Atif Azher is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in the Firm’s Corporate Department and is based in Palo Alto. Atif’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions where he represents public and private companies, and private equity firms, in a variety of domestic and cross-border transactions.
He has experience in a broad range of transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, carve-outs, leveraged buyouts, venture financings, joint ventures and other direct investments. He also has extensive experience representing public companies in unsolicited transactions and corporate governance matters, as well as representing investment banks in connection with advising on M&A transactions.
Selected corporate transactions on which Atif has worked include the representation of:
- Interactive Data Corporation, and its largest stockholder, Silver Lake Partners, in its $5.2 billion sale to Intercontinental Exchange
- Tsinghua Unigroup in its acquisition of a 51% interest in Hewlett Packard’s Chinese Networking and Technology Infrastructure business with a $4.5 billion valuation
- Shaw Communications in its $1.2 billion acquisition of ViaWest
- TD Bank Financial Group in its $8.5 billion acquisition of Commerce Bancorp, Inc., and its $6.3 billion acquisition of Chrysler Financial Services
- ARAMARK in the sale of a minority interest in SeamlessWeb to Spectrum Equity and subsequent merger of Seamless North America and GrubHub
Selected private equity transactions on which Atif has worked include the representation of:
- Silver Lake in numerous transactions, including its $24.4 billion acquisition, together with Michael Dell, of Dell Inc., acquisition of IMG Worldwide Holdings, minority investment in Red Ventures and PIPE investment in Motorola Solutions
- Hellman & Friedman in numerous transactions, including its acquisitions of MultiPlan, Edelman Financial and Grocery Outlet, recapitalizations of Kronos and Alix Partners, minority investment in, and subsequent sale of, CarProof, sales of Sheridan Healthcare and Goodman Global, and partial sale of its interest in Emdeon
- Blackstone in its initial public offering and numerous other transactions, including its $870 million acquisition of Encore Medical, its investment in Bayview Asset Management and sale of its interest in Cumulus Media Partners LLC to Cumulus Media Inc.
- TPG in its $1.04 billion acquisition of the consumer packaging division of Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation, and its acquisition of Field Container Company
- A consortium of investors including Carlyle, Blackstone and Centerbridge in their $900 million acquisition of BankUnited
Atif received a J.D. and an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. and a B.S.B.A. from the University of Arizona. He is admitted to practice in New York and California.
Education:
- University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2004 J.D.
- University of Pennsylvania, 2004 M.A.
- University of Arizona, 2000 B.S. and B.S.B.A.
- magna cum laude
Associations:
- American Bar Association
- New York State Bar Association
Admissions :
- California 2012
- New York 2005
Cost
Rate : $$$