(l-r) Alan F. Zoccolillo, co-managing partner of Baker McKenzie’s New York office and the chair of the firm’s North American transactional practices, Piotr E. Korzynski, partner in the firm’s North American transaction practice group, based in its Chicago office, and Deny-Jean Silny, Head of Legal M&A at Bayer. Courtesy photos
Having just recently assumed the role of Head of Legal M&A within Bayer AG’s (Bayer) legal department, Deny-Jean Silny is no stranger to complex deal-making at the German pharmaceutical and life sciences giant. He first joined Bayer’s legal department in July 2016 and has helped Bayer navigate its deal-making both large and small. Over the past year or so, we had the privilege of working with him and his predecessor, Christian Bank, on Bayer’s up to $4 billion acquisition of U.S.-based Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc. (AskBio) and its up to $2 billion acquisition of U.S.-based Vividion Therapeutics, Inc. (Vividion). After a whirlwind year, we asked Silny to reflect on his career and transition to a new role, key takeaways from the company’s recent deals and on larger trends he is seeing in pharma M&A.
Baker McKenzie: First, congratulations on your new role! Could you share your background at Bayer and your path toward this milestone?
