Ariel Deckelbaum is a deputy chair of the Corporate Department and a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions Group, the Private Equity Transactions Group and the Canadian Practice Group. Ariel’s practice is diverse with extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, alternative asset management and restructuring transactions. In each of his practice areas, he helps clients develop and protect their long-term interests and investment strategies.

EXPERIENCE

Ariel’s mergers and acquisitions work includes going-private transactions, special committee representations, merger proxies, tender offers and hostile proxy contests. His recent mergers and acquisitions experience includes the following representations:

• Grupo Elektra in its $780 million pending acquisition of Advance America.
  
  
• RSC Holdings in its $4.2 billion merger with United Rentals.
  
  
• Time Warner Cable in:
  • its pending acquisition of Insight Communications Company;
  • together with Comcast and Brighthouse Networks, the sale of spectrum to Verizon Wireless for $3.2 billion;
  • its acquisition of Navisite;
  • its separation from Time Warner; and
  • its joint bid with Comcast Corporation to acquire the assets of Adelphia Communications Corporation.
• Universal American in:
  • its acquisition of APS Healthcare from GTCR; and
  • the sale of its Medicare Part D Business to CVS/Caremark for $1.25 billion.
• Perella Weinberg, as financial advisor to:
  • Solutia in connection with its sale to Eastman Chemical Company; and
  • the Special Committee of C&D Technologies in connection with a going private transaction involving its majority stockholder, Angelo Gordon & Co.
• TowerBrook Capital Partners in:
  • its investment in Broadlane, and sale to MedAssets; and
  • its investment in Wilton Brands.
• Oak Hill Capital Partners in:
  • its acquisition of ViaWest; and
  • its investment in Duane Reade and sale to Walgreens.
• Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. in its acquisition of Sepracor.
  
  
• Marc Ecko in his sale of a controlling interest in the Ecko portfolio brands to Iconix Brand Group.
  
  
• Sumitomo Metal Industries in:
  • along with Sumitomo Corporation, in the acquisition of Pennsylvania-based steel company Standard Steel from private equity firm Trimaran Fund Management; and
  • as it partnered with Vallourec S.A. in the merger of two premium joint companies, VAM USA Company and V&M Atlas Bradford LLC, to establish a new premium joint threading joint venture, VAM USA LLC.
• The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Kerzner International Limited in connection with the $3.8 billion sale of Kerzner to an investment group that included management, Istithmar PJSC, Whitehall Street Global Real Estate Limited Partnership 2005, Colony Capital LLC, Providence Equity Partners, Inc. and The Related Companies, L.P.
  
  
• Nomura Holdings, Inc. in its acquisition of a 15 percent, $888 million stake in Fortress Investment Group.

Ariel serves on the advisory board of DealLawyers.com, is a member of the American Bar Association and serves on the Board of Directors of the New Classroom Innovation Partners and The Lawyers Alliance for New York.

In 2010, he was recognized as one of Crain’s “40 Under 40”, a list of a “dynamic group of New Yorkers who have excelled in their respective fields.”