Shearman & Sterling’s new Dallas office is bringing over a trio of experienced M&A and private equity partners from Jones Day, The Texas Lawbook has learned.
The lawyers include partners R. Scott Cohen, Bobby Cardone and Alain Dermarkar, according to several sources, including one source close to the situation who confirmed their move. Cohen and Cardone already have been released and Dermarkar is being held for a few months to complete some deals, the confirming source said.
Cohen’s and Cardone’s bios were taken down from Jones Day’s website while Dermarkar’s was still there as of Monday morning.
Reached by telephone on Monday, Cardone confirmed his and Scott Cohen’s moves to Shearman and said they were already working at the firm’s new Dallas office. The Texas Lawbook reported Feb. 5 that the office was located on N. Harwood Street.
Johnson Downie was the placement agent, two sources said, including Marcel Meijer and Clint Johnson.
A Shearman spokeswoman said she couldn’t confirm the information and a Jones Day spokeswoman couldn’t be reached for comment.
None of the lawyers returned calls and emails seeking confirmation. Johnson said the information was “incorrect” without specifying what he considered inaccurate and without responding to a request for further comment.
The lawyers have worked on multiple deals for privately held conglomerate Koch Industries as well as private equity firms Turnbridge Capital and J.F. Lehman.
They join three lawyers who already joined Shearman last year, including former Baker Botts restructuring partners C. Luckey McDowell and Ian E. Roberts and former Vinson & Elkins senior tax associate Julia Pashin.
Cohen’s practice focuses on U.S. and foreign public and private M&A, restructurings and corporate governance advice for a range of industries, including technology, energy and energy services, manufacturing and consumer/beverage products. He has represented many industry leaders in successful transactions, including the Schusterman family on their $7.2 billion sale of Samson Investment Co. to KKR and Texas Instruments on its $6.5 billion acquisition of National Semiconductor.
His marquee deals include representing Tokyo Electron on its $29 billion negotiated combination with Applied Materials, Taiwan Semiconductor on its $1 billion investment in ASML, Bridgestone on its $947 million tender offer for Pep Boys, Viasystems Group on its $927 million sale to TTM Technologies, Hicks Equity Partners on its $558 million sale of Latrobe Specialty Metals to Carpenter Technology and Capital Southwest on its tax-free spin-off of CSW Industrials.
Last year, Cohen advised Turnbridge Capital-backed Cimarron Energy Inc. on its acquisition of vapor recovery and emissions control solutions provider Hy-Bon/EDI from Regal Beloit Corp. (Turnbridge is a longtime client); International Wire Group Holdings Inc. on its sale to affiliates of Atlas Holdings; and Texas Instruments on the sale of its semiconductor wafer fabrication facility in Scotland a unit of Diodes Inc.
Cardone represents public and private companies and private equity firms in mergers and acquisitions and other corporate matters, including governance, joint ventures, spin-offs, venture capital investments and tender offers. His clients have included U.S. and foreign clients in such sectors as technology, energy, manufacturing, health care, financial services, telecommunications, software, consumer products and real estate.
His biggest deals have included working on Patrón Spirits International’s sale to Bacardi with a $5.1 billion enterprise value as well as Reynolds American’s $49 billion acquisition by British American Tobacco, its $5 billion sale to JT Group of the international rights to the Natural American Spirit brand and its $27.4 billion acquisition of Lorillard and related $7.1 billion asset divestiture to an Imperial Tobacco affiliate.
Cardone also advised BBA Aviation on its $1.365 billion sale of Ontic to DVC Capital Partners in November; worked on the Tokyo Electron-Applied Materials and the Bridgestone Americas-Pep Boys deals; and assisted on Ajinomoto’s $800 million acquisition of Windsor Quality Foods, Capital Southwest’s spin-off of CSW Industries and various acquisitions and divestitures by Koch (including Flint Hills Resources and other Koch affiliates) and J.F. Lehman’s portfolio companies.
Dermarkar has advised public and private U.S., Asian, and European companies and private equity firms on M&A and other transactions with a total value of more than $150 billion and counsels clients on corporate governance and capital raising transactions. His focus has been on U.S. and cross-border M&A, takeover preparedness and special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, with experience in such sectors as technology, energy, real estate, construction, health care, consumer products and manufacturing.
He also worked on the deals involving Reynolds American, Bridgestone-Pep Boys, Tokyo Electro-Applied Materials, Viasystems-TTM, Capital Southwest-CSW and Ajinomoto-Windsor Quality Foods; multiple transactions for J.F. Lehman, including NRC Group’s sale to a SPAC; Strike Capital’s sale to a SPAC; Newell Rubbermaid’s $16 billion acquisition of Jarden Corp.; and Greystar Real Estate’s $2 billion sale of multifamily apartments to Blackstone.
Other highlights from Dermarkar’s career were Cardinal Health’s $1.115 billion acquisition of Harvard Drug Group; NRCG’s proposed $966 million acquisition by US Ecology; and Randstad’s $429 million acquisition of Monster Worldwide.