Baker Botts L.L.P., a leading international technology, energy and life sciences law firm, announced today that Avner Bengera has joined its New York office as a partner in the Corporate Department, where he will act as the firm’s Co-Head of Cross-Border Mergers & Acquisitions. He joins Baker Botts from Hughes Hubbard & Reed in New York, where he was the Chair of the M&A Group.
Bengera brings deep experience spanning a wide variety of industries and sectors, including life sciences, technology, consumer products, telecommunications, fintech, media, financial services and transportation. Among the clients that he has advised recently with respect to M&A are Cartamundi, Cipla, Spectris, TerraForm Power and Zoetis.
Bengara focuses on public and private mergers and acquisitions, private equity, joint ventures, distressed assets/Section 363 transactions, corporate governance and general corporate matters involving U.S. and non-U.S. clients. Bengera has been recognized by legal publications as a leading M&A lawyer for his work advising industry-leading businesses with respect to complex, cross-border transactions, including frequent work on deals involving clients in Asia, Europe and Latin America.
“Avner is a premier cross-border M&A lawyer who is an ideal fit with both our growth strategy in New York and our global M&A practice,” said John Martin, Managing Partner of Baker Botts. “The broad array of high-profile, cross-border and U.S. transactions he has handled throughout his career will help raise our prominence in this important space even further.”
“Avner’s impressive track record in leading high-profile cross-border and domestic transactions will increase our global M&A footprint even further, particularly between the U.S. and Europe,” said Mike Bengtson, Corporate Department Chair of Baker Botts. “We expect him to hit the ground running and are delighted to welcome him to the firm.”
“I am excited to work with my new colleagues at Baker Botts to help domestic and international clients capitalize on a range of M&A opportunities in the sectors that are shaping the global economy’s future,” Mr. Bengera said. “These are thrilling times for M&A practitioners, and I look forward to deploy my cross-cultural experience and skills to effectively execute complex deals for our clients and to embark on this new chapter of my career.”
With over 20 years of M&A experience, Bengera has been identified in The Legal 500 USA every year since 2012 as one of the top lawyers in the category of mergers and acquisitions, and in Who’s Who Legal every year since 2017 as a leading M&A lawyer. He has spent the last 14 years of his career at Hughes Hubbard and began his career as an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell. He earned his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1999 and his B.S., M.S. and LLM from the University of Antwerp. Mr. Bengera has lived on three continents and is fluent in English, Dutch, French, German and Hebrew.
Baker Botts is involved regularly in many of the largest, most complicated M&A transactions in the U.S. and abroad. The firm’s corporate lawyers are experienced in all aspects of U.S. and international M&A transactions, spanning virtually every industry sector, including energy, media, technology, life sciences, telecommunications, healthcare and manufacturing. Baker Botts has advised clients in M&A transactions ranging from small transactions to those valued at over $70 billion.
