Lyle G. Ganske

Partner

Lyle Ganske advises significant companies, focusing primarily on mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, takeover preparedness, corporate governance, executive compensation, and general corporate counseling.

He has extensive experience with M&A involving a broad array of industries, including telecom, energy, manufacturing, retailing, and process industries. Representative transactions include: Nextel Communications' $46.5 billion merger-of-equals with Sprint, Albertsons' $17.4 billion acquisition by a consortium of investors, Federated Department Stores' $17 billion acquisition of May Department Stores, International Steel Group's $4.5 billion merger with Mittal Steel, and Procter & Gamble's $3.3 billion divestiture of Folgers.

Lyle also has been involved in numerous hostile takeover defenses, including Diebold, Incorporated, Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., U.S. Shoe, and GenCorp. He has represented public companies in proxy contests and most recently successfully represented A. Schulman, Inc., Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., and STERIS Corporation against proxy solicitations.

American Greetings, General Electric, Goodrich, Nationwide Financial Services, Procter & Gamble, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Scientific-Atlanta, and Sherwin-Williams are among other companies Lyle has advised on substantial matters.

Lyle is Partner-in-Charge of the Cleveland Office. He is a frequent speaker on M&A and corporate governance issues and has coauthored many articles, including "Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Avoiding the Solvency-Related Pitfalls in Spinoff Transactions" in The Business Lawyer. He is a member of the Ohio Business Roundtable and serves on the boards of the Greater Cleveland Partnership (Executive Committee and co-chair, Commission on Economic Inclusion), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and Business Volunteers Unlimited (chair).