Lawyers

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 and was named American Lawyer’s “Dealmaker of the Year” for advising Barclays in the sale of Barclays Global Investors to BlackRock. Ms. Ressler was named to The Deal’s “Women in M&A: The Powerhouse 20” and has also been recognized as a Law360 MVP in M&A and Private Equity and as one of the 10 most innovative lawyers in North America by the Financial Times. 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

• Sumitovant Biopharma and Sumitomo Pharma’s $2.9 billion acquisition of Myovant Sciences
• RedBird Capital Partners in connection with its, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's launch of Artists Equity
• Wasserman’s strategic investment from Providence Equity Partners​
• Verily Life Sciences in a transaction whereby Swiss Re exchanged its investment in Granular Insurance for an equity stake in Verily; its $1 billion investment round led by parent company Alphabet; its joint venture with Santen Pharmaceutical Co.; its $1 billion investment round led by Silver Lake; and its $800 million investment by Temasek
• California Resources Corporation’s joint venture with Brookfield Renewable to create a carbon management partnership; its previous successful emergence from Chapter 11; and its $825 million infrastructure joint venture and equity investment with Development Capital Resources
• Zendesk’s $10.2 billion acquisition by an investor group led by Permira and Hellman & Friedman LLC, as counsel to Goldman Sachs, financial adviser to Zendesk
• Watlow’s acquisition of Eurotherm from Schneider Electric
• VMware’s $61 billion pending acquisition by Broadcom, as counsel to Goldman Sachs, financial adviser to VMware
• Twitter’s $44 billion acquisition by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk, as counsel to Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, financial advisers to Twitter
• DigitalBridge Group in its acquisition of AMP Capital’s global infrastructure equity investment management business (comprising four investment funds with $5.6 billion in fee-earning assets under management) for $316 million; its acquisition of Wafra’s 31.5% ownership in DigitalBridge’s investment management subsidiary for $800 million (which followed its initial $400 million investment); its $3.2 billion sale of its Wellness Infrastructure business to Highgate Capital Investments and Aurora Health Network; and its acquisition of a controlling stake in Vertical Bridge Holdings.
• Mandiant’s $5.4 billion acquisition by Google, as counsel to Goldman Sachs, exclusive financial adviser to Mandiant
• Shafer Vineyards’ sale of the company and related vineyard real estate to Starfield Properties, a subsidiary of E-Mart
• ATL Investco’s acquisition of the Atlanta Hawks and in connection with Dyal HomeCourt Partners’ minority equity investment in the Atlanta Hawks
• Raintree Systems’ significant investment from Serent Capital
• Vector Group in connection with Douglas Elliman's intended spin-off into a standalone, publicly traded company
• Saama Technologies in the strategic growth investment and acquisition of a majority stake in Saama by Carlyle and a co-investor group for up to $430 million
• Affiliates of Joseph Sanberg in a recapitalization of Blue Apron​ and subsequent private placement investments
• Ares' acquisition of a majority interest in Kuecker Pulse Integration; in connection with Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets’ acquisition of Cincinnati Bell; as a member of a consortium co-led by Ares and Leonard Green & Partners in the acquisition of Press Ganey; $1.45 billion strategic partnership with DuPage Medical Group; and acquisition of a significant stake in American Tire 
• Ontario Teachers’ strategic investment in Mitratech and acquisition of PODS
• Ares and Ontario Teachers’ acquisition of a majority interest in TricorBraun
• Rent-A-Center's ​approximately $1.8 billion acquisition of Acima Holdings and $1.365 billion proposed acquisition by Vintage Capital, as counsel to the Board of Directors of Rent-A-Center, later terminated
• Juniper Networks’ acquisition of Apstra, $450 million acquisition of 128 Technology and $405 million acquisition of Mist Systems
• NVISION Eye Centers in connection with Ontario Teachers’ acquisition of a majority stake in NVISION
• PowerA’s $395 million acquisition by ACCO
• Crescent Capital Group in connection with Sun Life Financial’s acquisition of a majority stake in Crescent for up to $338 million
• A lender in the financial reorganization and recapitalization that helped J. Crew and Neiman Marcus emerge from bankruptcy
• eBay’s $9.2 billion transfer of its Classifieds business to Adevinta, as counsel to Goldman Sachs & Co. and LionTree Advisors, financial advisers to eBay
• Mobile Mini’s $6.6 billion merger of equals with WillScot, as counsel to Barclays Capital and Goldman Sachs & Co., financial advisers to Mobile Mini
• Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing, controlled by Tinicum L.P. and affiliated partnerships managed by Tinicum Incorporated, in its sale to Stanley Black & Decker for up to $1.5 billion
• Key Energy Services’ out-of-court restructuring through a debt to equity conversion
• ​Members of a group of creditors and equity investors in the $3 billion pre-packaged Chapter 11 restructuring of Acosta 
• Madrone Capital Partners as the largest outside shareholder and lead investor in viagogo’s $4.05 billion acquisition of StubHub from eBay
• F5 Networks’ $1 billion acquisition of Shape Security, as counsel to JP Morgan, financial adviser to F5 Networks
• Xperi’s $3 billion combination with TiVo, as counsel to Centerview Partners, exclusive financial adviser to Xperi
• KEMET’s $1.8 billion acquisition by Yageo, as counsel to Goldman Sachs & Co., financial adviser to KEMET
• Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services’ $1.3 billion acquisition by Advisor Group
• Symantec’s $10.7 billion sale of its Enterprise Security assets, which include the Symantec name, to Broadcom, as counsel to Goldman Sachs & Co., financial adviser to Symantec and $2.3 billion acquisition of LifeLock, as counsel to J.P. Morgan Securities, co-lead financial adviser to the Board of Directors of Symantec
• Tableau Software’s $15.7 billion acquisition by Salesforce, as counsel to Goldman Sachs & Co., financial adviser to Tableau Software
• Versa’s sale of Polartec to Milliken & Company and Versa’s portfolio company, Vestis Retail’s acquisition of Sport Chalet
• Global Payments’ $21.5 billion merger with TSYS, as counsel to BofA Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan Securities, financial advisers to Global Payments
• Syntel’s $3.57 billion acquisition by Atos
• Joe Tsai, executive vice chairman and co-founder of Alibaba Group, in his purchase of a 49% interest in the Brooklyn Nets from owner Mikhail Prokhorov
• Kite Pharma’s $11.9 billion acquisition by Gilead Sciences
• SPO Partners’ $900 million sale of its aggregates business, Aggregates USA LLC, to Vulcan Materials Company
• Unified Grocers in its $375 million acquisition by SUPERVALU
• Platinum Equity’s acquisition of a controlling equity stake, along with other noteholders, in the reorganization of Key Energy Services
• Rockwell Collins’ $6.4 billion acquisition of B/E Aerospace, as counsel to J.P. Morgan Securities, financial advisor to Rockwell Collins
• Oracle’s $9.3 billion acquisition of NetSuite, as counsel to Moelis & Company, financial adviser to the Special Committee of Oracle
• Nortek’s $2.8 billion acquisition by Melrose Industries, as counsel to Ares, the largest shareholder in Nortek
• FilmYard Holdings, parent company of MIRAMAX, in MIRAMAX’s acquisition by beIN MEDIA GROUP
• 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
• 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
• 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

• Co-chair of the Dean’s Council, Columbia Law School
• Board Member, LA 2028 Summer Olympics
• Board of Fellows, Brown University
• Harvard-Westlake School Trustee