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New York
Ethan Klingsberg
Partner, Co-Head of US Corporate and M&A
ethan.klingsberg@freshfields.com
New York: +1 347 306 1797
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About

Ethan's practice comprises corporate, public company board of directors, M&A and SEC matters.

Ethan is ranked Band 1 for Corporate/M&A by both Chambers USA and Chambers Global. 

Client comments solicited and reprinted by Chambers include:

  • “We needed someone who could speak to our board in a way that made sense and with the ability to distill very complex legal issues down in a way that was simple, and he did a masterful job at that.” 
  • “Ethan is a rare find in this industry. He’s a brilliant lawyer, insightful tactician, and a humble leader.”
  • “He stands out for his calm, measured approach to complex, high pressure situations – he’s a really unique talent.”
  • “He is truly in a class of his own: a superb M&A lawyer and a polymath corporate advisor who brings a ton of value in any situation you throw at him. He is exceptional in his ability to stay laser-focused on what matters and being highly effective and creative in navigating novel issues. Having Ethan in my corner is tremendous.”
  • “He has vast experience working on complex, cross-border transactions and combines first-class intellect and legal knowledge with a very practical, client-friendly approach.”
  • “Ethan has an extraordinary work ethic and always provides thoughtful advice on a wide variety of matters. He effectively advocates for his client's position.”
  • “Ethan is truly a brilliant deal lawyer with great judgment, and he...

Capabilities
Corporate advisory and governance
Mergers and acquisitions
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Additional Information

  • Recent Clients: Alphabet/Google, AstraZeneca, Goldman Sachs, Cargill, Talen Energy, BP, America Movil, FEMSA, CPPIB, eBay, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ralph Lauren Corp., Western Union, UPS, Pinterest, ServiceNow, Stanley Black & Decker, Americold, Stagwell Media, 3D Systems, Aristocrat Leisure, JP Morgan, Impossible Foods, Roku, TriNet, Instacart, Zymergen, Agilent Technologies, Keysight Technologies, and Samsonite, as well as independent director committees.
  • Selected Conflict M&A Transactions/Affiliate Buyouts: Emerald Holdings, Cox Communications, ResCare, Fox Entertainment, CNA Surety, Alfa Corporation, Kinder Morgan, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Aramark, PepsiAmericas 

Recent Transactions

  • ServiceNow on its pending $7.75 billion acquisition of Armis (the client's largest M&A transaction to date).
  • Allwyn on its acquisition of a majority of PrizePicks for an enterprise value of up to $4.15 billion.
  • Celsius on its $1.8 billion acquisition of Alani Nu and its strategic transactions with Pepsico, including the acquisition of Rockstar, a $585 million convertible preferred PIPE issuance, and new distribution and other commercial arrangements.
  • Google on its pending acquisition of Wiz for $32 billion.
  • Zuora on the $1.7 billion sale of the company to a private equity consortium and the founder.
  • The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of PropertyGuru on its $1.1 billion take-private by EQT.
  • AST SpaceMobile on its pending acquisition of spectrum usage rights from, and related collaboration arrangements with, Ligado Networks, as well as other strategic projects.
  • FEMSA on the sale of its refrigeration division to private equity.
  • eBay’s purchase of Goldin, sale of eBay Vault and related transactions with Collectors and its parent, PSA.
  • Zuora’s cooperation agreement with activist shareholder Scalar Gauge.
  • Keysight Technologies pending acquisition of Spirent Communications.
  • 3D Systems on its unsolicited proposal to merge with Stratasys.
  • Aristocrat Leisure on its $1.2 billion acquisition of Nasdaq-listed Neogames.
  • Committee of independent directors of the board of Qualtrics on the $12.5 billion all-cash sale of the company to a private equity consortium (the largest private equity transaction of the year).
  • Board of Directors of Boxed, Inc. on its recently announced process to explore strategic alternatives.
  • bp on its $4.1 billion take-private of Archaea Energy.
  • Talen Energy, as M&A counsel for the ongoing process to sell the company, including its renewable energy, transitional, and data center operations.
  • eBay on its acquisition of TCGPlayer and Certilogo.
  • UPS on its acquisition of healthcare logistics provider, BOMI Group.
  • Google on the $5.4 billion acquisition of publicly-traded Mandiant Inc., as well as related transactions with Blackstone and other private equity sponsor holders of convertible preferred stock of Mandiant.
  • Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Startek in response to the unsolicited take-private proposal by CSP.
  • Stanley Black & Decker on the $3.2 billion sale of its security and healthcare solutions business.
  • Saint-Gobain on its $2.3 billion acquisition of GCP Applied Technologies.
  • Ericsson on its $6.2 billion acquisition of Vonage.
  • The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. on its acquisition of top-ranked ESG investment manager, NN Investment Partners.
  • Cargill Inc. and the buyer consortium on the $4.3 billion take-private of Sanderson, together with the simultaneous transactions to form a JV with Continental Grain and acquire Wayne Farms.
  • Western Union on the $910 million sale of Western Union Business Solutions to Goldfinch Partners and Baupost Group.
  • América Móvil on the transactions to form a multi-billion dollar telecom JV with Liberty Latin America in Chile and to sell Claro Panama to Liberty Latin America.
  • Sitel Group on its $2.2 billion take-private of Sykes Enterprises.
  • Siemens on its acquisition of Supplyframe.
  • Zymergen on its IPO, conversion to a public benefit corporation and other corporate law matters.
  • AstraZeneca on its $39 billion acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals.
  • Entain on its defense against MGM’s $11 billion unsolicited takeover offer.
  • Americold on its $1.74 billion acquisition of Agro Merchants Group from Oaktree Capital.
  • Google on its $4.5 billion transaction with Jio Platforms, including investment and governance arrangements, and commercial agreements to develop an affordable smartphone with an optimized operating system.
  • Hewlett Packard Enterprise on its $925 million acquisition of Silver Peak and acquisition of Determined AI.
  • Stagwell Media on its business combination with MDC Partners. 
  • Special Committee of Independent Directors of Emerald Holding on a $400 million convertible preferred stock PIPE led by Onex Corporation.
  • Agilent on its $1.17 billion acquisition of BioTek Instruments and acquisitions of Resolution Bioscience, Dako and ACEA Biosciences.
  • Google on its $2.6 billion acquisition of Looker Data Sciences.
  • Lowe’s Companies on its acquisition of Boomerang Commerce’s retail analytics platform.
  • Alphabet on the strategic relationship and equity investment arrangements between SoftBank and the Alphabet company, Loon.
  • Pinterest on its IPO and dual-class recapitalization.
  • Shareholders of Levi Strauss & Co., consisting primarily of the descendants of the family of Levi Strauss and their relatives, in connection with the company’s IPO, including the adoption of a dual-class capital structure and new governance structures.
  • Dun & Bradstreet on its $6.9 billion all-cash sale of the company.
  • Bemis on its $6.8 billion all-stock merger with Amcor.
  • Stanley Black & Decker on its acquisition of IES.
  • A S&P 500 technology company on its cooperation agreement with Elliott Management and other governance and shareholder value initiatives.
  • Google on its $1.1 billion agreement with HTC relating to the smartphone design business.
  • Tiffany & Co. on its settlement agreements with JANA Partners and Francesco Trapani, as well as other governance matters.
  • Keysight Technologies on its $1.6 billion acquisition of Ixia.
  • Stanley Black & Decker on the divestiture of its global mechanical security business to the dormakalba group.
  • Verizon on its takeover of Fleetmatics.
  • Higher One on the break-up and negotiated tender offer for the company.
  • Samsonite on its acquisition of Tumi.
  • Family Dollar on its cash/stock acquisition by Dollar Tree and rejection of the hostile tender offer by Dollar General.
  • Google on its acquisitions of Dataform, Cornerstone Technology, Motorola Mobility, Waze, AdMob, Admeld, Wildfire, ITA Software, Skybox, bebop, Orbitera, and numerous other M&A and governance matters, including the restructuring of Google into Alphabet and Other Bets; numerous matters involving Other Bets, including investments by Temasek and Silver Lake in Verily and investment by a subsidiary of Softbank in Loon; investments by Google in SpaceX; wearables transaction with Fossil; merger of the Terra Bella satellite business with Planet Labs; and divestitures of Motorola’s mobile devices business to Lenovo and Motorola’s “Home” business to Arris.
  • Kindred Healthcare on its hostile tender offer (and threatened proxy contest) to acquire Gentiva Health Services and in the subsequent friendly, negotiated agreement to acquire Gentiva, the spin-off and merger of Kindred’s pharma business, and numerous other M&A and governance matters.
  • Stanley Black & Decker on its unsolicited tender offer to acquire Niscayah (successfully topping an existing agreement to sell the company), sale of the global Hardware & Home Improvement business, sale of the global Mechanical Security business, and numerous other M&A matters.
  • The Special Committee of Interactive Data Corp on the company’s LBO by a private equity consortium (the largest LBO of that year).
  • The Home Depot on its acquisitions of Interline Brands, Red Beacon, BlackLocus, Hughes Supply and all of the company’s other major acquisitions.
  • Keysight Technologies on its acquisition of Anite.
  • Alpha Natural Resources on a number of transformative stock mergers with other public companies.
  • Acquiror consortia in LBOs of Ness Technologies, Burger King, Keane and others.

"He is truly in a class of his own: a superb M&A lawyer and a polymath corporate advisor who brings a ton of value in any situation you throw at him. He is exceptional in his ability to stay laser-focused on what matters and being highly effective and creative in navigating novel issues. Having Ethan in my corner is tremendous."
— Band 1: Corporate/M&A – Chambers USA 2024
Ethan Klingsberg
Partner, Co-Head of US Corporate and M&A
ethan.klingsberg@freshfields.com

T +1 347 306 1797

New York Office

3 World Trade Center

175 Greenwich Street, 51st Floor

10007 New York
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