Russell S. Light has extensive experience advising on the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments and fund formation matters, debt restructurings and other bankruptcy matters, credit investments, and real estate transactions, and has represented some of the largest and well-known sponsors of private investment funds, such as Advent, Apollo, Blackrock, Carlyle, Centerbridge, EIG, Global Infrastructure Partners, GTCR, Hellman & Friedman, KKR, Oaktree, Silver Lake, Sixth Street and TA Associates. He also has experience advising on public and closely-held entities and tax issues surrounding transactions involving special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”), real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) and business development companies (“BDCs”).
Described by clients as “an exceptional and business-minded tax practitioner” and bringing “a creative approach to complex transactions,” Russell has been recognized by Chambers USA and The Legal 500 U.S. as a leading tax lawyer.
Russell’s recent transactions have included the representation of:
- Silver Lake in the pending $61 billion acquisition of VMware by Broadcom
- Advent International and Cinven in their $17 billion acquisition of Thyssenkrupp's elevator technology business
- PPD in its $17.4 billion sale to Thermo Fisher Scientific
- The Fresh Market in its $1.568 billion sale to Cencosud
- GTCR in the $2.5 billion sale of Lytx
- Hellman & Friedman in the acquisition of The NPD Group
- Blackstone, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman in their majority investment in Medline Industries
- Apollo Global Management in its $5 billion acquisition of The Michaels Companies
- Global Infrastructure Partners in its acquisition of MAP® RE/ES, the renewable energy business of MAP® Energy
- TA Associates in the $2.7 billion sale of Aldevron
- EIG Energy Partners, Anchorage Capital Partners and Guggenheim Partners in the restructuring of Breitburn Energy through chapter 11 proceedings
- EIG Energy Partners in the restructuring of Rosehill Resources through chapter 11 proceedings
- Strategic Value Partners in the out-of-court restructurings of Klockner Pentaplast and Solarworld
- An ad hoc group of senior lenders of IVG Immobilien AG in one of the largest German insolvency proceedings
- Oaktree Capital Management in the formation of its $15 billion Opportunities Fund XI and numerous other private equity, credit, and real estate funds
- GTCR in the formation of its $7.5 billion Fund XIII and numerous other private equity funds
- EIG Energy Partners in the formation of its $2.5 billion Global Project Fund
- Investor group led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira Advisers in connection with obtaining financing commitments for the $10.2 billion proposed acquisition of Zendesk, Inc.
- Black Creek Group in the sale of its U.S. real estate investment advisory and distribution business to Ares Management Corporation
- Stonecroft Management in its minority investment in Thrive Capital
- Silver Lake as the lead investor in $1 billion of 2% convertible notes issued by Unity Software
- Affiliates of Silver Lake in the purchase of $1.5 billion of 1% Convertible Senior Notes due 2029 of Global Payments
- The underwriters in the registered offering of $31 billion in notes by Pfizer Investment Enterprises Pte. Ltd.
- The underwriter in the offering of $1.2 billion of shares of common stock of Lucid Group
- An Investor group led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira on the financing for their $10.2 billion acquisition of Zendesk Inc.
A thought leader in the space, Russell has served as co-author of the semi-annual Mergers, Acquisitions, and Buyouts, as well as special editor of the annual Structuring Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Entrepreneurial Transactions. He has also authored “Tax Considerations in Structuring International Licensing and Technology Transfer Arrangements,” for International Licensing and Transfer of Technology; “The Mixed Up World of Pseudo Passthroughs” for Taxes; and “Developments in the Economic Substance Doctrine” for the Journal of Taxation of Investments.
Russell received his J.D. with High Honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as Managing Editor of the
University of Chicago Law Review. He received his Masters of Engineering and Bachelor of Science degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.