Bill Dougherty served as Chair of Simpson Thacher’s Executive Committee—the governing body of the Firm—from 2013 until 2022. Bill’s practice focused on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions. He has represented corporations, private equity sponsors and investment banks in a variety of leveraged buyouts, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and other business combination transactions. He has also represented issuers and underwriters in initial public offerings, high yield bond offerings, recapitalizations and other corporate finance transactions. Earlier in his career, Bill practiced in our London and Tokyo offices. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society and The Partnership for New York City.
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Work Highlights
- TRW Automotive in its $13.5 billion sale to ZF Friedrichshafen
- SunGard in its $9.1 billion sale to Fidelity National Information Services Inc.
- Silver Lake in the $3.5 billion acquisition of Blackhawk Network Holdings by Silver Lake and P2 Capital Partners
- Dell Technology in the $2.7 billion acquisition by its majority-owned subsidiary, VMWare Inc., of Pivotal Software Inc.
- Red Ventures in its $1.4 billion acquisition of Bankrate
- Team Health Holdings in its $1.6 billion acquisition of IPC Healthcare, its successful defense of a hostile public takeover bid from Amsurg Corp., and its $6.1 billion sale to Blackstone
- BC Partners and Silver Lake in their $4.4 billion sale of MultiPlan to an investor group led by Starr Investment Holdings and Partners Group
- Apria Healthcare Group in the $2.1 billion sale of its Coram Infusion business unit to CVS Caremark
- Blackstone in its $3.2 billion sale of DJO Global to Colfax Corporation, in its sale of a $3 billion equity stake to China Investment Corporation, and its acquisitions of Allied Security, Apria Healthcare, Celanese AG, Encore Medical, RGIS Holdings, Team Health, TRW Automotive and other companies
- Heineken in its purchase of minority stake in the Belizean brewery, Bowen & Bowen Ltd.
- Accenture in its formation of a joint venture with GE Aviation Systems and in its acquisitions of Octagon Research Solutions and Duck Creek Technologies
- CB Richard Ellis Group in its $1.5 billion acquisition of the global workplace solutions business of Johnson Controls, Inc. and its acquisition of the real estate investment management business of ING Groep
- KKR, Silver Lake and TCV in their acquisition of control of Go Daddy
Education
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University of Chicago Law School, 1986 J.D.
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Georgetown University, 1983 A.B.
magna cum laude
Associations
- Association of the Bar of the City of New York
- New York State Bar Association
- American Bar Association
Bill Dougherty focused on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions. He previously served as Chair of Simpson Thacher’s Executive Committee, the governing body of the Firm, from 2013 to 2022. He was first elected as a member of the Executive Committee in 2008, served as the Firm’s Co-Administrative Partner from 2009 to 2012, and Chair of the Firm’s New Partners Committee in 2008.
Bill regularly represented private equity sponsors including BC Partners, Blackstone, One Equity Partners and Silver Lake Partners on acquisition, disposition and recapitalization transactions. Representative private equity representations include:
- Apax Partners in connection with its $7.8 billion acquisition of Thomson Corp.’s education division
- BC Partners and Silver Lake Partners in connection with their 2010 acquisition of Multiplan Holdings, Inc., and their $4.4 billion sale of MultiPlan to an investor group led by Starr Investment Holdings and Partners Group
- The Blackstone Group in multiple M&A matters, including its sale of a $3 billion stake to China Investment Corporation; its $1.6 billion acquisition of Apria Healthcare GroupInc.; its acquisition of Allied Security Holdings LLC; its acquisition of RGIS Holdings LLC; its $870 million acquisition of Encore Medical Corporation; and its acquisition of Team Health Holdings LLC; its $4.7 billion acquisition of TRW Automotive Corporation; and its $3.8 billion acquisition of Celanese AG
- The Blackstone Group and Providence Equity Partners in connection with their investment in Freedom Communications, Inc.
- Carlyle in connection with its sale of a $1.4 billion investment to The Mubadala Development Co.
- The Edgewater Funds in connection with their acquisition by Lazard Ltd
- Elevation Partners in connection with its investment in Forbes Media LLC
- Hellman & Friedman LLC in connection with its $1.8 billion acquisition of Kronos Inc.
- KKR in connection with its minority investment in Sun Microsystems, Inc.
- KKR, Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures in connection with their acquisition of a controlling interest in The Go Daddy Group, Inc.
- One Equity Partners in connection with its sale of Columbian Chemicals Company to The Aditya Birla Group and in connection with its minority investments in X-Rite, Incorporated
- Silver Lake Partners in connection with its acquisition of control of Mercury Payment Systems and in connection with its minority investment in Thomson S.A.
- Terra Firma Capital Partners in connection with its acquisition of EverPower Wind Holdings, Inc.
- Thomas H. Lee Partners in connection with its acquisition of Sword Insurance
Bill also advised public and private corporations on business combination transaction and corporate governance matters. Representative corporate representations include:
- Accenture plc in connection with its Taleris joint venture with GE Aviation Systems, and its acquisitions of Duck Creek Technologies, Inc. and Octagon Research Solutions
- Adidas-Salomon AG in connection with its $3.8 billion acquisition of Reebok International Ltd.
- Alpharma Inc. in connection with its $1.4 billion sale to King Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- Apria Healthcare Group in the $2.1 billion sale of its Coram Infusion business unit to CVS Caremark
- CBRE Group, Inc. in connection with its acquisition of ING REIM
- Cengage Learning, Inc. in connection with its acquisition of the post-secondary education business of Houghton Mifflin Company
- Dell Technologies in connection with its spin-off of its 81% equity ownership interest in VMWare and in connection with VMWare’s acquisition of Pivotal Software
- FXCM Inc. in connection with its announced bid to acquire Gain Capital Holdings LLC
- IESI Corporation in connection with its acquisition by BFI Canada Income Fund
- Link Spine Group, Inc. in connection with its acquisition by DePuy Acromed, Inc.
- Neutral Tandem, Inc. (d/b/a Inteliquent) in connection with the sale of its global data services business to Global Telecom & Technology, Inc.
- ReAble Therapeutics Inc. in connection with its $1.6 billion acquisition of DJO Incorporated
- TRW Automotive in its $13.5 billion sale to ZF Friedrichshafen
Bill practiced in the Firm’s London office from 1996 until 2002 and in the Tokyo office from 1990 to 1991. He has been with Simpson Thacher since his graduation from the University of Chicago Law School in 1986. He received his A.B., magna cum laude, in 1983 from Georgetown University.
Bill currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society and The Partnership for New York City. He is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the New York State and American Bar Associations.