Jeffrey D. Symons is a Partner in Barton’s New York office. Jeff has over 25 years of experience advising corporations and private equity firms on complex transactions, having worked on deals with an aggregate value in excess of $195 billion. Jeff’s practice centers on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions transactions, joint ventures, minority and preferred investments, restructurings, and related-party transactions. Jeff also has extensive experience advising clients on corporate governance, activism / takeover preparedness, and fiduciary duty matters. Jeff has been recognized by the American Lawyer as a “Dealmaker of the Year.”

Jeff has worked with clients across a broad range of industries, including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, technology services, telecommunications, energy, transportation and air freight services, retail, financial services, manufacturing, and media and entertainment.

Jeff is a Governor of the Fathers of Confederation Buildings Trust and a Trustee of the Symons Trust Fund for Canadian Studies.

Prior to joining Barton LLP, Jeff served as a partner at several Am Law 100 firms, including Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Jones Day, and Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP.

 

Education

  • Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada – Bachelor of Laws

  • McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada – B.A., History & Philosophy

 

Admissions

  • State of New York

 

Honors

  • The Fathers of Confederation Building Trust, Governor

  • Symons Trust Fund for Canadian Studies, Trustee

  • The American Lawyer – Dealmaker of the Year (2011)
     

Practices

  • Business Transactions

  • Corporate Formation, Governance, and Compliance

 

Industry Experience

  • Entertainment

  • Finance

  • Generation and Energy Services

  • Healthcare

  • Logistics

  • Manufacturing and Distribution

  • Technology

 

Professional Affiliations

  • American Bar Association

  • New York State Bar Association

Representative Matters

  • Represented WindAcre Partnership on its participation in the US$16bn acquisition of Neilsen Holdings by a consortium led by Elliott Management and Brookfield Business Partners.

  • Represented 26 Capital Acquisition Corp in its proposed merger with Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (operating as Okada Manilla).

  • Represented Axar Capital Management in its US$416m take-private of StoneMor Inc.

  • Represented Everstory Partners (a portfolio company of Axar Capital) in the acquisition of 72 cemeteries and 11 funeral homes from affiliates of Park Lawn Corporation.

  • Represented Staple Street Capital in its acquisition of Delaware Valley Floral Group.

  • Represented Cerberus Capital Management in its C$277m sale of a majority stake in ABC Technologies Holdings Inc. to affiliates of Apollo Global Management.

  • Represented BrightNight LLC in its US$500m sale of preferred equity and warrants to affiliates of Global Infrastructure Partners.

  • Represented the Board of Directors of USA Truck, Inc. in its US$435m acquisition by Schenker, Inc.

  • Represented Angelo, Gordon & Co. in its US$296m acquisition of Benihana.

  • Represented AuRico Gold in its:

    • US$408m acquisition of Capital Gold Corporation.

    • US$1.5bn acquisition of Northgate Minerals Corporation.

  • Represented Axiall Corporation in its US$3.8bn sale to Westlake Chemical Corporation.

  • Represented The Blackstone Group in its:

    • US$26bn acquisition proposal for Dell Technologies.

    • US$960m acquisition of Team Health Holdings from a consortium led by Madison Dearborn Partners.

    • US$2bn share exchange with Allied Waste Industries Inc. (consortium included Apollo, Greenwich Street Capital, and DLJ Merchant Banking).

    • US$956m acquisition of the assets of New Skies Satellites.

  • Represented Bristol-Myers Squibb in its US$885m acquisition of ZymoGenetics.

  • Represented The Carlyle Group in its US$4bn sale of Signode Industrial Group to Crown Holdings.

  • Represented CSC ServiceWorks and Pamplona Capital in the US$524m acquisition of Mac-Gray Corporation.

  • Represented CVC Capital Partners in its US$703m acquisition of Teva Pharmaceutical’s non-U.S. Women’s Health assets.

     

Representative Matters (cont’d)

  • Represented DHL in its:

    • US$90m minority investment in ASTAR Air Cargo Holdings.

    • Two internal restructuring of DHL’s operations in the United States.

    • US$1.4bn acquisition of Airborne.

    • Sale of DHL Airways to BD Air Partners.

  • Represented Diamond S Shipping in its US$1.65bn merger with the tanker business of Capital Product Partners.

  • Represented Ferraro Foods Corporation in the sale of all its assets to Kainos Capital.

  • Represented Galenica AG in its US$1.53bn acquisition of Relypsa.

  • Represented Hess Corporation in the US$2.8bn sale of its retail business to Speedway.

  • Represented Koch Equity Development in the acquisition of Truck-Lite Co., alongside BDT Capital Partners.

  • Represented Metavante Technologies in its US$2.94bn sale to Fidelity National Information Services.

  • Represented MidOcean Partners in the US$450m acquisition of Sbarro.

  • Represented Nutrien in its:

    • US$4.1bn sale of its minority interest in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile to Tianqi Lithium Corporation.

    • US$502m sale of its minority interest in Arab Potash Company to SDIC Mining Investment.

    • US$700m private offering of its minority interest in Israel Chemicals LTD.

  • Represented Paxar Corporation in its US$1.34bn sale to Avery Dennison Corporation.

  • Represented Pfizer in its:

    • US$635m acquisition of the marketed vaccines portfolio of Baxter International.

    • Collaboration agreement with Mylan for the manufacture and distribution of generic drugs in Japan.

  • Represented PHH Corporation in its:

    • US$360m sale to Ocwen Financial Corporation.

    • US$912m sale of its non-GNMA MSR portfolio to New Residential Investment Corporation, as well as the entry into a subservicing agreement for 480,000 mortgage loans.

    • US$122m sale of substantially all of its GNMA MSR portfolio to Lakeview Loan Servicing, as well as the sale of its private label servicing business.

    • US$1.4bn sale of its fleet management services business to Element Financial Corporation.

Representative Matters (cont’d)

  • Represented Spectrum Equity in its capacity as the largest shareholder of Ancestry.com in its US$1.6bn sale to Permira.

  • Represented Sun Capital Partners in its:

    • Successful proxy contest for the election of a slate of directors to the board of Furniture Brands International.

    • US$750m unsolicited acquisition of Kellwood Company.

  • Represented Teva Pharmaceutical in its:

    • US$6.8b acquisition of Cephalon.

    • Acquisition of NuPathe.

  • Represented Thomas H. Lee Partners, Lexa Partners, Bain Capital, and Providence Equity Partners in their US$2.6bn acquisition of the Warner Music Group from Time Warner.

  • Represented T-Mobile in US$4.5bn in financings and other related-party transactions with Deutsche Poste.

  • Represented TonenGeneral Sekiyu in its combination with JX Group.

  • Represented Twin River Worldwide Holdings in its stock merger with Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment.

  • Represented Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe in its:

    • Acquisition of Peak 10.

    • US$730m sale of Peak 10 to GI Partners.

    • US$524m sale of ITC^Deltacom to EarthLink.

    • US$290m recapitalization of Service Repair Solutions.

  • Represented ZM Capital in its:

    • Acquisition of Cannella Response Television and Cable Response Television.

    • US$536m acquisition of Airvana by a consortium led by S.A.C. Private Capital.

    • US$760m acquisition of Tekelec by a consortium led by Siris Capital.

    • Acquisition of ISS assets from Microsoft.