A partner in the Corporate Department, Steven J. Williams is a member of the firm's Mergers and Acquisitions Group and of its Investment Management transactions practice. Mr. Williams' practice focuses primarily on acquisitions and sales of asset management firms.

Mr. Williams' recent experience includes representation of:

• Affiliated Managers Group in its majority investment in, and restructuring of, Pantheon Ventures;
• Citigroup in its sale of Nikko Asset Management to The Sumitomo Trust and Banking Co., Ltd.;
• Moelis & Company in its acquisition of Gracie Credit;
• ORIX USA Corporation in its majority investment in the parent company of Mariner Investment Group;
• Religáre Enterprises Limited in its acquisition of a majority interest in Northgate Capital; and
• Religáre Enterprises Limited in its acquisition of a majority interest in Landmark Partners.

Mr. Williams also has extensive experience with public company transactions, including strategic mergers and "mergers of equals," leveraged buy-outs, hostile transactions, board and special committee representations and proxy fights, as well as with private equity transactions, joint ventures and complex restructuring transactions.

Mr. Williams served as a notes editor of the Columbia Law Review and was a James Kent Scholar and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Mr. Williams is the recipient of a Legal Aid Society award for outstanding pro bono representation.