The global law firm Jones Day has announced that D. Michael Murray and Bryan Zair have joined as partners in the Firm’s M&A Practice. Mr. Murray will be based in the Firm’s Chicago Office, and Mr. Zair will join Jones Day’s Detroit Office. Both lawyers were previously partners at Mayer Brown in Chicago.
“As companies continue to reconfigure their businesses and redeploy their balance sheets through strategic deals, there’s great demand for lawyers like Mike and Bryan who have broad transactional experience and are comfortable counseling boards,” said Bob Profusek, leader of Jones Day’s global M&A Practice. “Importantly, they both reflect the Firm’s unimpeachable presence in the world’s corporate and industrial power alley: The Midwest United States, a region where our roots are deep, and where we have advised on some of the most substantial transactions in the world. Mike and Bryan are great additions to our practice and will be terrific assets to our clients throughout the Midwest and around the world.”
Mr. Murray’s transactional work has focused on stock and asset acquisitions and divestitures, mergers, joint ventures, and strategic alliances. He also advises clients on corporate governance, SEC compliance, and defensive measures, including shareholders’ rights plans. Some of Mr. Murray’s most significant deals have included advising Prologis, Inc. in its $5.9 billion acquisition of the real estate assets and operating platform of KTR Capital Partners and its affiliates and its $5.5 billion acquisition of Catellus Development Corporation; Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, in the sale of its Viking and ProFume businesses to Altamont Capital Partners and Douglas Products and in an agreement under which Syngenta assumed responsibility for the supply and distribution of Dow AgroSciences crop protection products throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region; The Pritzker Group in its leveraged buyout of Entertainment Cruises, Inc.; Mitsui & Co., Ltd. in its buyout of two joint venture partners in Multigrain AG; and TransCanada Corporation in its $2.9 billion acquisition of the Ravenswood Power Generating Facility and its $3.4 billion acquisition of ANR Pipeline Company, ANR Storage Company, and an additional interest in Great Lakes Gas Transmission Limited Partnership.
“Mike is the fourth partner to join us in Chicago since March, and his arrival, along with the addition of Tim FitzSimons earlier this year, is a reflection of our continued emphasis on the growth of our world-class transactional team,” said Tina Tabacchi, Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s Chicago Office. “Mike is a seamless fit with our leading global M&A Practice and his experience on international deals and across numerous industries will be valuable to clients worldwide.”
A graduate of Northern Illinois University (B.S., cum laude) and DePaul University College of Law (J.D., with honors, Order of the Coif), Mr. Murray served as Article and Note Editor of DePaul Law Review. He is a member of the 2013 Leadership Greater Chicago fellowship class and has been selected as an “Illinois Super Lawyer” every year since 2009.
Mr. Zair represents publicly traded and privately held U.S., foreign, and multinational clients on a broad range of transactional and corporate matters, focusing primarily in the areas of M&A, joint ventures, strategic alliances and collaborations, as well as in other complex commercial arrangements. He also counsels clients on general corporate law matters, including corporate governance and compliance. Mr. Zair’s transactional experience includes advising The Dow Chemical Company and Dow AgroSciences in a variety of corporate transactional matters throughout the world, including the formation of America Styrenics LLC, a joint venture with Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP; the sale of Dexco Polymers L.P., a joint venture of Dow and ExxonMobil Chemical Company to TSRC Corporation; and the sale of Dow AgroSciences’ Vikane and ProFume businesses to Altamont Capital Partners and Douglas Products. Mr. Zair also represented Baxter Healthcare Corporation in connection with the sale of its U.S. generic injectables business, and the founders of CDMI, LLC, a privately held drug benefit management company, in connection with their sale of 100% of the equity interests in CDMI to Magellan Health Services, Inc., for a purchase price (including potential contingent payments) of $375 million.
“Bryan will be a terrific addition to our office in Detroit, bringing a depth of experience and skill that will bolster our office and the practice worldwide,” said Tim Melton, Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s Detroit Office. “He is a Metro Detroit native and his deep experience advising clients in transactions as well as general corporate law matters, including corporate governance and compliance, gives us a substantial capability in Detroit. We are very excited to add Bryan to our growing presence in Detroit.”
Mr. Zair earned his J.D., cum laude and Order of the Coif from Wayne State University Law School, and his B.S. summa cum laude from Wayne State University. He is author of the chapter “Best Practices In Implementing Corporate Divestitures” in Managing Corporate Divestiture Transactions (December 2013).
Source: www.jonesday.com
