Alison S Ressler

Practice Areas

M&A and Private Equity

Career

Alison S. Ressler is a leading authority on M&A, corporate governance and capital markets. She provides advice to U.S. and non-U.S. corporations, boards of directors and special committees of global companies, private equity investors 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 serves as co-head of Sullivan & Cromwell’s Global Private Equity Group and is responsible for the Firm’s practice in California. She served as a member of the Firm’s management committee for over 20 years.

With a career spanning four decades, Ms. Ressler has played a key role in some of the world’s most significant deals.

Headline M&A Transactions

• 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

• AT&T in its joint venture with DOCOMO

• ATL Investco’s acquisition of the Atlanta Hawks and in connection with Dyal HomeCourt Partners’ minority equity investment in the Atlanta Hawks

• California Resources Corporation in its $2.1 billion all-stock combination with Aera Energy; its 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

• Central Pacific Financial Corp.’s unsolicited acquisition of CB Bancshares, Inc.

• Chiron Corporation’s acquisition by Novartis AG, representing Novartis’ entry into the global vaccine and diagnostics market

• Christopher Cole and certain other executives in connection with the $11.2 billion acquisition of Cole Real Estate Investments by American Realty Capital Properties and Cole Holdings Corporation in connection with its sale to Cole Capital Properties Trust III (thereafter known as Cole Real Estate Investments)

• Clear Channel Communications’ $23.9 billion acquisition by a private equity group comprised of Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners, as counsel to Goldman Sachs, financial adviser to Clear Channel

• Cymer’s $3.9 billion acquisition by ASML Holding NV

• Dell’s acquisition by investor group led by Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners and financed in part by Microsoft, as counsel to Microsoft

• Dole Foods’ acquisition by an investor group led by Dole Chairman and CEO David Murdock, as counsel to Dole’s special committee

• eBay’s $1.5 billion acquisition of PayPal

• Hiltons Hotels’ $26.7 billion acquisition by The Blackstone Group

• Joe Tsai, 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

• Philips Electronics in its joint venture with LG Electronics

• RedBird Capital Partners in connection with Skydance Investor Group’s investment of more than $8 billion as part of Skydance Media and Paramount Global’s agreement to form “New Paramount”

• SDL’s acquisition by JDS Uniphase Corporation (the largest technology deal at the time)

• Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype Global from investor group led by Silver Lake, as counsel to both Skype and Silver Lake (recognized as a “Dealmaker in the Spotlight” in The American Lawyer and as a “Dealmaker of the Week” by Am Law Daily)

• Spieker Properties’ $7.2 billion acquisition by Equity Office Properties

• Sumitomo Pharma’s $2.9 billion acquisition of Myovant Sciences

• 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

• Valeant’s $15.8 billion acquisition of Salix and $55 billion unsolicited offer to acquire Allergan

Personal

Columbia Law (JD, 1983); Brown (BA, 1980)

Co-chair of the Dean’s Council, Columbia Law School. Board and Executive Committee Member, LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Member, Corporation of Brown University. Trustee, Harvard-Westlake School.