Jeremy Morrison

Jeremy’s practice focuses on complex antitrust compliance counseling, investigations, and mergers and acquisitions review before federal and state agencies, with extensive experience in consumer packaged goods, energy, technology, transportation, retail and finance. Jeremy served for four years at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), including as counsel to the Bureau of Competition from 2013 to 2014. He has counseled clients before the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and FTC, as well as international tribunals including the European Commission and Canadian Competition Bureau. With nearly two decades of experience in private practice and government service, Jeremy has successfully represented a diverse range of clients through every stage of a deal, including premerger planning, regulatory filings, investigations and litigation, as well as post-closing investigations.

During his tenure at the FTC, Jeremy was the lead attorney on multiple merger investigations and prosecutions, including Pinnacle Entertainment’s purchase of Ameristar Casinos and Albertsons’ acquisition of United Supermarkets. He also played an integral role in a number of high-profile FTC investigations and challenged transactions, including OSF Healthcare System’s proposed acquisition of Rockford Health System, Reading Health System’s proposed acquisition of the Surgical Institute of Reading and Office Depot’s affiliation with OfficeMax.

A member of the New York and District of Columbia Bars, Jeremy also is active in the Antitrust Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Representative matters

• Advised Sonepar in the acquisition of Echo Electric Supply, a wholesale electrical distributor ranked in the top 30 of Electrical Wholesaling’s 2024 North America distributors list and headquartered in Council Bluffs, Iowa*
• Advised the equity holders of Frank Calandra and Calandra Group in connection with a more than $250 million minority investment by FalconPoint Partners II*
• Advised Signature Aviation in its:
  • Acquisition of Meridian, an award-winning private aviation company with bases in Teterboro, New Jersey, and Hayward, California*
  • Divestiture of three TAC Air fixed-base operations (FBOs) – in Omaha, Nebraska; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Hartford, Connecticut – to Atlantic Aviation*
  • Acquisition of the TAC Air business of The Arnold Companies*
  • Acquisition of Vail Valley Jet Center, the FBO at Eagle County Regional Airport in Gypsum, Colorado*
  • $230 million sale of its engine repair and overhaul business to StandardAero, a portfolio company owned by The Carlyle Group and a provider of maintenance, repair, and overhaul services*
• Advised Solvay SA on its acquisition from AGC of a 20% stake in a soda ash joint venture for $120 million, resulting in Solvay holding a 100% stake in the operation, which is in Green River, Wyoming*
• Advised Wabtec in:
  • Its $400 million cash acquisition of Nordco, a North American supplier of new, rebuilt, and used maintenance of way equipment with a broad product and service portfolio including mobile railcar movers and ultrasonic rail flaw detection technologies, from Greenbriar Equity Group*
  • A Reverse Morris Trust merger with GE Transportation valued at $11.1 billion*
• Advised Conagra Brands in:
  • The sale of its Peter Pan peanut butter business to Post Holdings, a consumer packaged goods holding company*
  • Its acquisition and the related financing of Pinnacle Foods in a $10.9 billion merger*
• Advised Western Digital in the sale of its IntelliFlash business to DataDirect Networks, a global artificial intelligence (AI) and multi-cloud data management company*
• Advised BBA Aviation in the sale of its Ontic business to an investment fund affiliated with CVC Capital Partners for $1.365 billion*
• Served as antitrust counsel to National Beef Packing Co. in an investigation by the US Department of Justice and Iowa’s attorney general into National Beef’s acquisition of Iowa Premium*
• Represented Safran in connection with its agreed tender offer of 8.7 billion euros targeting Zodiac Aerospace’s shares*
• Acted as international counsel to Groupe Solmax, a Canada-based producer of high-quality polyethylene geomembranes for industrial and environmental applications, in connection with the acquisition and related financing of GSE Environmental from Littlejohn & Co. and Strategic Value Partners*
• Represented Level 3 Communications in its proposed $34 billion merger with CenturyLink*
• Represented Andeavor in the acquisition of 39 convenience store gas station locations from Flyers Energy*

* Representation handled prior to joining Cooley.

Publications

• Co-author, “US Antitrust Agencies Take Aim at Private Equity,” The M&A Lawyer, July/August 2022
• Co-author, “FTC Resurrects Unilateral Preapproval in Merger Investigation Settlements to Halt Future ‘Anticompetitive’ M&A and Introduces Changes to Second Request Reviews,” The M&A Lawyer, November/December 2021
• Co-author, “The Mystifying Antitrust Agency Clearance Process; Or How I Learned to Accept Disorder and Move Forward,” The M&A Lawyer, September 2021
• Co-author, “Post-Election Reaction: Early Thoughts on a New Antitrust Regime,” The M&A Lawyer, November/December 2020
• Co-author, “What You Need to Know About the New FTC DOJ Vertical Merger Guidelines,” The M&A Lawyer, February 2020
• Co-author, “A Decade of Incremental Change in US Merger Enforcement,” The M&A Lawyer, January 2020