Brian M. Stadler

Brian Stadler specializes in mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. He represents private equity firms, corporations and financial advisors in a variety of M&A matters, including leveraged buyouts, strategic mergers, acquisitions and dispositions of companies, subsidiaries and divisions, minority investments, joint ventures and takeover defense. While he has represented M&A participants in a wide range of industries, Brian has extensive experience in M&A transactions involving REITs and other real estate companies. Brian has been widely recognized for his work, including being named a “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer, a Law360 Private Equity MVP and one of the world’s leading private equity lawyers by Chambers Global.

Brian has represented Blackstone in numerous acquisitions and dispositions, including the acquisitions of BioMed Realty; Strategic Hotels; Excel Trust; Credit Suisse’s Strategic Partners business; Apple REIT Six; Centro Properties’ U.S. shopping center business; Capital Trust’s investment management platform; Hilton Hotels; Equity Office Properties (prevailing in the largest LBO at the time against deal jump by Vornado Realty); Trizec Properties (in partnership with Brookfield Properties); CarrAmerica Realty; MeriStar Hospitality; La Quinta Corporation; Wyndham International; Prime Hospitality; and Extended Stay America.  He recently represented Blackstone in the formation of Invitation Homes (the largest national single-family rental home platform); asset dispositions to Hudson Pacific Properties, DiamondRock Hospitality and Sunstone Hotels; investments in Edens Realty Trust, Patria Investimentos and General Growth Properties; and the restructuring of Hilton’s debt.

Other transactions that he has handled include the representation of Rockwood Holdings in the merger with Albemarle, the acquisition of Dynamit Nobel from MG Technologies and in its agreement to acquire Talison Lithium; Glimcher Realty in the merger with Washington Prime Group; Hellman & Friedman in the acquisitions of Internet Brands and Getty Images; the Special Committee of IAC in a transaction with Liberty Media; Primus Financial in the announced acquisitions of Nan Shan Life Insurance Company from AIG and of Chapdelaine & Co. from its founder; ITC Holdings in the acquisition of Michigan Electric Transmission Co.; Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, KKR and TPG in the acquisition of Texas Genco; the Bronfman family and its co-investors in the acquisition of control of Israel Discount Bank; Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital, Providence Equity Partners and Edgar Bronfman, Jr. in the acquisition of Warner Music Group from Time Warner; Accretive Technology Partners in the sale of Equitant to IBM; KKR in the acquisition of International Transmission Company from DTE Energy and in its agreement to acquire UniSource Energy; ITT Industries in the acquisition of a division from Northrop Grumman; the Special Committee of Williams Energy Partners in the acquisition of Williams Pipeline Company; Washington Mutual in the merger with Dime Bancorp; Wachovia in the merger with First Union and the concurrent defense of a hostile takeover bid by SunTrust; Kerr-McGee in the acquisition of HS Resources; Seagram in the combination with Vivendi and Canal Plus and in its acquisition of PolyGram; CommNet Cellular in its sale to Vodafone AirTouch; and Universal Studios in the sale of its concerts business.

Brian joined Simpson Thacher in 1990 and was elected as a member of the Firm in 1998. He received his B.S., summa cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 and his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1990, where he was an Editor of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Brian was admitted to the New York Bar in 1991.