Elizabeth A. Cooper is a Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Department, Co-Head of the Private Equity Mergers and Acquisitions Practice, member of the Executive Committee and Co-Administrative Partner of the Firm. Elizabeth’s diverse practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, investments, recapitalizations and other corporate transactions. Elizabeth has particular expertise in asset management M&A transactions, having represented several leading institutions such as Blackstone, Oaktree Capital, Lexington Partners, Baring Private Equity Asia, among others.
Select M&A transactions on behalf of private equity sponsors include:
- Blackstone in its $20 billion partnership with Thomson Reuters for Refinitiv; its acquisitions of, and investments in AIG’s Life & Retirement business, Allied Barton, Ancestry, BioMed Realty Trust, The Chamberlain Group, Clarus, Cvent, DCI, Ellucian (with Vista Equity Partners), Emerson Electric’s Climate Technologies business, Encore, Harvest Fund Advisors, Optiv, Renaissance, Service King, SERVPRO, Spanx, Sphera, Supergoop! and Tradesman International
- Blackstone, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman in their majority investment in Medline Industries, Inc.
- New Mountain Capital in its acquisitions of, and investments in, Ascensus Specialties Acquisition Corp., Citrin Cooperman, Covaris, ILC Dover, Jarrow Formulas, Natrol, PerkinElmer, Profile Products and Qualus Power Services
- Stone Point Capital in its acquisitions of, and investments in, Ascensus, Businessolver, Beeline, Duff & Phelps (Kroll), (and subsequent sale of) Focus Financial and Truist Insurance
- KKR in its acquisition of Avoca Capital and investments in PURE Insurance, Santander Consumer USA and USI Insurance Services
- The Carlyle Group in its acquisition and partial divestiture of The TCW Group and its investment in Sandler O’Neill + Partners
Recent asset management M&A transactions on which Elizabeth has advised include:
- Oaktree Capital Management in its sale of 62% of the Oaktree business to Brookfield Asset Management and its acquisitions of Fifth Street Finance Corp., Fifth Street Senior Floating Rate Corp. and 17Capital
- Blackstone in its acquisitions of Clarus, DCI and Harvest Fund Advisors
- Baring Private Equity Asia on its acquisition by EQT AB
- Bridgepoint Group in its acquisition of Energy Capital Partners
- Lexington Partners in its $1.75 billion sale to Franklin Templeton
- Portfolio Advisors in its merger with FS Investments, creating a $73 billion alternative investment fund
- Black Creek Group in the sale of its U.S. real estate investment advisory and distribution business to Ares Management
- Raven Capital Management in its acquisition by Metlife Investment Management, the institutional asset management business of MetLife
- BC Partners, Bridgepoint Advisers, Clearlake Capital, H.I.G. Capital, New Mountain Capital, Platinum Equity, Rockpoint Group, Sixth Street Partners and other alternative asset managers in minority investment transactions
Recent strategic M&A transactions on which Elizabeth has advised include:
- Vivint Smart Home in its acquisition by NRG Energy
- First Data in its $22 billion merger with Fiserv to create one of the world’s leading payments and financial technology providers
- Tyco International in its merger with Johnson Controls and Johnson Controls in the sale of its Power Solutions business to Brookfield
- MassMutual in its $5.7 billion sale of OppenheimerFunds to Invesco
- Fifth Third Bancorp in its $4.7 billion merger with MB Financial
- KeyCorp in its $4.1 billion acquisition of First Niagara Financial Group
- SunGard in its $9.1 billion sale to Fidelity National Information Services
- NXP Semiconductors in its $40 billion merger with Freescale Semiconductor
- Xerox Corporation in its $6.4 billion acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services
In addition, Elizabeth represented the U.S. Treasury in connection with structuring and documenting its $250 billion program for purchasing equity in U.S. financial institutions under TARP and in connection with its equity investments in Citigroup and Bank of America.
In 2022, The American Lawyer named Elizabeth a “Dealmaker of the Year” for her work advising a consortium led by Blackstone, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman in the blockbuster majority investment in Medline Industries, Inc., which The American Lawyer noted was “the biggest leveraged buyout since the financial crisis.” Elizabeth was also recognized as a “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer in 2019 for her work on Blackstone’s $20 billion partnership with Thomson Reuters for Refinitiv (the former Financial & Risk business). In addition, Elizabeth was named “Private Equity Lawyer of the Year” at The Deal Awards in 2022 and 2018 and named a Law360 “Private Equity MVP” in 2022. In addition, she has been highlighted among the IFLR1000’s Women Leaders (2021 and 2022), named “Best in M&A” by Euromoney’s Women in Business Law Americas Awards 2020, included on The Deal’s inaugural “Women in M&A: The Powerhouse 20” list and recognized by Crain’s as a “Notable Woman in Law” for 2019 and 2023. Chambers USA has recognized Elizabeth as a leading lawyer since 2011 and The Legal 500 United States since 2018, and the former cites clients who rave that she is “fantastic. She is driven, thorough, focused, and good at dealing with everything as it moves forward.”
Elizabeth joined Simpson Thacher following her graduation in 2001 from Columbia Law School, where she was a James Kent Scholar. She received her A.B., cum laude, in 1997 from Harvard University. She is admitted to practice in New York and is a member of the Association of the Bar of New York City.