Marni J. Lerner

Marni J. Lerner is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where she practices in the Corporate Department and serves as Co-Head of the Firm’s Private Equity Mergers and Acquisitions Practice. Marni advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, public and private divestitures, strategic investments and corporate and securities law matters.

In her more than 25 years of corporate deal making, Marni has consistently worked on a variety of significant, complex and record-breaking transactions for a wide range of clients, including, for example, advising:

• KKR and its portfolio companies on many of its investments, acquisitions and divestitures, including Nature’s Bounty, Duracell International Inc., Randall’s Food Markets Inc., Borden, Inc., PanAmSat Corporation, Dollar General Corporation, U.S. Foodservice, Jitterbit, Inc., Mills Fleet Farm, TASC, Inc., Del Monte Foods Company, Academy Limited, Sunrise Senior Living, Inc., National Vision and Channel Control Merchants
• Internet Brands in its acquisition of WebMD
• Global Payments Inc. in its acquisition of Heartland Payment Systems, Inc.
• Visant Holding Corp. in its sale to Jarden Corporation
• Lake Region Medical Holdings, Inc. in its sale to Greatbatch, Inc.
• The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Clearwire Corporation in connection with the acquisition of Clearwire by Sprint
• The independent directors of Quintiles Transnational Holdings Inc. in its merger of equals with IMS Health Holdings, Inc.
• Dollar General in its proposal to acquire Family Dollar
• The Hershey Company in its acquisition of Krave Pure Foods
• Nielsen Holdings N.V. in connection with its acquisition of Arbitron Inc. and Harris Interactive Inc.
• Eaton Corporation in its acquisition of Cooper Industries plc    
• Del Monte Corporation (n/k/a Big Heart Pet) in its acquisition of Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc., and on the sale of its consumer products business and its ultimate sale to The JM Smucker Company
• United Supermarkets in connection with its sale to Albertson’s
• Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc., in its merger with Applied Materials, Inc.
• The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of The DIRECTV Group, Inc., in connection with DIRECTV’s merger with Liberty Entertainment, Inc.
• Shanghai Electric (Group) Corporation in connection with its investment in Goss International Corporation
• syncreon Holdings in its acquisition of TDS Logistics, Inc., the investment in syncreon by GenNx360 Capital Partners and the investment in syncreon by Centerbridge Partners
• Visant Corporation in connection with its sale of various businesses
• JLL Partners in connection with its acquisition of American Dental Partners, Inc., and its acquisition and subsequent disposition of Mosaic Sales Solutions
• Three Cities Research, Inc., in connection with the sale of a majority interest in Garden Ridge Corporation

She has also represented financial advisors in connection with merger and acquisition matters. 

Marni was featured as one of The Deal’s “Top Women in Dealmaking” in 2022 and 2021. She was also named “Best in Private Equity” at the Euromoney Legal Media Group Americas Women in Law Awards 2019 and to The Deal’s inaugural “Women in M&A: The Powerhouse 20” list in 2019. She is regularly recognized by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and The Legal 500 United States, with the former adding that Marni is “impressive” and “a strong negotiator who is noted for her ability to get deals done.” In 2017, Marni was named among Crain’s New York Business’s inaugural list of “Leading Women Lawyers in NYC.” Additionally, she has been named an "MVP” in Private Equity by Law360 in 2023, 2020, 2016 and 2014.

Marni joined Simpson Thacher in 1991 and was elected a Partner of the Firm in 1999. She received her B.A., summa cum laude, from Amherst College in 1988, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1991. Marni is admitted to practice in the State of New York and is a member of the New York City Bar Association.