of The Berkley Group by Vacatia, Inc., its USD1.4 billion sale of its pet insurance business to JAB Holding Co., its USD4.9 billion cash and stock acquisition of NYSE-listed Allied World Assurance Company, its proposal to acquire and subsequent investments in BlackBerry Limited, its acquisition of pet insurance provider Hartville Group, Inc. and various other investments and dispositions.
  • Macquarie Asset Management in the USD1.8 billion sale of its North American and European public investments funds business to Nomura.
  • GlobalFoundries in its acquisition of MIPS and its pending acquisition of the ARC Processor IP Solutions business of Synopsys
  • TELUS Corporation in its USD2.9 billion cash and stock take-private of NYSE- and TSX-listed TELUS Digital
  • Despegar.com Corp. in its USD1.7 billion take-private acquisition by Prosus N.V.
  • The management team of Galway Insurance Holdings, the holding company for EPIC Brokers & Consultants and MAI Capital Management, in its sale to Harvest Partners, and affiliates of Galway in numerous acquisitions, including the acquisitions of New Energy Risk and Reel Media, LLC by Paragon Insurance Holdings, the acquisitions of Evoke Holdings and Halpern Financial by MAI Capital Management and the acquisitions of The Fairly Group; Treloar & Heisel; Dixon Wells; Sitzmann, Morris & Lavis Insurance; and TDC Life by EPIC.
  • Mubadala in the expansion of its global partnership with Apollo to support the Apollo Capital Solutions business, its joint venture with Alpha Dhabi to co-invest in global credit opportunities, and in various other investments and transactions, including the acquisition by Mubadala Capital, the wholly owned asset management subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company, of Canada Cartage from Nautic Partners and the acquisition, together with Fortress management, of Fortress Investment Group from SoftBank Group Corp.
  • Stelco in its USD2.5 billion cash and stock acquisition by Cleveland-Cliffs.
  • BUSA Acquisition Co. in connection with the acquisition of BankCard USA Merchant Services Inc. from Quisitive Technology Solutions, a Canadian public company.
  • Meridiam in connection with its tender offer for NYSE-listed Allego N.V. shares it did not already own.
  • Raytheon in its USD120 billion combination with United Technologies Corporation through a merger of equals, in its USD275 million divestiture of its military airborne radio business to BAE Systems and in its sale of Raytheon Anschütz Group to DMB Dr. Dieter Murmann Beteiligungsgesellschaft.
  • Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in connection with various matters, including its USD6.1 billion acquisition of NASDAQ-listed Pattern Energy Group, its acquisition, together with Energy Capital Partners and Access Industries, of NYSE-listed Calpine Corporation, the purchase of a USD335 million issuance by Global Cash Access, Inc. of 7.25% Senior Secured Notes due April 15, 2021, the USD1.6 billion sale of portfolio company Air Distribution Technologies, Inc. to Johnson Controls, Inc. and various other transactions.
  • PSA International in its acquisition of BDP International, Inc., from private equity firm Greenbriar Equity Group.
  • Magris Resources in its USD223 million acquisition of Imerys Talc America, Inc.
  • TELUS International in its USD1.225 billion acquisition of WillowTree and in its USD935 million acquisition of Lionbridge AI, a global provider of crowd-based data annotation services.
  • General Electric in its USD32 billion merger of GE’s Oil and Gas business with Baker Hughes Incorporated, its USD3.25 billion sale of its distributed power business to Advent International, its USD630 million sale of MRA Systems to ST Engineering, its USD2.5 billion disposition of a portfolio of U.S., Canadian, Mexican and Brazilian aircraft leases and related aircraft and aircraft loans to Global Jet Capital, Inc., its USD4.3 billion acquisition of the aviation business of Avio S.p.A., the sale of its legacy avionics business to Ontic and various other acquisitions, dispositions and investments.
  • Various sovereign wealth and pension fund clients in numerous infrastructure investments, including in the Chicago Metered Parking System; Gatwick Airport; one of the largest interstate gas pipeline systems in the United States; an integrated gas transportation grid and processing facilities in Northern Europe; and Germany’s largest gas transmission system.
  • Textron Inc. in its USD810 million sale of its tools and test equipment business to Emerson Electric, its USD1.4 billion acquisition of Beech Holdings, LLC and its USD247 million acquisition of Arctic Cat Inc. via tender offer.
  • Corning Incorporated in its USD900 million acquisition of 3M Company’s global fibre and copper connectivity solutions business.
  • Temasek Holdings in its acquisition of Virtu Financial, Inc. publicly traded stock in connection with Virtu’s acquisition of KCG Holdings, Inc. and, as a member of a consortium, in its USD433 million acquisition of Brookstone, Inc.
  • Lehigh Hanson in the sale of its 51% partnership interest in Lehigh White Cement Company to Aalborg Cement Company and Cemex and in its USD660 million sale of a West Virginia cement plant and eight related terminals to Cementos Argos.
  • Investcorp S.A. in its €1 billion sale of Icopal a/s to GAF, North America’s largest roofing manufacturer.
  • B/E Aerospace in its tax-free spin-off of its consumables business, KLX Inc., to shareholders; its €200 million acquisition of Interturbine Projekt Management; its USD400 million acquisition of UFC Aerospace Corp.; its USD162 million acquisition of the OEM distribution business of Satair A/S and various other acquisitions.
  • Inmet Mining Corporation in its unsolicited offer for Petaquilla Minerals Ltd.
  • Lafarge S.A. in the USD700 million sale of its North American Gypsum Business to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds and in the USD300 million sale of its Maryland Aggregates Business to Bluegrass Materials, an affiliate of Lindsay Goldberg III, LP.
  • Kimberly-Clark Corporation in its USD161 million acquisition of a 49.9% interest in Hogla-Kimberly Ltd. from Hadera Paper.
  • IceArizona Acquisition Co., LLC, an entity through which a consortium of Canadian and U.S. investors completed a leveraged acquisition of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey club from the National Hockey League.
  • Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc in its USD98.7 billion consortium acquisition of ABN AMRO.
  • Cadbury plc in its USD19.4 billion recommended acquisition by Kraft Foods.
  • New England Sports Ventures in its £300 million acquisition of The Liverpool Football Club.
  • Norsk Hydro ASA in the USD30 billion merger of its oil and gas business with Statoil ASA and its minority investment in Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc.
  • Corus Group plc in the £6.7 billion recommended cash acquisition by Tata Steel U.K. Limited.
  • Rio Tinto in its USD1.5 billion investment in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.
  • Ispat International N.V. and a special committee of its board of directors in Ispat’s USD19.95 billion share acquisition of LNM Holdings N.V. to form Mittal Steel Company N.V.
  • ArcelorMittal in its USD1.44 billion acquisition of Mexican steel producer Siderúrgica Lázaro Cárdenas las Truchas, S.A. de C.V. and U.S. steel mill Border Steel from Grupo Villacero S.A. de C.V.
  • AngloGold Ashanti in its USD568 million acquisition with Randgold Resources of Moto Goldmines and in its USD124 million acquisition of Golden Cycle Gold Corporation.
  • Mubadala Development Company and The Olayan Group in connection with the €1.38 billion disposition of their interests in LeasePlan N.V. to Volkswagen AG.
  • ARAMARK Corporation in its USD8.3 billion leveraged buyout by a private equity consortium including ARAMARK CEO Joseph Neubauer.

Pro bono

  • Sean was the chair of Shearman & Sterling’s Pro Bono Committee beginning in 2023 and currently serves as Co-Head of A&O Shearman’s Social Impact Group.

Published Work

  • Author (with Mallory Tosch Hoggatt, Daniel Litowitz, Billy Marsh and Samantha Peppers) Is “DExit” real?: Recent developments in Delaware, Texas, and Nevada corporate law and business courts
  • Author, “Changes coming for the U.K. Takeover Code,” The M&A Lawyer, April 2011, Volume 15, Issue 4
  • Author (with Laurence Levy), “Beating the odds: Xchanging’s successful takeover of Cambridge Solutions was complicated by the interplay between Indian takeover laws and UK market practice,” India Business Law Journal, June 2009

Awards

  • Top 40 to watch in the Next Generation of M&A dealmakers, Mergermarket, 2009

Qualifications

Admissions

New York, 2004

England & Wales, 2009

Academic

BSc (with great distinction), Biochemistry, McGill University, 1999

LLB, Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, 2003

MBA (Dean’s Honour List), Schulich School of Business of York University, 2003

Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.