Caroline B. Gottschalk

Partner

425 Lexington Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Email:

Phone: +1-212-455-3523

Fax: +1-212-455-2502

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Concentrating on mergers and acquisitions—both domestic and international—Caroline Gottschalk has a diversified practice. She advises private equity funds, public and private companies and investment banks on a range of matters, including leveraged buyouts, divestitures, mergers, spin-offs, joint ventures, special committee representations, strategic investments and financial advisory representations. She also regularly advises boards on corporate governance issues and fiduciary obligations. Her recent clients have included Centerbridge Partners, Lightyear Capital, Vista Equity Partners, JPMorgan, Pamplona Capital Management, Blackstone, Vestar Capital Partners, Exelis, ITT, Xylem and Leidos Holdings. Caroline is a member of the Board of Visitors at Duke Law School, as well as the Duke Women's Impact Network Leadership Council. Caroline serves as Co-Chair of the Firm's Women’s Committee.

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Work Highlights

Centerbridge Partners, L.P. in the acquisition of TriMark USA, LLC, the country’s largest provider of design services, equipment and supplies to the foodservice industry, and its $1.26 billion acquisition of Syncsort Incorporated and Vision Solutions, Inc.
ISS in its announced $720 million sale to Genstar Capital
Lightyear Capital and PSP Investments in their acquisition of AIG Advisor Group, Inc.
Vista Equity Partners in connection with its $6.5 billion acquisition of publicly traded Solera Holdings, Inc.
Centerbridge Partners, L.P. in connection with its acquisition of Great Wolf Resorts, Inc.
Cetera Financial Group, the third largest broker dealer, and Lightyear Capital in connection with RCS Capital Corporation’s acquisition of Cetera for $1.15 billion
Lightyear Capital in its acquisitions, investments and dispositions, including its acquisition of the Healthcare Benefit Solutions business of FIS, now known as Alegeus, and the $960 million sale of BakerCorp to Permira
JPMorgan as financial advisor to ARIAD in its $5.2 billion merger with Takeda and CIT Group in its $10 billion sale of its commercial aircraft leasing unit, CIT Commercial Air
ITT Corporation in its spin-off of Exelis Inc., its Defense and Information Solutions business and Xylem Inc., its Water Technology and Services business and Exelis in connection with the spin-off of its military and government services business, currently called Vectrus Systems, into a new independent public company

Accolades

New York Super Lawyers (2008, 2010, 2013 - 2016)

Education

Duke University School of Law, 1990 J.D.
With Honors; Order of the Coif; Alaska Law Review, Managing Editor
Dartmouth College, 1984 A.B.

Associations

American Bar Association
New York State Bar Association
Association of the Bar of the City of New York
Duke Law School, Board of Visitors

Admissions

New York 1991

Caroline B. Gottschalk is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in the Firm’s Corporate Department, focusing on mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions. Caroline advises private equity funds, public and private companies, and investment banks in a wide range of corporate matters, including domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, divestitures, strategic investments, spin-offs, joint ventures and special committee representations. Caroline regularly advises boards of directors with respect to corporate governance matters and fiduciary responsibilities.

Caroline recently represented Centerbridge Partners, L.P. in connection with its acquisition of TriMark USA, LLC, the country’s largest provider of design services, equipment and supplies to the foodservice industry, and its $1.26 billion acquisition of Syncsort Incorporated, a global software company, and Vision Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of business resilience solution; JPMorgan as financial advisor to ARIAD in its $5.2 billion merger with Takeda, and CIT Group in its $10 billion sale of CIT Commercial Air, its commercial aircraft leasing business; Vista Equity Partners in connection with its $6.5 billion leveraged acquisition of Solera Holdings, Inc.; Lightyear Capital and Public Sector Pension Investment Board in connection with the acquisition by affiliated entities of independent broker-dealer AIG Advisor Group; Centerbridge Partners, L.P. in connection with its acquisition of Great Wolf Resorts, Inc.; Cetera Financial Group and Lightyear Capital in connection with RCS Capital Corporation’s acquisition of Cetera, the third largest independent broker dealer in the United States; and Exelis in connection with the spin-off of its military and government services business, Vectrus Systems Corp.

Other recent transactions include advising Lightyear Capital in its leveraged acquisition of Alegeus Technologies, the healthcare benefits and payment processing business of FIS, and its investments in Community & Southern Holdings, Cascade Bank and SGB Bank; GSI Holdings Corp. and Centerbridge Partners in the sale of GSI to AGCO Corporation; BakerCorp and Lightyear Capital in the sale of BakerCorp to Permira Advisers; Consolidated Container Holdings and Vestar Capital Partners in the sale of CCH to Bain Capital; Centerbridge Partners in its controlling investment in Remedi RX, a pharmacy benefits management company, and its leveraged acquisition and subsequent IPO of American Renal Holdings, a national provider of kidney dialysis services; ITT Corporation in its spin-off of Exelis and Xylem; and Leidos Holdings, Inc. in connection with the spin-off by Leidos of SAIC.

Caroline has been a Partner at Simpson Thacher since 2000. She serves as Co-Chair of the Firm’s Women’s Committee. She received her A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1984, and her J.D. with high honors from Duke Law School in 1990, where she was a member of Order of the Coif and a Member and Managing Editor of the Alaska Law Review. Caroline is a member of the American Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and sits on the Board of Visitors of Duke Law School, as well as the Duke Women's Impact Network Leadership Council. She is admitted to practice in the State of New York.