David A. Sneider is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in the Firm’s Corporate Department.  Mr. Sneider is head of the Firm’s Tokyo office, where he has been based since 1994.  Mr. Sneider advises both Japanese and multinational clients in cross-border transactions involving Japan, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions.  His clients include many of the leading Japanese and U.S. financial institutions in Tokyo.  Recent M&A transactions include representing a consortium of Japanese and Korean companies, including JFE Steel Corporation and Nippon Steel Corporation, in a $1.95 million minority investment in Brazil’s Campanhia Brasileria de Metalurgi e Mineracao; representing Monex Group in its acquisition of NASDAQ-listed TradeStation Group; representing AIG in its sale of AIG Star Life and AIG Edison Life to Prudential Financial for $4.8 billion; representing Shinsei Bank in its $5.5 billion acquisition of General Electric’s consumer finance business in Japan; and representing Citigroup Capital Partners in its $1 billion sale of Bellsystems24 to Bain Capital. 

In Mr. Sneider’s capital markets practice, he regularly advises issuers and underwriters in Japan in connection with global securities offerings.  Mr. Sneider has participated in many of the most significant global IPOs by Japanese issuers in recent years, including the IPOs of Sony Financial Holdings, Universal Studio Japan, SUMCO Corporation, Elpida Memory, J-Power, Inpex and Daido Life Insurance.  Mr. Sneider has also participated in a broad range of debt, equity and hybrid capital securities offerings by Japanese financial institutions including Mizuho Financial Group, Shinsei Bank and Nippon Life Insurance Company.

Mr. Sneider has been ranked as one of the leading U.S. corporate finance lawyers in Japan in a number of recent surveys, including Legal Media Group’s The Best of the Best, International Financial Law Review’s Guide to the World’s Leading M&A Lawyers, Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Capital Markets Lawyers, The Asia Pacific Legal 500, Asia Law’s Guide to Asia’s Leading Lawyers and Global Counsel 3000.  He was named International Dealmaker of the Year for Japan by Asia Legal Business in 2005 and 2006.  Chambers Guide to the World’s Leading Lawyers included Mr. Sneider among its “Global 100” Lawyers in 2000 and has consistently ranked him as the one of the leading individuals among foreign lawyers in Japan for capital markets (Band 1) and M&A (Band 1).

Mr. Sneider joined Simpson Thacher in 1992 and became a partner in 1994.  He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Yale University in 1979 where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa and his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1984.  He also studied at Tokyo University from 1979-80.

Honors/Associations

•	New York State Bar Association
•	American Bar Association
•	Inter-Pacific Bar Association

Publications

•	Restructuring Public Debt – An Overview of the Legal Framework
•	The Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Impact on Japanese Companies And Their Management
•	Non-U.S. Issuers to Become Subject to EDGAR
•	SEC’s Proposed Rule Requiring EDGAR Filings by Foreign Issuers
•	SEC Adopts Exemptions for Cross-Border Tender Offers, Exchange Offers and Rights Offerings
•	SEC Launches “Aircraft Carrier” Release: Proposed Major Changes in Regulation of Securities Offerings in the United States
•	Amendments to Regulation S: New Restrictions on Offshore Equity Offerings by U.S. Issuers

Admissions

•	New York 1985

Education

•	Harvard Law School, 1984 J.D. cum laude
•	Yale University, 1979 B.A. summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa
•	University of Tokyo,