Ethan A. Klingsberg is a partner based in the New York office. His practice comprises M&A, public company board of directors and corporate and SEC matters.
Mr. Klingsberg’s recent clients have included The Home Depot, Google, Goldman Sachs, Family Dollar Stores, Alpha Natural Resources, Stanley Black & Decker, Kindred Healthcare, Interpublic Group of Companies, Stora Enso, FEMSA and CVC International.
He has represented committees of independent directors at Interactive Data Corp, Syntel, Trans World Entertainment, and UGC Europe. He has also been involved as counsel to a principal or financial advisor in a number of high profile, conflict M&A transactions, including a number where companies engaged in M&A transactions with their controlling stockholders or management:
- UnitedGlobalcom/UGC Europe
- Cox Enterprises/Cox Communications
- Newscorp/Fox Entertainment
- Alfa Mutual/Alfa Corporation
- American Bioscience/American Pharmaceutical Partners (Abraxis Bioscience)
- Reckson Realty Associates/S.L. Green/Reckson Management
- MBOs of Kinder Morgan and Aramark
- Renova/Moscow Cablecom
- Ipsen/Tercica
- Internalization of Gramercy Capital Corp
- Liberty Media/Liberty Entertainment/DirecTV
- Pepsico/PepsiAmericas
- The Coca-Cola Company/Coca-Cola Enterprises
- Onex/ResCare
- DSW/Retail Ventures
- CNA Financial/CNA Surety
- EBay/GSI Commerce/GSI Management
Notable recent transactions include representing Google in its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, Stanley Black & Decker in its successful topping tender offer to acquire Niscayah, the Special Committee of Interactive Data Corp in the company’s $3.4 billion LBO by a private equity consortium, The Home Depot in its acquisition of Red Beacon and all of the company’s other major acquisitions, Alpha Natural Resources in its $8.5 billion cash/stock merger with Massey Energy as well as its merger with Foundation and receipt of a large termination fee from Cleveland Cliffs Natural Resources, Kindred Healthcare in its leveraged acquisition of RehabCare and spin/merger of its institutional pharma business, CVCI in its LBOs of Ness Technologies and Keane, Stora Enso in the $2.5 billion leveraged sale of its North American operations, and Google in its acquisitions of AdMob, Admeld, and ITA Software.
In addition, he regularly represents major U.S. investment banking firms, including in connection with a number of raid defense assignments.
He is recognized as a leading corporate lawyer in
Chambers USA,
IFLR1000, The Guide to the World’s Leading Financial Law Firms,
Expert Guide to the World’s Leading M&A Lawyers,
The Legal 500 US and
Lawdragon 500: Leading Lawyers in America.
He was named a 2012 "BTI Client Service All-Star" for superior client service based on BTI’s survey of general counsels of the Fortune 1000. In 2011, he was named "Most Valuable Practitioner" in M&A by
Law360. He received a 2007 Burton Award for Legal Achievement from the Law Library of Congress for writing on fiduciary duties.
Mr. Klingsberg writes for
Corporate Board Member,
Directors Monthly,
ABA Business Law,
M&A Lawyer,
Deal Lawyers,
The M&A Journal and
Insights and was recently interviewed in a video for
The New York Times – Deal Book. His recent speaking engagements include PLI’s annual “Going Private – Doing the Deal Right” seminar, a Bloomberg seminar on M&A and conflicts faced by financial advisors, a Conference Board seminar on how a board should manage hedge fund insurgencies, and the City Bar Association’s Annual Institute on M&A.
Mr. Klingsberg joined the firm in 1994 and became a partner in 2001. He received a J.D. degree in 1989 from Yale Law School, where he was the Book Reviews and Comments Editor of
The Yale Law Journal. He received an undergraduate degree,
magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Klingsberg served as a law clerk for the Honorable Robert P. Patterson, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and developed and participated in law reform projects in Eastern Europe under the auspices of the Soros Foundation.
Mr. Klingsberg is a member of the Bar in New York and admitted in the Southern District of New York.