Judith L. Church is a member of the firm’s Corporate Department and the Intellectual Property Practice Group. Ms. Church’s practice focuses on a wide range of corporate and intellectual property matters, including the acquisition of intellectual property; licensing, financing and securitization of intellectual property; collaboration agreements; Internet-related development and affiliation agreements; e-commerce and new media joint ventures; trademark clearance, prosecution and maintenance; trade secret law; international protection of trademarks, patents and copyrights; computer law and copyright law.
She has advised clients such as Alibaba.com, AT&T, B.R. Guest, Carlyle, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Companhia de Bebidas das Américas, Faber-Castell, Global Atlantic Financial Group, Misys, Mitsui, the National Football League, Pernod Ricard, Prudential Financial, Resolution Life, Tribune Company, Verizon Communications and Warner Music Group.
She has significant experience across a broad range of industries, including the life sciences and healthcare industries where she has represented such clients as Actavis, Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, Galderma, Hisamitsu, and Lannett. She has also regularly represented private equity firms, such as Kelso & Co. and North Castle Partners, in their investments in the life sciences sector.
Ms. Church is the author of “Conducting Intellectual Property Due Diligence In The Context Of An Acquisition,” The Licensing Journal (January, 2015) and “Handling Intellectual Property Licenses in Mergers and Acquisitions, Financing Transactions, and Bankruptcy Proceedings,” The Licensing Journal (Aspen Publishers 2003).
Ms. Church also contributed (with Ashton Hawkins) the chapter, “A Tale of Two Innocents: The Rights of Former Owners and Good-Faith Purchasers of Stolen Art,” Who Owns the Past? (Rutgers University Press, 2005). She speaks regularly on handling intellectual property issues in mergers and acquisitions and has written a number of articles on related topics, as well as articles on the protection of cultural property under United States law.
Ms. Church joined Debevoise in 1992. She received a B.A. from Antioch College in 1975, an M.A. in Art from the University of New Mexico in 1979 and her J.D. with honors from Columbia University School of Law in 1992.
Experience:
- Life Sciences Industry
- Vets First Choice in the financing aspects of its merger with the Henry Schein Animal Health business to create Covetrus, a new standalone public company.
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its joint investment with Cardinal Health in naviHealth, the largest manager of post-acute benefits for health plans and a leading value-based care partner to health systems and providers.
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its acquisition of a controlling stake in Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare, a global manufacturer of medical products.
- Lannett in its acquisition for $1.23 billion in cash, plus additional contingent consideration, of Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals, the U.S. specialty generic pharmaceuticals subsidiary of global biopharmaceuticals company UCB.
- Pediatric Services Holding Corporation, the parent of Pediatric Services of America, in its sale to J.H. Whitney Capital Partners.
- Healogics, a Clayton, Dubilier & Rice portfolio company, in its acquisition of Accelecare Wound Centers.
- Actavis in its acquisition of Nasdaq-listed Durata Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for patients with infectious diseases and acute illnesses, for $675 million plus contingent value rights.
- United Biosource, a portfolio company of Whitney, Oak Hill and Berkshire Partners, in its $730 million sale to Medco Health Solutions.
- Bear Stearns, Citigroup, Solomon Smith Barney and JPMorgan Chase as lead underwriters in various stock offerings by Endo Pharmaceuticals.
- Misys in the combination of its healthcare business with Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, resulting in Misys owning a 54.5% interest in Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions.
- Kelso & Company in its $465 million acquisition of Del Laboratories, a company that distributes a wide variety of cosmetics under brand names and over-the-counter pharmaceutical products.
- Misys in an investment agreement and marketing services agreement between its subsidiary Medic Computer Systems and Healtheon/WebMD.
- Mitsui in its acquisition of the Thermo Trilogy business of Thermo Electron.
- General M&A:
- Sirius Computer Solutions, a leading IT solutions integrator, and its majority owner, Kelso & Company, in the sale of a majority equity interest in Sirius to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
- Atlas Merchant Capital in its investment in Ascensus, the largest independent recordkeeping services provider, third-party administrator, and government savings facilitator in the United States.
- Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities Group in its strategic minority investment in Annexus, a leading designer of annuities and insurance-based retirement products.
- Resolution Life in its AUS$3.3 billion acquisition of AMP Life in Australia and New Zealand.
- Prudential Financial in its life insurance joint venture with CT Corp in Indonesia.
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its acquisition of a 40% ownership interest in Belron, which valued the company at €3 billion.
- American International Group in its $5.56 billion acquisition of Validus Group, a Bermuda-based, NYSE-listed, (re)insurance company.
- Cerberus Capital Management in its acquisition of Electrical Components International, the world’s leading manufacturer of wire harnesses, control boxes and value-added assembly services, from KPS Capital Partners.
- Cerberus Capital Management in its acquisition of Cyanco International, the largest global producer of sodium cyanide.
- Resolution Life in its sale of Lincoln Benefit Life to Global Bankers Insurance Group.
- Kuvare in its acquisition of United Life Insurance Company.
- Apex Fund Services in its sale to Genstar Capital, a leading middle-market private equity firm.
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its acquisition of Tranzact Holdings, the leading provider of comprehensive, direct-to-consumer sales and marketing solutions for insurance carriers in the U.S., from White Mountains Insurance Group.
- Dover Corporation in its $780 million acquisition of Wayne Fueling Systems from Riverstone Holdings.
- Hussmann, a Clayton, Dubilier & Rice portfolio company, in its $1.5 billion sale to Panasonic.
- Nassau Reinsurance Group, a portfolio company of Golden Gate Capital, in its $217.2 million acquisition of The Phoenix Companies.
- Sun Life Financial in the intellectual property and information technology aspects of its $975 million acquisition of Assurant’s Employee Benefits business.
- Dover Corporation on its €425 million acquisition of Tokheim Group’s dispensers and systems businesses (including a post-closing license to intellectual property).
- Kelso & Company in its acquisition of Sirius Computer Solutions, a leading national IT solutions integrator.
- Providence Equity Partners and SRA in the merger of SRA with the government services unit of CSC, creating the largest pure-play IT services provider serving the U.S. government sector.
- Independent Committee of the Board of Directors of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in its $365 million sale to Sequential Brands.
- J.C. Flowers in its acquisition of AmeriLife Group.
- Global Atlantic in the sale of its Bermuda and Lloyd’s insurance and reinsurance businesses to BTG Banco Pactual.
- Schneider Electric in the sale of its custom sensors and technologies division to Carlyle and PAI, based on an enterprise value of $900 million, and its reinvestment of approximately $100 million.
- AXA in its acquisition of 51% of Mercantil Colpatria’s insurance operations in Colombia for COP 672 billion.
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its acquisition of a 60% stake in John Deere Landscapes, a unit of Deere & Company’s Agriculture & Turf segment, in a transaction valued at $465 million.
- Gogo in its $187 million initial public offering of common stock.
- Goldman Sachs in the formation, separation and disposition of Global Atlantic Financial Group.
- Oriental Trading Company in its sale to Berkshire Hathaway.
- Booz Allen Hamilton, a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, in its $2.25 billion leveraged recapitalization.
- Ambev S.A. in its $1.24 billion acquisition of indirect control of Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana (CND) and its strategic alliance with E. León Jimenes to create the leading brewer in the Caribbean.
- Goldman Sachs Reinsurance Group in its acquisition of the Bermuda-based reinsurance operations of Ariel Holdings.
- International Lease Finance Corporation in its $228 million acquisition of AeroTurbine from AerCap.
- Stone Point Capital and Hellman & Friedman in obtaining EU merger control approval for their $1.1 billion acquisition of Sedgwick Claims Management Services, the leading global provider of technology-enabled claims and productivity management solutions.
- The Carlyle Group in its $2.54 billion acquisition of Booz Allen Hamilton’s U.S. government consulting business.
- Alibaba.com in the contribution by Yahoo! of its Yahoo! China business to Alibaba and its $1 billion purchase of Alibaba shares from the company and other shareholders to acquire a 40% economic interest with 35% voting rights in Alibaba, making it the largest strategic investor in Alibaba, a transaction valued at over $4 billion.
- Chrysler in its $435 million sale of New Venture Gear to New Process Gear, a joint venture to be initially owned 80% by Magna International and 20% by DaimlerChrysler.
- Kinko’s in the $2.4 billion sale of Kinko’s to FedEx, awarded 2003’s “Exit of the Year” by Private Equity Online.
Education:
- Columbia Law School, 1992, J.D.
- University of New Mexico, 1979, M.A.
- Antioch College, 1975, B.A.
Bar Admissions:
- New York
Cost
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