January 21, 2019
Co-Head of Weil’s global Private Equity practice Douglas Warner was named an MVP in Private Equity by Law360 in recognition of his work on multiple billion dollar deals for clients including private equity-backed Avolon’s pending $7.6 billion sale to Bohai Leasing Co. Ltd., a trifecta of acquisitions for longtime client Centerbridge Partners and back-to-back deals for private equity firm EQT Capital Partners.
Mr. Warner was able to use his broad market knowledge to advise Dublin-based Avolon, which is backed by U.S. companies subject to U.S. SEC disclosure rules, in its sale to Bohai, a unit of Chinese conglomerate HNA Group. Mr. Warner noted, “There were a lot of very complicated Chinese issues involved with the transaction, both regulatory and antitrust as well as financing. Therefore, it was a real testament to our practice, and the sponsors were thrilled that they had hired Weil for the deal, considering the fact that we could handle the European aspects, the Asian aspects and the U.S. aspects.”
Mr. Warner also guided longtime client Centerbridge Partners in a streak of acquisitions that started in late 2014 and included a €1 billion ($1.09 billion) buyout of German wind turbine manufacturing company Senvion SE in January. Mr. Warner attributed the spike in volume of deals for Centerbridge as “a product of years of hard work and cultivating relationships.”
Mr. Warner elaborated on the role of an effective private equity attorney as being “the last real generalists at law firm.” He added, “[T]o be an effective private equity partner, you need to understand not only private mergers and acquisitions, but also debt financing, executive compensation, IPOs and public bonds.”
