Paul Tiger

Profil Paul Tiger

Paul advises on complex public and private M&A transactions and private equity investments. He also has significant experience in joint venture and minority investment transactions. Both in connection with and separate from these transactions, Paul counsels companies and their boards on stockholder activism, corporate governance, and fiduciary duty considerations. He has also advised clients on de-SPAC transactions and PIPE financings.

As Global Co-Head of Freshfields' Industrials sector group, Paul has significant experience advising across a broad spectrum of industries including manufacturing, automotive, building materials and chemicals, while also leveraging his strong technology industry and energy transition experience for both TMT and industrial clients.

Paul has been recognized as a Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer (2023), among the 500 leading dealmakers in the United States by Lawdragon 500 (2021, 2022), as a rising star for M&A by Law360, and among leading lawyers for M&A and activism by Legal 500 and M&A by IFLR1000.

Paul is a graduate of Stanford Law School, where he served as President of the Native American Law Students Association.

Mandate

Select public company M&A and related experience:

• JD Sports on its acquisition of Nasdaq-listed Hibbett, Inc. for an enterprise value of approximately $1.1 billion.
• 3D Systems on its announced unsolicited proposal to merge with Stratasys.
• Aristocrat Leisure on its $1.2 billion acquisition of Nasdaq-listed Neogames.
• Google on the $5.4 billion acquisition of publicly-traded Mandiant Inc., as well as related transactions with Blackstone and other private equity sponsor holders of convertible preferred stock of Mandiant, and on a number of private acquisitions.
• Li-Cycle on numerous transactions, including:
  • its follow-on $75 million senior secured convertible note placement to Glencore.
  • its adoption of a limited duration shareholder rights plan.
  • its entry into a strategic partnership with, and issuance of a $200 million convertible note to, Glencore. 
  • its $100 million convertible notes issuance to Koch.
  • a $50 million PIPE investment by LG.
  • its $1.6 billion business combination with SPAC Peridot Acquisition Corp., including a $315 million PIPE.
• Stagwell Media on its combination with MDC Partners, pursuant to which Stagwell acquired a 69% interest in MDC through an “Up-C” transaction structure.
• Special Committee of Independent Directors of Emerald Holding on a $400 million convertible preferred stock PIPE led by Onex Corporation.
• National Amusements (the Redstone family holding company) on its investments in CBS and Viacom, including the $30.5 billion merger to create ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Global).
• Dun & Bradstreet on its $6.9 billion “take-private” acquisition by a consortium led by CC Capital, Cannae Holdings, Bilcar, Black Knight and Thomas H. Lee Partners.
• Kindred Healthcare on its $4.1 billion “take-private” acquisition by a consortium led by TPG Capital, Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe, and Humana.
• Tiffany & Co. on its entry into settlement agreements with JANA Partners and Francesco Trapani.
• Cushman & Wakefield on Vanke’s subscription for 4.9% of the outstanding shares in Cushman, and on its $831 million IPO.
• Family Dollar Stores on its $9.3 billion acquisition by Dollar Tree for cash and stock and rejection of a hostile tender offer by Dollar General.
• Scientific Games on its $1.5 billion acquisition of NYSE-listed WMS Industries.
• Alpha Natural Resources on its $8.5 billion acquisition of Massey Energy Company.
• BlueMountain Capital on its proxy contest at PG&E.
• TPG Specialty Lending (a TPG affiliate) on its proxy contests at TICC Capital.
• Manitou BF S.A. on its successful tender offer and follow-on second-step merger to acquire Gehl Company.
• Cascade Investment, LLC (the personal investment vehicle of Bill Gates) on various matters, including its buyout (together with Kingdom Hotels International and Isadore Sharp) of Four Seasons Hotels.

Select strategic transactions:

• The Yokohama Rubber Company on its pending $905m acquisition of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s off-the-road tire business.
• ABB on its pending acquisition of the SEAM Group.
• Mars on its acquisition of Hotel Chocolat Group plc.
• Pearson plc on the sale of its international Online Program Management business, Pearson Online Learning Services, to an affiliate of Regent LP.
• The London Stock Exchange Group on numerous transactions, including:
  • its acquisition of Acadia.
  • its acquisition of MayStreet.
• Hapag Lloyd in its $1 billion acquisition of Chilean Sociedad Matriz SAAM, which operates a terminal business and provides associated logistics services in North, Central and South America, including five ports in Chile.
• Holcim on numerous transactions, including:
  • its $1.29 billion acquisition of Duro-Last.
  • its $1.35 billion acquisition of Herbert Malarkey Roofing Company.
• Stanley Black & Decker on numerous transactions, including:
  • its $3.2 billion sale of its global electronic security solutions and healthcare solutions businesses to Securitas.
  • its acquisition of MSUITE Corporation.
  • its acquisition of Advanced Turf Technology.
  • the divestiture of its PAC/GDX security business to Comelit.
  • as a stockholder of Evolv Technology on Evolv's $1.25 billion business combination with SPAC NewHold Investment Corp.
  • the divestiture of portions of its electronic security business to Securitas AB.
  • its $690 million purchase of the IES Attachments business. 
  • its acquisition of 3xLogic.
  • the $725 million divestiture of its mechanical security businesses to dormakaba.
  • the $1.4 billion divestiture of its hardware and home improvement business to Spectrum Brands.
  • its purchase of CRC-Evans International. 
• Volkswagen on numerous transactions, including:
  • its investment in, and strategic partnership and related licensing arrangements with, 24M Technologies.
  • as significant minority shareholder, together with the other shareholders, of Austrian e-mobility provider, has.to.be gmbh, on its $295 million sale to NYSE-listed ChargePoint in exchange for cash and US public company stock.
  • as the largest stockholder of QuantumScape Corporation on QuantumScape’s $3.3 billion business combination with SPAC Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp.
  • its $200 million Series F investment in QuantumScape and related joint venture arrangements.
• Sandvik on numerous transactions, including:
  • its acquisition of PDQ Workholding LLC.
  • its acquisition of GWS Tool Group. 
  • its acquisition of DWFritz Automation. 
• ICL on its acquisition of Compass Minerals’ South American plant nutrition business.
• Belden on the sale of its industrial cable business in Brazil to Yangtze Optical FC.
• Royal Caribbean on the all-cash carve-out of its Azamara cruise line to Sycamore Partners, including its three-ship fleet and associated IP.
• OCI N.V. on its announced $8 billion combination with CF Industries and in a $630 million equity investment by Consolidated Energy Limited in its greenfield methanol project in Beaumont, Texas in exchange for a 50% stake.
• Google on its $2.9 billion divestiture of Motorola Mobility’s handset business to Lenovo.
• International Seaways on its $434 million acquisition of six “VLCC” vessels from Euronav NV in connection with Euronav’s acquisition of Gener8 Maritime, Inc.
• Roquette Frères S.A. on its acquisition of the Sethness Products Company.

Select private equity deals:

• A consortium led by TPG, PAG Asia Capital, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan on its acquisition of Cushman & Wakefield and in the consortium’s prior acquisitions of Cassidy Turley and DTZ.
• TPG on various matters, including its purchase and subsequent $2 billion sale of Envision Pharmaceutical Services to Rite Aid Corporation and its investment in Creative Artists Agency.
• Warburg Pincus in its acquisition of Endurance International Group.
• TPG Sixth Street Partners (n/k/a Sixth Street Partners) on various private transactions.
• The Raine Group on its investment in Vice Group Holding, the parent company of Vice Media.

Other select experience:

• Barclays Capital on its acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ North American investment banking and capital markets businesses, as well as its Manhattan headquarters and certain other real estate.
• Nationstar Mortgage on its acquisition of the mortgage origination business of Greenlight Financial Services.
• Codelco on its purchase of a 29.5% stake in Anglo American Sur and subsequent refinancing of a $1.87 billion acquisition loan.
• JPMorgan Chase on its acquisitions of RBS Sempra Commodities’ North American power and gas commodities operations and global oil, metals, agricultural, plastics and European energy commodities operations.
• S. Bancorp on the contribution of the long-only asset management business of FAF Advisors to Nuveen Investment.
• ING on the sale of its U.S. broker-dealer business to Lightyear Capital.
• Citigroup on its sale of Phibro to Occidental Petroleum.
• Goldman Sachs & Co. on its role as financial advisor on various public and private transactions.