Barry A. Bryer is a partner in the New York office. He is a corporate and securities lawyer who has focused primarily on mergers and acquisitions for more than thirty five years. He chairs the firm's U.S. Takeover Defense Group.
Mr. Bryer has been extensively involved in both negotiated and hostile acquisitions and has represented bidders as well as targets. Mr. Bryer also has extensive experience in leveraged buyout and restructuring transactions. He has published numerous articles and lectured on structuring leveraged buyouts, the duties of corporate directors in takeovers and corporate governance matters and representing special board committees in conflict transactions and internal investigations.
Mr. Bryer has been particularly active in representing technology and pharmaceutical companies, including Lotus Corp when acquired by IBM; National Semiconductor Corporation in its sale of Fairchild Semiconductor and in its acquisition of Cyrix Corporation; Cheyenne Software Inc. when acquired by Computer Associates International, Inc. The Learning Company, Inc. when acquired by SoftKey International, Inc. Micron Electronics, Inc. in the sale of its custom manufacturing business; and United Technologies Corporation in acquiring Sundstrand Corporation, and in divesting UT Automotive, Inc. Mr. Bryer has also worked on numerous international joint ventures, licensing transactions and industrial collaborations, such as the Schering-Plough/Merck joint venture that led to the development and marketing of Vytorin.
Since joining Latham & Watkins in 2005, Mr. Bryer represented the Pritzker Family in its sale of the Conwood Smokeless Tobacco Business to Reynolds American Inc.; FileNet Corporation when acquired by IBM; and ICOS Corporation when acquired by Eli Lilly and Company. Mr. Bryer also was actively involved in advising the Board of Directors of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Corporation in connection with certain corporate governance matters.
In 2007, Mr. Bryer represented JDS Pharmaceuticals in its sale to Noven Pharmaceuticals; the Doral Financial Corp. in its leveraged recapitalization and sale of a 90% interest to a financial consortium led by Bear Stearns Merchant Bank; Kyphon in its sale to Medtronic; and the Guitar Center in its sale to Bain Capital.
In 2008, Mr. Bryer advised Booz Allen Hamilton in connection with the separation of its U.S. government and global commercial consulting businesses, as well as the sale of a majority stake in the U.S. government consulting business to The Carlyle Group for $2.54 billion. Mr. Bryer also represented SG Private Banking, the wealth management arm of Societe Generale, in the formation of a global alliance with Rockefeller & Co., Inc., a global wealth management firm, as well as its minority equity investment in Rockefeller Financial Services, the parent of Rockefeller & Co. In 2009, Mr. Bryer represented CV Therapeutics in its defense against a hostile tender offer by Astellas Pharmaceuticals and in its sale to white knight Gilead Sciences.
Mr. Bryer has been recognized as a leading M&A lawyer and corporate governance expert by such publications as the Chambers USA Legal Guide, the Legal Media Group's Guide to the World's Leading M&A Lawyers and the 2008 IFLR 1000 Guide. Mr. Bryer was the featured "Dealmaker" in the October 1997 American Lawyer.
Mr. Bryer is an active member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and has served as a member of the Corporation Law Committee and of the Special Committee on Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Control Contests. Prior to joining Latham & Watkins, Mr. Bryer was a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.