Andrew Blau

A Partner in the Firm’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice, Andrew Blau focuses his practice on compensation and benefit-related issues that arise in connection with mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, new and joint ventures and other corporate transactions. He has extensive experience in structuring employment agreements, equity compensation, performance incentives, deferred compensation, change in control protections, and management participation in buyouts and new ventures. His experience includes domestic and international M&A across a variety of sectors.

Andrew also advises on the applicability of securities and tax laws to executives and employers, disclosure obligations in respect of employee benefits and executive compensation arrangements, corporate governance issues and general employment-related matters.

Private Equity. Andrew advised on the following private equity transactions:

• Blackstone in its acquisition of assets from three of GLP’s U.S. funds for a purchase price of $18.7 billion – the largest-ever private real estate transaction
• Vista Equity Partners in the acquisition of Solera Holdings, Inc. for approximately $6.5 billion, including the existing net debt of Solera
• Pamplona Capital Management in its acquisition of MedAssets, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $2.7 billion
• BlackRock’s Long Term Private Capital in its first investment, a strategic investment in Authentic Brands Group LLC, the owner of a portfolio of iconic and world-renowned brands
• The Carlyle Group in their acquisition of a majority interest in The Hilb Group
• Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust in its acquisition of the real estate assets of the Bellagio from MGM Resorts for approximately $4.25 billion in a 95%/5% Blackstone-led joint venture, and its acquisition of the real estate assets of Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand for approximately $4.6 billion in a 50.1%/49.9% joint venture led by MGM Growth Properties
• Digital Bridge Holdings, LLC and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners in the recapitalization of ExteNet Systems, Inc. for over $1 billion
• Affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. in their acquisition of Kellermeyer Bergensons Services, LLC
• Blackstone in its acquisition of BioMed Realty Trust, Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at $8 billion
• Blackstone in its acquisition of Excel Trust, Inc., a publicly-traded real estate investment trust, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $2 billion

Strategic Transactions. Andrew advised on the following strategic transactions:

• Versum Materials in its $6.5 billion sale to Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
• Walgreens Boots Alliance in its purchase of 1,932 Rite Aid Corporation stores for $4.157 billion
• ITC Holdings Corp., the largest independent electric transmission company in the United States, in its sale to Fortis Inc. in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately $11.3 billion
• IBERIABANK Corporation in its agreement to combine with First Horizon National Corporation in an all-stock merger of equals transaction valued at $3.9 billion
• China National Chemical Corporation in its agreement to acquire the Swiss agrochemical and seeds company Syngenta AG, which valued Syngenta’s total outstanding share capital at approximately $43 billion
• Acushnet Holdings Corp., the global leader in the design, development, manufacture and distribution of performance-driven golf products, in the initial public offering of its common stock
• NXP Semiconductors in its merger with Freescale Semiconductor, a transaction which valued the combined enterprise at just over $40 billion
• Polaris Industries Inc. in its acquisition of Boat Holdings, LLC in an all-cash transaction for aggregate consideration of $825 million
• Harsco in its acquisition of Clean Earth and the sale of its Industrial Air-X-Changer business
• People's United Financial, Inc., the holding company for People's United Bank, N.A., in its acquisition of Suffolk Bancorp, the holding company for Suffolk County National Bank, in a 100% stock transaction valued at approximately $402 million

Andrew received his J.D., with honors, from the George Washington University Law School and his B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan. He is admitted to practice in the State of New York.