Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP‘s team leans on the firm’s wider M&A and private equity offering to advise public and private companies, private equity funds, and sovereign wealth funds on a range of CFIUS issues. The team’s knowledge spans the technology, manufacturing, energy, and financial services sectors. Based in Washington DC, Shawn Cooley spearheads the offering and stands out for his extensive government experience. Antonia Tzinova, who joined the firm in October 2025, has a background representing clients before CFIUS.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Shawn Cooley, with his background with the USG, excels at providing excellent, in depth, and thoughtful analysis of the law and CFIUS process, having particular expertise in critical infrastructure matters. Few other private practitioners have this level of expertise on these issues.'
- 'Shawn Cooley has seen CFIUS handle numerous cases and can be counted on to provide an excellent sense of how individual agencies will approach a particular CFIUS case. This kind of insight is invaluable to clients who may view CFIUS as a black box.'
- 'Shawn Cooley is a pleasure to work with.'
Key clients
- Advent International, LP
- Apollo S3 Investment Management, L.P.
- British Columbia Investment Management Corporation
- Brookfield Asset Management Ltd.
- ChampionX Corporation
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc.
- EQT Partners AB
- Goldman Sachs Alternatives
- Lone Star; LSF XI Investments, LLC
- L'Oreal USA, Inc.
- NWS Holdings Limited
- PSG
Work highlights
Advised Glencore PLC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, as the shareholders of Viterra Ltd, a distributor of agriculture products offering grains, oilseeds, pulses, rice, sugar, and cotton, on all CFIUS aspects of its approximately $18 billion ($6.2 billion in stock, $2 billion in cash and $9.8 billion assumption of debt) business combination with Bunge Ltd, a global agribusiness and food company that buys, sells, stores, transports, and processes oilseeds and grains to make protein meal for animal feed and edible oil products for commercial customers.
Advised Sanofi on all CFIUS aspects of its tender offer to acquire Blueprint Medicines Corporation, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company specializing in systemic mastocytosis (SM) for an equity value of $9.5 billion including potential CVR payments.
Advised a consortium of investors led by Advent International and Corvex Private Equity and including several family offices, on all CFIUS aspects of its $1.3 billion pending acquisition of Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc., a provider of global leadership advisory and on-demand talent solutions.
Lawyers
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Practice head
Shawn Cooley
Other key lawyers
Antonia Tzinova