Arielle Katzman is Counsel in the Firm’s Public Company Advisory Practice, where she advises clients globally across their corporate lifecycles on governance, compliance and disclosure matters, regarding ongoing operations, implementation of best practices, strategic initiatives, risk/crisis management, stakeholder relationships, compensation and ESG strategy. Arielle regularly interfaces with senior management, boards of directors and finance, accounting, investor relations and equity compensation teams and liaises with stock exchanges, the SEC, proxy solicitors, transfer agents and other third parties on behalf of her clients. Arielle partners with clients and colleagues across the Firm to advise on complex transactional matters, including IPOs, M&A, restructuring, perpetual private placements, public offerings and other financings.
Her industry exposure includes asset management firms and related vehicles (including BDCs, REITs and other conglomerate products), infrastructure, consumer products, healthcare, industrial producers, technology, financial services, business services, energy, transportation, satellite, media, pharmaceuticals and insurance.
In addition to supporting public company navigation by mainstream operating companies, Arielle has been actively involved in the development of bespoke registered evergreen products, structured as OpCos and 3(c)(7) funds, as well as SPACs, guiding these clients from inception through subsequent evolution. Arielle counsels registered vehicles, sponsored by various asset management firms, including Blackstone, EQT, Sixth Street, Golub Capital, BC Partners, Jefferies, Vista Equity, Benefit Street Partners and Cohen & Steers.
Additionally, Arielle advises financial sponsors such as Blackstone, Silver Lake and KKR on portfolio company matters and her corporate clients include First Advantage, Ingersoll Rand, Finance of America, Invitation Homes, TaskUs, National Vision, Coincheck, SBC Medical Holdings and Apartment Income REIT.
Arielle commits herself to cultivating unique relationships with each client, tailored to dynamic circumstances, and is particularly attuned to nuanced considerations for specialized reporting profiles, such as non-traded vehicles, controlled companies, foreign private issuers, former SPACs, well-known seasoned issuers, smaller reporting companies, ’40 Act-exempt companies and emerging growth companies.
Arielle balances her passion for the law with her zeal for fitness, as a life-long dancer and practitioner of multiple exercise formats.
She has recently advised:
- First Advantage Corporation, in its initial public offering, follow-on offering, and $2.2 billion acquisition of Sterling Check Corp.
- KKR in its holding company reorganization and $2.7 billion acquisition of the remaining 37% stake of Global Atlantic
- Johnson Controls in the sale of its Residential and Light Commercial HVAC business to the Bosch Group in an all-cash transaction valued at $8.1 billion
- Coincheck Group N.V. and Monex Group, Inc. in the $1.3 billion de-SPAC business combination with Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV
- BrightSpring in its $1.1 billion IPO
- L3Harris in its acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, including the related $3.25 billion notes offering
- Vivint Smart Home in connection with its acquisition by NRG Energy
- Ingersoll Rand in multiple transactions, including the establishment of a $2.6 billion commercial paper program
- Primavera Capital Acquisition Corporation in its business combination transaction with Lanvin Group
- Finance of America Companies in its debt exchange offer and consent solicitation and acquisition of assets of American Advisors Group
- CorePoint Lodging in connection with its acquisition by a joint venture between affiliates of Highgate and Cerberus Capital Management, L.P.
Arielle received her J.D., summa cum laude, from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she ranked first in her class, was a member of the Order of the Coif and an editor of Cardozo Law Review. Arielle earned her B.A. from Brandeis University, summa cum laude. She is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey.
Arielle has contributed to various publications on topics such as corporate governance, capital markets, SEC enforcement, disclosure requirements and regulation of SPACs. Some of her notable contributions include:
- “Special Purpose Acquisition Companies,” Financial Product Fundamentals: Law, Business, Compliance (Second Edition) (Practising Law Institute, July 2024)
- “Climate Activism: Status Check and Opportunities for Public Companies” (Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, January 2021; and The Corporate Governance Advisor, March/April 2021)
- “Can a Cyber Breach be a Violation of Internal Controls? The SEC says, ‘Maybe’” (Columbia Law School’s Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets, November 2018)
- “Proxy Access—The March Forward Continues but at a Slower Pace” (Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, October 2018)
- “Recent SEC Guidance Facilitates Resales of REIT Shares Received in Exchange for OP Units by Permitting Tacking under Rule 144” (CorporateCounsel.net, April 2016)
- “Proactive Planning: A Guide to Rule 10b5-1 Plans” (Insights: The Corporate & Securities Law Advisor, November 2015)
- “Towards a More Consolidated Universe: Why and How Regulation Must Promote Essentially Inevitable Cross-Border Stock Exchange Mergers” (N.Y. Business Law Journal, Summer 2010)
- “A Round Peg for a Square Hole: The Mismatch between Subprime Borrowers and Federal Mortgage Remedies” (HeinOnline, 2009)