David H. Schnabel

Head of Tax practice. Advises clients on a full range of transactions – including mergers and acquisitions, financings and PIPEs – and on tax issues and strategy.
David is the head of our Tax practice. He advises clients on a full range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, spinoffs, financings, PIPEs, joint ventures and inversions. Clients also look to David for guidance on tax issues, strategy and the impact of potential tax-law changes.
David is ranked in Band 1 by Chambers USA, and Legal 500 U.S. includes him in its Hall of Fame for non-contentious tax work.
He is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and a former chair of the Tax Section of the New York State Bar Association.
Experience highlights
- Charles Schwab:
- $26 billion acquisition of TD Ameritrade
- $1.8 billion acquisition of USAA investment management assets
- Technip $17 billion combination with FMC Technologies
- HRG Group $10 billion combination with Spectrum Brands Holdings and $1.84 billion sale of Fidelity & Guaranty Life
- Ingram Micro $7.2 billion acquisition by Platinum Equity
- Traton $3.7 billion acquisition of Navistar International
- Brookfield Business Partners $3.4 billion acquisition of DexKo Global
- Special Committee of Independent Directors of Fortress Investment Group $3.3 billion acquisition of Fortress by SoftBank
- Ferrero:
- $2.8 billion acquisition of Nestlé’s U.S. confectionary business
- acquisition of Kellogg’s cookie, fruit snack, ice cream cone and pie crust businesses
- acquisition of Fannie May Confections from 1-800-FLOWERS.COM
- Sterling Equities sale of the New York Mets
- Advice to Whitney Wolfe Herd on:
- Bumble’s $2.5 billion IPO
- Blackstone majority investment in MagicLab
- Symphony Technology consortium $2.075 billion acquisition of RSA from Dell
- Genesis Capital sale to New Residential Investment
- Bansk Group acquisition of Woodstream and related financing
- Cornell Capital:
- merger with Instant Brands
- investment in Lorom
- Collins Aerospace to acquire FlightAware
- Bridgepoint acquisition of Sun World International
- Valens Semiconductor business combination with PTK Acquisition
- Learfield Communications and Atairos Group on Learfield’s merger with IMG College
- McKesson creation of a new healthcare information technology company
- Taboola:
- $2.6 billion merger with ION Acquisition Corp. 1
- cancelled merger with Outbrain
- $800 million acquisition of Connexity
- Murphy USA $645 million acquisition of QuickChek
- BDT Capital acquisition of Culligan International
- Comcast acquisition of Icontrol Networks
- TPG Capital acquisitions of:
- Thycotic
- a majority stake in Centrify
- Convey Health Solutions and related financing
- Lightyear Capital to sell Therapy Brands to KKR
- Varagon Capital Partners strategic partnerships with Aflac and AIG
- Hargray Communications Group acquisition by the Pritzker Organization
- Solvay acquisition of the remaining 50% interest in Primester, a joint venture partnership between Solvay and Eastman Chemical
- Atairos Group investment in Bowlmor AMF and acquisition of Learfield Communications
- ADP acquisition of Marcus Buckingham
- The agent and a steering committee of lenders in connection with Alpha Natural Resources’ chapter 11 cases
Insights
News
Credentials
Recognition
Chambers USA – Tax: New York, Band 1
Legal 500 U.S. – US taxes: non-contentious, Hall of Fame
Who's Who Legal – Corporate Tax (Advisory), USA, Thought Leaders Global Elite
Who's Who Legal – Tax (Advisory), USA, Global Leader
Education
- Fergus Fellow
- cum laude
- cum laude
- with highest honors
Clerkships
Professional history
- Partner, Davis Polk, 2015-present
- Partner, Debevoise, 2000-2015
- Associate, Debevoise, 1994-2000
Qualifications and admissions
- State of New York