A partner in the Corporate Department, Bruce A. Gutenplan has extensive experience advising public and private companies, private equity funds and hedge funds in a broad range of mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions. In the M&A arena, he represents acquirers, sellers, targets and advisers in transactions ranging from middle-market leveraged buy-outs and recapitalizations to larger strategic acquisitions and joint ventures. As an important part of his practice, he also represents private investment funds in connection with their venture capital, growth capital and other private equity investments.

Recent corporate representations in M&A transactions include:

• TowerCo in its $670 million acquisition of communications towers from Sprint Nextel and its $190 million sale of towers to SBA Communications;
• SpectraSite Communications in its $11.3 billion merger with American Tower;
• Quellos Group in the $1.7 billion sale of its fund of funds business to BlackRock;
• IWO in its $427 million sale to Sprint Nextel;
• Milicom International Cellular in the sale of its communications towers in Ghana;
• ContiGroup in the sale of Five Rivers to Smithfield Foods; and
• The Chubb Corporation in the sale of its reinsurance business (over $1 billion of Chubb’s revenue) to Harbour Point Limited and the sale of its Personal Lines Brokerage subsidiary to Hub International.

Recent private equity or hedge fund transactions include:

• NRDC Equity Partners in its acquisition of the iconic Canadian retailer Hudson's Bay Company and HBC's consolidation with Lord & Taylor and Fortunoff;
• Soros Fund Management in its private equity investments in TowerCo, Extenet Systems and Helios Towers Africa;
• Harbinger Capital Partners in its acquisition of Salton; and
• Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in its private equity investments in Validus Holdings and Paris Re.

In addition to his M&A and private equity practice, Mr. Gutenplan has also represented debtors and creditors in a number of significant restructurings. Recent transactions include the representation of SpectraSite Communications, which eliminated $1.8 billion of debt in a pre-arranged chapter 11 case, and creditor groups or investors in the restructurings of AirGate, Alamosa, American Cellular, Amtrol, iPCS, IWO, Ntelos, Stallion Oilfield Services and True Temper.

In 1990, Mr. Gutenplan relocated to London to launch the firm's office there. For two years, he handled a variety of cross-border transactions for U.S. and European clients before returning to the New York office.

Mr. Gutenplan served as an editor of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems and was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.