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Paul Bird

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP 

Paul S. Bird is a member of the firm’s Management Committee. He was Co-Chair of the firm’s Corporate Department and led the Mergers & Acquisitions Group for over a decade. Mr. Bird’s practice focuses on advising private equity firms, public companies, boards of directors and special committees, in connection with mergers and acquisitions and other significant corporate matters, including cross-border transactions, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs and takeover defense.

He also regularly counsels corporations and their directors on corporate governance and fiduciary duty matters. Mr. Bird is ranked as a leading M&A and private equity buyouts lawyer by Chambers Global (2014–2019), where he is lauded as “unflappable, always extremely cool in a tense situation and always has the right touch with high-level players.” The guide has also deemed him a “brilliant negotiator” and he is praised by clients for his “great judgement” and “even-handed approach and demeanour, which serve him and his clients very well.”

Chambers USA (2014–2018) describes him as a “standout,” “exceptional,” and praises “his ability to be not just a good lawyer, but to appreciate all the nuances associated with getting a deal done in a competitive context.” He is also recognized as a leading M&A lawyer by IFLR1000 (2019) and The Legal 500 US (2018), where sources describe him as “very experienced and commercial.”

Mr. Bird was named Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer(2008) for his representation of Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in their $8.5 billion acquisition of HD Supply from The Home Depot.

Mr. Bird is a frequent author and speaker on legal developments affecting mergers and acquisitions. He is a co-author of Takeovers: A Strategic Guide to Mergers & Acquisitions (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business 2013) and a regular contributor to the Debevoise & Plimpton Private Equity Report.

Prior to joining Debevoise, Mr. Bird served as law clerk to the Hon. Robert W. Sweet, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He received his B.A. from Yale University in 1983 and his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1987 where he was senior editor of the Yale Law Journal.

From 1990 to 1993, Mr. Bird was resident in the firm’s Paris office where he became a member of the Paris bar and worked extensively on international mergers and acquisitions and other cross-border transactions.

Mr. Bird is Treasurer and member of the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the French-American Foundation and a member of the Committee on Mergers, Acquisitions & Corporate Control Contests of the New York City Bar Association.

Experience:

  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and TRANZACT in the $1.2 billion sale of TRANZACT to Willis Towers Watson.
  • Tribune Media Company in its $6.4 billion sale to Nexstar Media.
  • The Carlyle Group in its sale of a majority stake in Getty Images to the Getty family.
  • SunSource, a Clayton, Dubilier & Rice portfolio company, in its acquisition of United Distribution Group, one of the largest distributors of industrial components and assemblies in North America.
  • Ply Gem and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in Ply Gem’s $5.5 billion stock-for-stock combination with NCI Building Systems.
  • NCI Building Systems in its unit purchase agreement with Environmental Materials, LLC.
  • 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.
  • SunSource, a Clayton, Dubilier & Rice portfolio company, in its acquisition of Ryan Herco Flow Solutions, a distributor of hydraulic and pneumatic fluid power products in the U.S. and Canada.
  • The Carlyle Group in its strategic minority investment in DiscoverOrg, the leading global sales and marketing intelligence platform.
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its $2.4 billion take private of Ply Gem and acquisition of Atrium Windows & Doors, two leading building products companies.
  • Pernod Ricard in its acquisition of the remaining stake in Avión Tequila.
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its acquisition of SunSource, a distributor of hydraulic and pneumatic fluid power products in the U.S. and Canada.
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its $500 million preferred stock investment in Beacon Roofing Supply’s $2.625 billion acquisition of Allied Building Products.
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its $2.5 billion acquisition of HD Supply’s Waterworks Division, the largest distributor of waterworks products in the U.S.
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its $650 million acquisition of Capco, FIS’s management consulting business.
  • Tribune Media Company in its $6.6 billion sale, later terminated, to Sinclair Broadcast Group.
  • Schneider Electric in its $900 million divestiture of Telvent DTN, a leader in providing information services, supply chain connectivity tools and decision support solutions to the agricultural, energy and environmental industries, to TBG AG, a private Swiss holding company.
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its $2.3 billion sale of Mauser Group, a leading global supplier of industrial rigid packaging products and reconditioning services, to Stone Canyon Industries.
  • Tribune Media Company in the $560 million sale of Gracenote, a leading entertainment data provider, to the Nielsen Company.
  • 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.
  • Envision Healthcare in its $15 billion merger with AMSURG, creating one of the largest U.S. providers of specialty physicians and hospital-related services.
  • TruGreen, a Clayton, Dubilier & Rice portfolio company, and CD&R in TruGreen’s merger with Scotts LawnService.
  • Univar in its $885 million initial public offering and concurrent private placement of $350 million of shares to Temasek and the additional purchase of 5 million shares of Univar common stock from selling stockholders by Temasek.
  • Tribune Media Company in its spin-off of Tribune Publishing Company.
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its $1.8 billion acquisition of Ashland Water Technologies.
  • 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.
  • Tribune Media Company in its $2.7 billion acquisition of Local TV Holdings.
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and US Foods in the $8.2 billion merger of US Foods with Sysco Corporation.
  • AssuraMed in its $2 billion sale to Cardinal Health.
  • The Carlyle Group in its $3.3 billion acquisition of Getty Images.
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its $1.05 billion acquisition of David’s Bridal.
  • Schneider Electric in its $2 billion acquisition of Telvent GIT SA, a software and solutions provider to the electricity, water, transportation and oil and gas industries.
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its $3.2 billion acquisition of Emergency Medical Services Corporation.
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its acquisition of a 60% stake in Hussmann International, a leading global manufacturer of refrigerated display merchandizing equipment and refrigeration systems for the retail food industry, from Ingersoll Rand.
  • Pernod Ricard in its investment in Tequila Avión.
  • Schneider Electric in its acquisition of Lee Technologies, a U.S.-based service provider specializing in large-scale data centers in the North American market.
  • Schneider Electric in its acquisition of Summit Energy Services, a leader in outsourced energy procurement and sustainability services to industrial, commercial and institutional enterprises.
  • Prudential Financial in its $4.8 billion acquisition of Japan-based AIG Star Life Insurance and AIG Edison Life Insurance from American International Group.
  • Pernod Ricard in its sale of the Cruzan rum business to Fortune Brands.
  • Pernod Ricard in its €5.6 billion acquisition of the Vin & Sprit Group, makers of Absolut vodka, from the Kingdom of Sweden in one of the largest cross-border privatizations of 2008.
  • Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in their $8.5 billion acquisition of HD Supply from The Home Depot, which Private Equity Analyst named “LBO Deal of the Year.”
  • Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its acquisition of a 42.5% stake in Univar, a global distributor of commodity and specialty chemicals, in a sponsored recapitalization transaction valuing Univar at $4.2 billion.
  • Sears Holding Corporation in the spin-off its Hometown and Outlet stores business via a rights offering and the sale of up to 23.1 million shares of common stock of Sears Hometown and Outlet stores.
  • Pernod Ricard in its $575 million sale of the Wild Turkey business to Gruppo Campari.
    Galderma in its $420 million cross-border cash tender offer for Collagenex Pharmaceuticals.
  • The Carlyle Group in its $1.5 billion acquisition of PQ Corporation from J.P. Morgan Partners, and PQ Corporation’s follow-on acquisition of the Ineos Silicas business from Ineos Group.

Education:

  • Yale Law School, 1987, J.D.
  • Yale University, 1983, B.A.

Bar Admissions:

  • New York
  • Paris

Cost

Rate : $$$

What types of cases Attorney Paul Bird & Debevoise & Plimpton LLP  can handle?
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP  can handle cases related to laws concerning Corporate, Health Care, Mergers & Acquisitions. We manually verify each attorney’s practice areas before approving their profiles and reviews on our website.
Where is Debevoise & Plimpton LLP  located?
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP  is located at 919 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022, USA. You can reach out to Debevoise & Plimpton LLP  using their phone line 212 909 6435. You can also check their website debevoise.com or email them at psbird@debevoise.com.
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Paul Bird lawyer charges are specific to each case. However, they work with contingency fees and its ranges from $$ to $$$. They also provide free consultation [and no obligation quotes] if you are interested to hire.
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