About
Steven focuses his practice on advising public and private companies in a variety of merger and acquisition transactions, including domestic and cross-border acquisitions and divestitures, negotiated and unsolicited transactions, carve-out transactions, minority investments, business combinations involving SPACs and spin-offs. He also counsels clients on activism defense, governance, securities, finance and other general corporate matters.
In 2026, Steven was named Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer, selected as Bloomberg Law’s “They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40,” and recognized as a “Next Generation” M&A Partner by Lawdragon 500. He also serves as Secretary of the New York City Bar’s Mergers, Acquisitions & Corporate Control Contests Committee.
Additional Information
- Accenture on its acquisition of Anser Advisory, an advisory and management company for infrastructure projects.
- Allwyn on its $9.3 billion combination agreement with Cohn Robbins Holdings Corp.
- Allwyn on its acquisition of Camelot Lottery Solutions from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board.
- Allwyn on its acquisition of a majority of PrizePicks for an enterprise value of up to $4.15 billion.
- Altra Industrial Motion on its offering of Spinco notes in connection with its $3 billion Reverse Morris Trust transaction with Fortive’s Automation & Specialty platform.
- Archaea Energy Inc., an industry-leading renewable natural gas company, on its $4.1 billion sale to bp p.l.c.
- Aristocrat Leisure on its acquisition of Awager.
- Ashland on its $1.2 billion credit facilities obtained for its acquisition of Pharmachem Laboratories.
- Barrick Gold Corporation on its $18 billion unsolicited proposal to acquire Newmont Mining Corporation.
- Bristol Myers Squibb on its $4.1 billion acquisition of Turning Point Therapeutics.
- Brookfield Renewable on its $1.5 billion acquisition of TerraForm Power, Inc., with consideration consisting of, in part, exchangeable shares of a newly formed spinco.
- BT Group on its joint venture with Verizon to create international connectivity platform.
- Carvana Co. on its $2.2 billion acquisition of ADESA’s U.S. physical auction business from KAR Global.
- CK Life Sciences on its sale of Polynoma to TransCode Therapeutics.
- Eli Lilly on its divestiture of BAQSIMI to Amphastar Pharmaceuticals for up to $1.075 billion.
- Evergy, Inc. on its settlement agreement with Bluescape and Elliott and $115 million private placement of common stock and warrants to Bluescape.
- Google on its acquisition of Wiz for $32 billion.
- Graham Holdings on its $2.3 billion spin-off of Cable ONE.
- Honeywell International on its $1.3 billion buyout agreement with the North American Refractories Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust.
- IG Group Holdings plc on its pending $1.3 billion acquisition of Underdog Sports Holdings, Inc.
- J.P. Morgan as financial advisor to Air Lease Corporation in connection with its $28 billion acquisition by a newly formed holding company based in Dublin.
- JBT Corporation on its $800 million sale of the AeroTech business to Oshkosh Corporation.
- Lazard as financial advisor to El Paso Electric in connection with its $4.3 billion take-private acquisition.
- Lindsay Goldberg on its acquisition of a majority stake of Pike Corporation.
- Moloco as the lead investor in a group consisting of Google, Meta and Unity on their investments in AppsFlyer.
- Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan as financial advisors to Akero Therapeutics, Inc. in connection with its acquisition by Novo Nordisk A/S for up to $5.2 billion in cash.
- NEC on its $2.89 billion acquisition of CSG Systems.
- Novartis on numerous transactions, including its acquisitions of Pikavation Therapeutics and Mariana Oncology.
- Perella Weinberg Partners as financial advisor to Baxter in connection with Baxter’s $12.4 billion acquisition of Hillrom.
- Rubrik on numerous transactions.
- Sapient Corp on its $3.7 billion acquisition by Publicis Groupe.
- Sylvamo on its cooperation agreement with Atlas Holdings, its largest shareholder.
- The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of PropertyGuru on its $1.1 billion take-private by EQT.
- The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Verso Corporation in response to an unsolicited takeover bid and subsequent $825 million sale to BillerudKorsnäs.
- Valvoline on its $1.3 billion secured credit facilities obtained for its IPO and spin-off from Ashland.
- White Mountains on its $2 billion sale of Sirius International Insurance Group to China Minsheng Investment Corp.
- Zuora (NYSE: ZUO) on its $1.7 billion sale to Silver Lake and GIC.
- An international defence and aerospace company on its $5.5 billion acquisition of Ball Aerospace from Ball Corporation.
Steven Y. Li
Partner
New York Office
3 World Trade Center
175 Greenwich Street, 51st Floor
New York, NY 10007