Alison Z. Preiss

A Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice, Alison Z. Preiss is a trusted advisor to boards of directors and senior executives navigating their most consequential strategic and governance decisions. She is widely recognized for delivering innovative, commercially grounded advice in complex, high-stakes situations. Alison brings deep experience counseling public and private companies on mergers and acquisitions, takeover preparedness and defense, shareholder activism and other corporate governance matters. She has guided clients in many of the market’s most significant transactions, advising on multibillion-dollar deals across the technology, healthcare, industrials and financial services sectors.

Alison’s work prior to joining Simpson Thacher includes representing:

• Fortive Corporation in the separation of its Precision Technologies segment through the spin-off of Ralliant Corporation into an independent $5.4 billion market cap company
• Aramark in the spin-off of its uniform services business into an independent $750 million market cap company and in Aramark’s entry into a Stewardship Framework Agreement following engagement with Mantle Ridge
• Match Group in its Board refreshment efforts resulting from engagement with Anson Funds, in its negotiations with Elliott Capital Management regarding information sharing and other governance matters, in its negotiations with the co-founders of Tinder regarding the conversion of Tinder equity awards and their subsequent exercise and in its $575 million acquisition of Plentyoffish Media, Inc.
• Snap in the negotiation of governance matters relating to the employment and founder status of Evan Spiegel and Robert Murphy
• InterActiveCorp in the $500 million combination of its HomeAdvisor business with Angie’s List
• Expedia in its initial public offering of trivago N.V. and its investment in and subsequent initial public offering of Despegar.com
• Gibraltar Industries in its $1.335 billion acquisition of OmniMax International
• Whirlpool Corporation in its $3 billion acquisition of the InSinkErator business of Emerson Electric
• Entegris in its agreed $9 billion merger of equals with Versum Materials
• Sanderson Farms in its $4.53 billion acquisition by Cargill and Continental Grain
• Pfizer in its $160 billion agreed combination with Allergan plc and in its $5.2 billion acquisition of Anacor Pharmaceuticals
• Alexion Pharmaceuticals in its $8.4 billion acquisition of Synageva Biopharma
• Bausch + Lomb in its $2.5 billion acquisition of XIIDRA and certain other ophthalmologic assets from Novartis
• United Technologies (now a part of Raytheon) in its $3.46 billion sale of its Hamilton Sundstrand industrial products businesses to BC Partners and Carlyle, and in its sale of UTC Power to Clearedge Power
• Energy Transfer Equity in its agreed $37.7 billion combination with the Williams Companies
• Vulcan Materials in its $4.7 billion acquisition of Florida Rock Industries
• Home Depot in its $8.5 billion sale of HD Supply to Carlyle, CD&R and Bain Capital Partners, and in its settlement agreement following engagement with Relational Investors
• Leap Wireless in its $1.2 billion sale to AT&T and follow-on sale of certain spectrum assets to T-Mobile, and in its settlement agreement with Pentwater Capital Management
• CKx, Inc., owner of the rights to the “American Idol” franchise, in its sale for $509 million to an affiliate of Apollo Global Management
• Craft Brew Alliance in its entry into distribution and brewing agreements with Anheuser Busch and in its follow on $321 million to Anheuser Busch
• Cengage Group in its agreed $6 billion merger of equals with McGraw-Hill Education and in its $500 million investment from funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management
• Thomson Reuters in its entry into a strategic partnership with Blackstone regarding its Financial and Risk (F&R) business, including the purchase by Blackstone of a majority stake in the F&R business valuing it at $20 billion
• Alleghany Corporation in its $3.4 billion acquisition of Transatlantic Holdings
• Moneygram in its $1.3 billion recapitalization led by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Goldman Sachs
• Bank of America in its joint venture with First Data Corporation
• CIT Group in its $5.9 billion asset sale of its home lending business to affiliates of Lone Star Funds, and in its offering of preferred stock to the U.S. Department of Treasury
• NYSE Euronext in its merger with the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and its prior $23.4 billion agreed merger with Deutsche Börse, and the NYSE in its mergers with Euronext, the American Stock Exchange and Archipelago
• New York Life Insurance in matters relating to its joint venture with Max India
• State Street in its engagement with Trian Fund Management

Alison is recognized for her corporate and M&A work by IFLR 1000, among others, and is frequently sought as a speaker at M&A and corporate governance forums. She earned her J.D., with honors, from the University of Chicago Law School and her B.S./B.A., summa cum laude, from The Ohio State University.