William B. Brentani

William B. Brentani is a Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Department, serves as Head of the Firm’s Palo Alto office and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Opinion Committee and is a former member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. His practice focuses on corporate finance and general securities and corporate matters. Bill regularly works for issuers and underwriters in a broad range of capital market transactions, including initial public offerings (IPOs), follow-on equity and preferred stock (including PIPEs) offerings, and debt, equity-linked, high yield and hybrid capital transactions. Bill also represents private equity sponsors in connection with acquisition financings and advises companies on corporate governance and securities law-related matters. He has worked on offerings involving issuers from a variety of industries, including technology, healthcare, real estate, retail, energy, transportation and entertainment. 

Bill was named among the 2024 “Top 100 Lawyers” by Daily Journal anda 2021 Healthcare “MVP” by Law360. Hehas been recognized as a leading lawyer for a number of years by Chambers Global and Chambers USA, which describes him as “highly sought after for his expert counsel on transactions in diverse sectors, including healthcare, technology and retail.” Clients laud him as a “highly technically knowledgeable trusted advisor” and a “problem solver” and, tellingly, that “our needs are his needs” (Chambers USA).

Selected transactions include representing:

Equity Financings

• Issuers and underwriters in equity offerings for Waystar, PPD, Certara, NeueHealth, Grocery Outlet, Snap One, Change Healthcare, JOANN, Mister Car Wash, Velocity Financial, SMART Modular Technologies, InterDigital, Snap One, NeoPhotonics Corporation, CBRE Group, ClubCorp Holdings, Lions Gate Entertainment and Lucid Group

Debt Financings

• Private equity firms and their portfolio companies in connection with acquisition and related debt financings, including PPD, MultiPlan, At Home, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Dell International, Caliber Collision, HUB International, UKG, Cast & Crew and Associated Materials
• Corporate issuers in their debt securities offerings, including Microsoft Corporation, CBRE Group, Inc., SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc., IDC and ClubCorp Holdings, Inc.
• Underwriters and initial purchasers in connection with debt securities offerings for Oracle, Tesla, Expedia, CoreLogic, Brocade Communications Systems, Walmart, Lions Gate Entertainment, Cadence Design Systems, NextEra Energy Partners, Intrepid Aviation Group Holdings, Air Lease Corporation, Roblox, The WhiteWave Foods Company and Embraer Overseas Limited

Convertible Debt Financings

• Underwriters in convertible debt offerings by Lucid, Tesla, TiVo, InterDigital, Lucid Group, Synchronoss Technologies, SanDisk Corporation and NextEra Energy Partners

SPAC/deSPAC Transactions

• CBRE Acquisition Holdings in its SPAC IPO and subsequent business combination with Altus Power
• Experience Investment Corp., a KSL-sponsored SPAC in its de-SPAC business combination with BLADE Urban Air Mobility
• Hellman & Friedman and its portfolio company MultiPlan in its de-SPAC business combination with Churchill Capital Corp. III

He received his B.A. from Tufts University in 1986 and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1989. He joined the Firm in 1989 and became a Partner in 1999.