Partner, Los Angeles Phone +1-310-712-6600 Fax +1-310-712-8800 Add to Address Book

Recognized as “Dealmaker of the Week” by The American Lawyer for her roles advising Barclays PLC in the sale of Barclays Global Investors (June 19, 2009) and Colony Capital in its pending acquisition of First Republic Bank (October 23, 2009), Alison S. Ressler is a leading authority on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and capital markets. She provides advice to domestic and international corporations, private equity investors, boards of directors and financial advisors for a wide range of transactions in regulated and unregulated industries.

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

Selected Transactions
Significant M&A transactions in which she is currently involved or has been involved in recent years include:

• the pending acquisition of First Republic Bank from Bank of America Corp. by a consortium of buyers including Colony Capital LLC and General Atlantic LLC (as counsel to Colony Capital)
• the acquisition of Simmons Bedding Company by Ares Management LLC and Teachers’ Private Capital (as counsel to Ares and Teachers’)
• the acquisition of Barclays Global Investors by BlackRock Inc. and the superceded proposed acquisition of BGI’s iShares business by CVC Capital Partners (as counsel to Barclays PLC)
• the proposed acquisition of Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings Corp. by CSL Limited (as counsel to Talecris)
• the acquisition of Clear Channel Communications by a private equity group comprised of Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners (as counsel to the financial advisor to Clear Channel)
• the acquisition of certain assets of Groove Tubes, LLC by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (as counsel to Fender)
• the equity investment in Westwood One Inc. by The Gores Group, LLC (as counsel to chairman of the board of Westwood One)
• the acquisition of Hilton Hotels Corporation by The Blackstone Group (as counsel to Hilton)
• the acquisition of Kaman Music Corporation by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (as counsel to Fender Musical Instruments Corporation)
• the acquisition of Central Parking by Chrysalis Capital Partners, L.P. and Lubert-Adler, L.P. (as counsel to Chrysalis and Lubert-Adler)
• the acquisition of Asurion Corporation by an investor group including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (as counsel to CPPIB)
• the acquisition of an equity interest in SandRidge Energy by Ares Corporate Opportunities Fund (as counsel to Ares)
• the acquisition of CNL Retirement Properties by Health Care Property Investors (as counsel to HCP)
• the acquisition of Radica Games Limited by Mattel Inc. (as counsel to Radica)
• the acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor by a consortium led by The Blackstone Group (as counsel to the financial advisor to Freescale)
• the acquisition of the hotel business of Hilton Group plc by Hilton Hotels Corporation (as counsel to Hilton)
• the acquisition of Chiron Corporation by Novartis AG (as counsel to Chiron)
• the acquisition of American Medical Instruments by Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (as counsel to Angiotech)
• the acquisition by Occidental Petroleum Corporation of Vintage Petroleum Corporation (as counsel to Occidental Petroleum)
• the acquisition of Westcorp by Wachovia (as counsel to the chairman, CEO and controlling shareholder of Westcorp)
• the acquisition of Telephony@Work, Inc. by Oracle Systems Corporation (as counsel to Telephony@Work)
• the acquisition of Savers Inc. (interests held by Berkshire Partners LLC) by Freeman Spogli & Co. (as counsel to the founder)
• the acquisition of National Bedding (Serta Mattress) by Ares Corporate Opportunities Fund and Ontario Teachers (as counsel to the investor group)
• the merger of Sprint Corporation and Nextel Communications, Inc. (as counsel to the financial advisors to Sprint)
• the sale of Hynix Semiconductor’s logic-based semiconductor business to Citigroup Venture Capital Equity Partners LP (as counsel to Hynix)
• the acquisition by Talecris Holdings, LLC of Bayer AG’s worldwide plasma business (as counsel to Cerberus, as lead investor)
• the acquisition by Ares Corporate Opportunities Fund of Marietta Corporation (as counsel to Ares)
• the acquisition of CB Bancshares by Central Pacific Financial Corp. (as counsel to Central Pacific)
• the acquisition of Vans, Inc. by VF Corporation (as counsel to Vans)
• the acquisition of PayPal, Inc. by eBay, Inc. (as counsel to eBay)
• the acquisitions of Pathogenesis Corporation and Matrix Pharmaceutical, Inc. by Chiron Corporation (as counsel to Chiron)
• the acquisition of The Grass Valley Group by Thomson Multimedia (as counsel to Grass Valley)
• the acquisition of Immunex Corp. by Amgen Inc. (as counsel to Goldman, Sachs)
• the acquisition of Spieker Properties by Equity Office Properties (as counsel to Spieker)
• the acquisition of SDL, Inc. by JDS Uniphase Corp (as counsel to SDL)
• the acquisition by NTT DoCoMo of a 16% equity interest in AT&T Wireless (as counsel to NTT DoCoMo)

Significant proxy contests in which Ms. Ressler is currently involved or has been involved in recent years include:

• the proxy fight between Amylin and Icahn Group and Eastbourne Capital (as counsel to Amylin)
• the proxy fight between Biovail and Eugene Melnyk (as counsel to Biovail)
• the proxy fight between New Century Financial and Greenlight (as counsel to New Century Financial)
• the proxy fight between Vineyard National and certain of its shareholders (as co-counsel to Vineyard National)
• the proxy fight in connection with Central Pacific Financial’s hostile offer for CB Bancshares (as counsel to Central Pacific Financial)
• the hostile proxy contest and tender offer initiated by a shareholder of Entertainment Properties Trust (as counsel to Entertainment Properties Trust)

Professional Activities and Community Involvement

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

Rankings and Recognitions

Overall

• Southern California Super Lawyers – The Top 50 Women (2008)
• Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal – Top 100 Lawyers in California (2006, 2007, 2009)
• The Best Lawyers in America (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• The Lawdragon 500: Leading Lawyers in America (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Who's Who in American Law (2009-2010)

M&A and Private Equity

• The Lawyer Transatlantic Elite, “Introducing the Sweet Sixteen” and “The M&A Elite” (2008)
• Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
• The Best Lawyers in America (2006, 2007, 208, 2009, 2010)
• The Legal 500, United States, Volume 1 (2007, 2009)
• PLC Cross-border Mergers & Acquisitions Handbook (2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2009/2010)
• PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
• Southern California Super Lawyers (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• The Lawdragon 500: Leading Dealmakers in America (2007)
• The Lawdragon 500: New Stars, New Worlds (2006)
• Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Lawyers – Best of the Best (2008)
• Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Private Equity Lawyers (2005, 2006, 2008)
• Who’s Who Legal: California (2007, 2009)

Corporate Governance

• The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers (2006, 2007)
• The International Who’s Who of Corporate Governance Lawyers (2006, 2007)
• Who’s Who Legal: California (2007, 2009)
• PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook (2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
• The Best Lawyers in America (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Southern California Super Lawyers (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)

Capital Markets

• Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2003-2004, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
• Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2006, 2007)
• The Best Lawyers in America (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook (2008)
• PLC Cross-border Capital Markets Handbook (2009)
• The Lawdragon 500: Leading Dealmakers in America (2007)
• The Lawdragon 500: New Stars, New Worlds (2006)