John C. Ericson

John Ericson is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where he is a member of the Firm’s Capital Markets Practice. John represents underwriters and issuers in a wide variety of capital markets offerings. His extensive corporate finance experience includes high yield and investment grade debt offerings, IPOs and secondary offerings, acquisition finance and restructurings.

John’s transactional work spans several industries, including the healthcare, consumer/retail, industrials/manufacturing, hospitality and tech/media/telecom sectors. He has advised:

• the underwriters in recent high yield offerings by Avis Budget, Carnival, Hertz, Marriott Vacations Worldwide, Party City and SunCoke Energy
• the underwriters in the recent IPO of Braze and the re-IPO of Hertz, as well as secondary offerings of Rover Group, Albany International and others
• the underwriters in the recent investment grade debt offerings by AutoNation, AstraZeneca, CoStar Group, H&R Block, Marriott International, Sallie Mae and Universal Health Services
• the underwriters in acquisition finance transactions involving Brunswick, Dealer Tire/Dent Wizard, Sinclair/Diamond Sports Group, Smyrna Ready Mix and others
• the underwriters in the debut high yield offerings for Alpha Auto Group, Frontdoor, Ken Garff Automotive and WeWork
• the underwriters in the IPOs of Bright Horizons, Generac, Planet Fitness, ServiceMaster and SiteOne Landscape Supply
• the underwriters in investment grade debt offerings involving Brunswick, Michael Kors, Hyatt Hotels, Neuberger Berman and Perrigo
• the underwriters or issuers in high yield and bridge financing for the leveraged buyouts of HCA, HD Supply, Immucor, Pinnacle Foods and ServiceMaster 

John's practice has often involved advising issuers and underwriters in complex cross-border transactions. Fluent in Portuguese, John has particular experience in Brazil and Portugal, including deals by Braskem, BRF, Embraer, Gol-Lineas Aereas Inteligentes, Portugal Telecom and Vivo.

Born in the United States, John grew up 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 in Washington, D.C. for Congressman James A. Leach, John 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. John serves on the Firm’s Attorney Development, Diversity and Finance Committees and is a former Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee. John also serves on the Board of Directors of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.