Laura H. Acker

Laura has advised on the following significant matters:

Mergers and Acquisitions and Private Equity

• Interpublic Group in its acquisition by Omnicom to create a premier marketing and sales company
• Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. in its $460 million acquisition of The Gearbox Entertainment Company 
• Man Group plc in its acquisition of Varagon Capital Partners, L.P.
• Lakeside Book Company in its acquisition of Marquis Book Printing, Inc.
• Flagstone Foods, a portfolio company of Atlas Holdings, in its acquisition of Emerald Nuts from Campbell Soup Company
• Atlas Holdings in its sale of a majority stake in International Wire Group Holdings to Olympus Partners
• Marcal Paper, a portfolio company of Atlas Holdings, in its acquisition of von Drehle Corporation business
• Alleghany Corporation in its $11.6 billion acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway
• Atlas Holdings in its acquisitions of: LSC Communications, a commercial print and digital media solutions company; global contractor Permasteelisa; the Snacks Division of TreeHouse Foods; and wire manufacturer and marketer International Wire Group Holdings
• Franklin Templeton in its acquisitions of Legg Mason ($4.5 billion), and alternative credit manager Benefit Street Partners
• Level 3 Communications in its sale to CenturyLink ($34 billion) and its acquisition of tw telecom ($7.3 billion)
• Warburg Pincus in the minority recapitalization of portfolio company eSentire, Inc.
• Capital Senior Living in financing transactions with Conversant Capital, raising a total of $154.8 million and successfully ending a proxy contest commenced by Ortelius Advisors
• Truist Insurance Holdings in its acquisition of Constellation Affiliated Partners
• Multiview, a Warburg Pincus portfolio company, in connection with its sale to an affiliate of The Stagwell Group
• Alleghany Corporation in the sale of Pacific Compensation Insurance Company to CopperPoint Mutual Insurance Company
• W&W|AFCO Steel in its acquisition of Hirschfeld Industries
• Alleghany Capital Corporation in its majority investment in W&W|AFCO Steel
• Jay Alix, founder of AlixPartners, in the acquisition of an ownership stake in the business from CVC Capital Partners, a transaction valuing AlixPartners at more than $2.5 billion
• Men’s Wearhouse in its rejection of the $2.3 billion unsolicited buyout bid from Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. and in its subsequent $1.8 billion acquisition of Jos. A. Bank
• Mueller Industries and Atlas Holdings in the acquisition of Tecumseh Products
• Zurich Insurance Group in its acquisition of Rural Community Insurance Services (RCIS) from a financial institution for up to $1.05 billion
• Pan-American Life Insurance Group in its merger with Mutual Trust Financial Group
• Aviva plc in its $2.5 billion sale of Aviva USA Corporation to Athene Holding Ltd.
• Constitutional Medical Investors Inc. in its sale to Roche Diagnostics
• Tradecard Inc., a Warburg Pincus portfolio company, in connection with its merger with GT Nexus, Inc.
• Sferra Bros. Ltd., in connection with an investment by funds advised by Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, Inc.
• Arbor Realty Trust Special Committee in connection with its acquisition of assets from external manager
• The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Taro Pharmaceutical Industries in connection with Taro’s proposed buyout by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries
• Centerview Partners in connection with Salix Pharmaceuticals’ sale to Valeant Pharmaceuticals
• Credit Suisse Securities in connection with Montpelier Re Holdings’ sale to Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd.

Capital Markets

• Franklin Templeton in notes offerings
• CenturyLink, Inc. in the $1 billion and $1.5 billion 144A offerings of Level 3 Financing, Inc. senior notes
• CURO Group Holdings Corp., a portfolio company of Friedman Fleischer & Lowe, in its initial public offering of common stock
• Vertiv Intermediate Holding Corporation in an offering of senior PIK toggle notes
• Platinum Equity in high yield financing in connection with Platinum’s acquisition of Vertiv Corporation
• Ryerson Holding Corporation in its public offering of 5,000,000 shares of common stock and in a 144A offering of senior secured notes and related refinancing transactions
• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. in its series of three multi-tranche, multi-market offerings of senior notes aggregating $20.4 billion to finance its pending acquisition of Actavis Generics, the worldwide generic pharmaceutical business of Allergan plc.
• Level 3 Communications in numerous offerings of senior notes
• Take-Two Interactive Software in its offerings of convertible senior notes
• The initial purchasers in connection with a $250 million senior notes offering by a Lennar Corporation subsidiary, Rialto Holdings
• The initial purchasers in connection with offerings of senior notes by Lennar Corporation