John Ericson is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where he is a member of the Firm’s Corporate Department.  His practice is focused primarily on corporate finance, and he has represented underwriters and issuers in a wide variety of debt and equity financings, including recent high yield debt offerings by:

• Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
• BRF – Brasil Foods S.A. in its inaugural high yield offering
• Citadel Broadcasting Corporation
• Cleaver-Brooks, Inc.
• HCA, Inc.
• Immucor, Inc. in connection with its acquisition by affiliates of TPG Capital
• JBS USA, LLC, a subsidiary of JBS S.A.
• Sterigenics International, Inc. in connection with its acquisition by affiliates of GTCR
• Universal Health Services, Inc. in connection with its acquisition of Psychiatric Solutions
• Wyle Services Corporation
• XM Satellite Radio

Mr. Ericson’s recent equity transactions include the IPOs of Generac and Cellu Tissue and the $2.4 billion equity offering by BRF – Brasil Foods in connection with its acquisition of Sadia S.A.

Mr. Ericson’s past transactions also include advising the underwriters or private equity sponsors in high yield, mezzanine and bridge financing for the acquisitions of HCA, Pinnacle Foods Group, The Reader’s Digest Association, The ServiceMaster Company, Guitar Center and the wholesale building supply business of The Home Depot.

Fluent in Portuguese, Mr. Ericson’s work has often involved Brazilian and Portuguese issuers.  In addition to his work for Brasil Foods, Mr. Ericson has represented the issuers or underwriters in equity and debt offerings by prominent Brazilian companies such as Braskem, DASA - Diagnósticos da América, EDP – Energias do Brasil, Embraer and Natura Cosméticos.  Mr. Ericson represented Portugal Telecom in connection with an unsolicited tender offer by Sonaecom and Portugal Telecom’s subsequent spin-off of PT Multimedia, now known as ZON Multimedia.

Mr. Ericson has been a Partner of the Firm since 2007 and is the Co-Chair of the Firm’s Diversity Committee.  Born in the United States, Mr. Ericson spent most of his first 18 years in Lisbon, Portugal.  In 1993, he received a B.A. in Political Science from Amherst College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  After working briefly in Washington, D.C. for Congressman James A. Leach, Mr. Ericson graduated in 1997 from Yale Law School, where he was an Articles Editor of the Yale Journal of International Law and a co-director of the Street Law Program. 

Publications

•	Brazil Increases Tax on Foreign Exchange Transactions Related to Foreign Investments in the Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets
•	Restructuring Public Debt – An Overview of the Legal Framework

Speaking Engagements

•	John Ericson Speaks at Iberian Lawyer Conference in Lisbon, Portugal March 31, 2011

Admissions

•	New York 1999

Education

•	Yale Law School, 1997 J.D. Yale Journal of International Law, Articles Editor
•	Amherst College, 1993 B.A. Phi Beta Kappa