Doug Warner is Head of the firm's US Private Equity and Hedge Fund practices. He has represented private equity sponsors and hedge funds in connection with acquisitions, dispositions and financings for over 20 years. He has extensive experience in leveraged buyouts and dispositions of both public and private US and European companies as well as minority investments. He also has extensive experience in acquisitions, dispositions, and restructurings of bankrupt companies.
Mr. Warner has represented numerous private equity sponsors and hedge funds, including Centerbridge, Credit Suisse, CVC, DLJ Merchant Bank, Eton Park, Lee Equity, Oak Hill Capital, Ospraie Management, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, and Snow Phipps Group. He has represented Centerbridge in its $1.2 billion take private of P.F. Chang’s and its acquisitions of Rock Bottom Restaurants and Gordon Biersch Brewery Group; Credit Suisse in its joint ventures with GE to form Global Infrastructure Partners, with Mubadala to form Mubadala Infrastructure Partners, and with Dow Jones to form the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Indices; CVC in connection with its acquisition of Cunningham Lindsey and its proposed acquisition of ConvergEx; DLJ Merchant Bank in its $1.2 billion take private of Jostens, its $600 million acquisition of United Site Services, its $420 million acquisition of Specialized Technology Resources, its equity investment in the $2.8 billion acquisition by Rockwood Specialty Group of four Dynamit Nobel chemical businesses, its equity investment in the $4.8 billion acquisition of Metro-Goldwin-Mayer, and its $1.3 billion sale of Accellent; Lee Equity in its $400 million take private of Deb Shops and its acquisition of Papa Murphys; Oak Hill Capital in its acquisitions of Southern Air, Ability Re, and Dave & Busters and the $4.2 billion sale of RSC Holdings; the Public Sector Pension Investment Board in connection with its investment in Telesat Canada and its equity investment in the $6.3 billion take private of Kinetic Concepts; Snow Phipps Group in connection with its participation in the consortium that effected the $3.8 billion buyout of Laureate Education and its acquisitions of ArrMaz Chemical, ZeroChaos, WorkForce Logic, and Velvet; and the consortium of J.P. Morgan Partners, Providence Equity Partners, Quadrangle Capital Partners, and Thomas H. Lee Partners in their control investment in the €5.3 billion merger of Ono and Auna. He also counsels portfolio companies of private equity sponsors and hedge funds on a wide range of matters.
Mr. Warner was one of the group of partners that founded the firm's London office in 1996 and was based in London from 1996 to 2001. The firm's London office grew from eight to 130 lawyers during his tenure in London.
Mr. Warner is the founder and editor of the firm's publication, Private Equity Alert, which keep the firm's clients and friends up-to-date on legal and market developments affecting the private equity and hedge funds communities, and is also the founder and editor of the firm's annual Going Private Survey. He is recognized as a leading private equity lawyer by Chambers USA, Chambers Global, the Legal 500, the IFLR 1000, the Practical Law Company, and Best Lawyers in America. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Practical Law Company.