Profile details
About Jenny Hochenberg
Jenny focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and shareholder activism defense. Jenny has worked on some of the biggest and most transformative M&A transactions of our time, both purely US as well as cross-border. Her clients have included Afterpay, Atlas Air Worldwide, bp, Cable One, Canadian National Railway, Cincinnati Bell, City Brewing, CommScope, Crown Castle, Exyte, GW Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Light & Wonder, Moda Operandi, NCR, Novartis, Pitney Bowes, Scientific Games, Time Warner, US Foods, Viatris and Yahoo.
Jenny has consistently been recognized as a leading advisor by numerous publications and legal directories. In 2024, she was named "Dealmaker of the Year" by The American Lawyer and included on the “Private Practice Powerlist” by Legal 500. She is ranked among leading Corporate/M&A lawyers in New York by Chambers USA, as a “Thought Leader” by Who’s Who Legal: M&A and Governance and “Highly Regarded” M&A lawyers by IFLR1000. Jenny was named as a Rising Star: Mergers and Acquisitions by Law360 in 2022, recognizing her as one of six outstanding M&A lawyers in the nation under the age of 40. In 2021 and 2022, she was shortlisted for the “M&A Lawyer of the Year” award at Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Women in Business Law Awards. In 2022 and 2023, was named to Crain’s New York Business’ list of “Notable Women in Law” and The Deal's "Top Woman in Deal Making."
Jenny is a thought leader and frequent speaker on emerging trends in M&A and corporate governance law. She is currently Vice Chair of the M&A Committee and Co-Chair of the Acquisitions of Public Companies Subcommittee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association. In addition, Jenny was a contributing editor to The Legal 500’s 2022 M&A Country Comparative Guide, and in 2021, she was appointed to the Editorial Advisory Board (M&A) of Law360. She frequently speaks for the Practising Law Institute, The University of Texas M&A Institute and has taught deal classes at Columbia, NYU, Stanford, University of Iowa and UPenn.
Jenny sits on the board of directors of DirectWomen, a national non‑profit organization dedicated to increasing the representation of women lawyers on corporate boards.
Recent work
- Afterpay on its $29 billion sale to Block (formerly Square).
- Atlas Air Worldwide on its long‑term commercial agreements to provide air cargo services to Amazon, and its grant of rights to Amazon to acquire Atlas Air equity.
- The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Astra Space on its all-cash take-private of Astra Space.
- bp on its $4.1 billion take-private of Archaea Energy.
- Cable One on its $2.2 billion acquisition of Hargray Communications, $525.9 million acquisition of Fidelity Communications’ data, video and voice business, acquisition of Clearwave Communications, and $735 million acquisition of NewWave Communications.
- Canadian National Railway on its $33.6 billion interloper bid for Kansas City Southern.
- Cincinnati Bell on its $2.9 billion sale to Macquarie Infrastructure.
- City Brewing on an equity investment, as a result of which a consortium of investors acquired 100% ownership of the company, and its acquisition of the Irwindale brewery operations from Pabst Brewing.
- The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of CNH Global in connection with the merger of Fiat Industrial and CNH Global with CNH Industrial.
- CommScope on its receipt of a $1 billion investment from The Carlyle Group in connection with its $7.4 billion acquisition of ARRIS.
- Coupa on its $8 billion sale to Thoma Bravo.
- Exyte on its acquisitions of Airgard, Inc. and Critical Process Systems and its pending acquisition of CollabraTech Solutions.
- GKN on the £8.1 billion unsolicited offer from Melrose and proposed $6.1 billion combination of its Driveline business with Dana.
- GW Pharmaceuticals on its $7.2 billion sale to Jazz Pharmaceuticals.
- Johnson & Johnson on numerous transactions, including its $13.1 billion pending acquisition of Shockwave Medical, Inc., separation of its Consumer Health business, $6.5 billion acquisition of Momenta, Janssen Biotech’s $750 million acquisition of bermekimab from XBiotech, $2.8 billion sale of its Advanced Sterilization Products business to Fortive, and $2.1 billion sale of its LifeScan business to Platinum Equity.
- Light & Wonder (previously Scientific Games) on its $6.05 billion sale of SG Lottery to Brookfield, sale of OpenBet to Endeavor, $925.5 million sale of a 34.9% stake to institutional investors, acquisition of Don Best Sports, and C$775 million acquisition of NYX Gaming Group.
- Moda Operandi on its recapitalization by a consortium of investors.
- Novartis on its acquisition of DTx Pharma for an upfront payment of $500 million and additional milestone payments and its pending €2.7 billion acquisition of MorphoSys AG.
- Roivant Sciences on its $7.1 billion sale of Telavant to Roche and its pending $1.2 billion sale of Dermavant to Organon.
- Time Warner on its $109 billion sale to AT&T.
- The strategic review committee of the board of directors of Yahoo! in the $4.5 billion acquisition of Yahoo!’s operating business by Verizon.
- US Foods on its receipt of a $500 million convertible preferred equity investment from KKR and $970 million acquisition of Smart Foodservice.
Qualifications
Education
- Stanford Law School, 2009
- J.D., with distinction
- Dartmouth College, 2006
- A.B. in Economics, summa cum laude
- Phi Beta Kappa
Bar admission
- New York
Professional affiliations
- American Bar Association
- Vice Chair of the Acquisition of Public Companies Subcommittee
- New York City Bar Association
- International Bar Association
- Law360
- Member, Editorial Advisory Board - Mergers & Acquisitions, 2021
Non-profit organization
- DirectWomen
- Board of Directors