Jennifer A. Bensch is a partner in the firm’s Corporate Department where she is a member of the Capital Markets practice. Ms. Bensch represents investment banks and domestic and international issuers in a broad range of securities offerings and advises companies with respect to SEC reporting obligations, corporate governance, and other corporate and securities law matters.
Prior to arriving at Weil, Ms. Bensch was a partner in the Corporate Finance group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. From July 2008 through March 2009, Ms. Bensch was seconded to Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC to serve as Acting Head of Legal for the Americas for the Investment Banking Department.
Ms. Bensch has been involved in numerous initial public offerings and other public and private equity, equity-linked and hybrid security offerings as well as high-yield and investment grade debt offerings, particularly in the context of acquisition financings and leveraged buyouts. She also focuses on tender and exchange offers and other refinancing transactions.
Ms. Bensch’s issuer transactions include initial public offerings for companies such as Freescale Semiconductor Holdings I, Inc., Douglas Emmett, Inc., and Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC; high-yield debt offerings for companies including Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Standard Steel LLC, a portfolio company of Trimaran Capital Partners, Learning Care Group, a portfolio company of Morgan Stanley Private Equity, and General Nutrition Centers, Inc.; and acquisition financings for various portfolio companies of private equity firms, including The Blackstone Group, L.P., Permira Advisers LLC, Apollo Advisors, L.P., and Veritas Capital. On the investment banking side, Ms. Bensch has represented several financial institutions, including Goldman, Sachs & Co., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, JP Morgan Securities, Inc., Banc of America Securities LLC, and Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated in numerous debt and equity offerings. Such transactions include representation of the underwriters in initial public offerings by issuers such as The Blackstone Group L.P., Accretive Health, Inc., and VCA Antech, Inc.; representation of the initial purchasers in high-yield and investment grade debt offerings by issuers including The Blackstone Group L.P., Oaktree Capital Management L.P., Penton Media, Inc., Mohawk Industries, Inc., Radiologix, Inc., and Douglas Dynamics, Inc.; and representation of the underwriters in numerous follow-on and secondary equity offerings. Ms. Bensch has also represented issuers and investment banks in liability management transactions, including consent solicitations, tender offers, and exchange offers by companies including Denny’s Holdings, Inc., Benton Oil and Gas Company, and Personnel Group of America, Inc.