Alison S. Ressler

Read the Lawyer Limelight Q&A with Alison Ressler

Alison S. Ressler is a leading authority on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and capital markets. She provides advice to U.S. and non-U.S. corporations, private equity investors, boards of directors and financial advisers for a wide range of transactions in regulated and unregulated industries.

Regularly cited at the very top of the legal profession in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, private equity, corporate governance and capital markets, Ms. Ressler has been named American Lawyer’s “Dealmaker of the Week” multiple times, most recently  for advising Valeant in its acquisition of Salix. She was named American Lawyer’s “Dealmaker of the Year” for advising Barclays in the sale of Barclays Global Investors to BlackRock. In 2014, Ms. Ressler was recognized as one of the ten most innovative lawyers in North America by the Financial Times and as a Law360 “M&A MVP.” She is regularly recognized by additional leading industry publications, including Chambers USA, Legal 500, IFLR1000, Lawdragon, Euromoney, The Lawyer and M&A Advisor.

Ms. Ressler is a member of the Firm’s Management Committee, serves as co-head of the Global Private Equity Group and is responsible for the Firm’s practice in California.

Selected Representations

Mergers & Acquisitions

Recent M&A transactions in which she has been involved include:

• FilmYard Holdings, parent company of MIRAMAX, in MIRAMAX’s acquisition by beIN MEDIA GROUP
• ATL Investco’s acquisition of the Atlanta Hawks
• Valeant’s $15.8 billion acquisition of Salix; $55 billion unsolicited offer to acquire Allergan; acquisition of PreCision Dermatology; $1.4 billion sale of aesthetic products to Galderma; acquisition of Medicis; and unsolicited offer for Cephalon
• Ares’s acquisition of a significant stake in American Tire
• Ontario Teachers’ acquisition of PODS
• Grocery Outlet’s acquisition by affiliates of Hellman & Friedman, as counsel to MacGregor Read and Eric Lindberg, shareholders and co-CEOs of Grocery Outlet
• Endo’s $2.6 billion acquisition of Auxilium
• Versa’s portfolio company, Vestis Retail’s acquisition of Sport Chalet
• Tinicum’s portfolio company Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing’s acquisition of Bristol Industries, as counsel to Tinicum
• Zynga’s acquisition of NaturalMotion
• American Realty Capital’s $11.2 billion acquisition of Cole Real Estate, as counsel to Christopher Cole and certain other executives and Cole Credit Property Trust III’s acquisition of Cole Holdings
• Dole Foods’ acquisition by an investor group led by Dole Chairman and CEO David Murdock, as counsel to Dole’s special committee
• CPG International’s acquisition by Ares and Ontario Teachers
• purchase of Activision Blizzard shares from Vivendi, as counsel to ASAC II, an investment vehicle led by Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and Co-Chairman Brian Kelly
• Dell’s acquisition by investor group led by Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners and financed in part by Microsoft, as counsel to Microsoft
• Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype Global from investor group led by Silver Lake, as counsel to both Skype and Silver Lake

Professional Activities and Community Involvement

• Co-chair of the Dean’s Council, Columbia Law School
• Trustee and Treasurer, Brown University
• Trustee, Harvard-Westlake School

Practices and Capabilities

• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Private Equity
• Healthcare & Life Sciences
• Corporate Governance
• Consumer & Retail
• Capital Markets, Leveraged Finance & Lending
• Sports & Entertainment
• Alternative Investment Management
• Equity & Debt Capital Markets

Education

• 1983, Columbia Law School, J.D.
• 1980, Brown University, A.B.

Bar Admissions

• California
• New York

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