Jackie Cohen is a partner in the firm’s mergers & acquisitions group in the New York office. She guides public and private companies and private equity sponsors through complex mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures, carve-outs spin-offs, and strategic investments.
Jackie advises on both domestic and cross-border transactions across many industries and verticals, including financial services, media and entertainment, retail and consumer products, industrials and technology. She also has extensive experience counseling on high-profile and business-critical shareholder activism, takeover defense and corporate governance matters.
Chambers recognizes Jackie as a leading lawyer for Corporate/M&A in New York, where clients praise her “business focus,” describing her as an “excellent, technical practitioner.” Jackie is also recognized as a “Highly Regarded” lawyer for M&A in the U.S. by IFLR1000 and a “Leading Lawyer” for M&A by The Legal 500 US.
Prior to joining Ropes & Gray, Jackie was a partner in the New York office of another international law firm.
Experience
- National Amusements Inc in several transactions, including:
- its pending sale to affiliates of Skydance Media in concert with the merger of Skydance Media with Paramount Global.
- the $175 million preferred equity investment in NAI by BDT Capital Partners.
- The Hershey Company in its acquisition of Sour Strips, a fast-growing sour candy brand with a powerful social media presence.
- Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc in its merger with TCR² Therapeutics.
- Jack Creek Investment Corp., a SPAC, in its merger with Bridger Aerospace Group Holdings.
- Avista Healthcare Partners in the purchase of $130 million of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock from Organogenesis Holdings Inc.
- SkillSoft Corp. in multiple transactions including:
- the sale of its SumTotal business to Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc.*
- its $525 million acquisition of Codecademy.*
- Avista Public Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC sponsored by Avista Acquisition LP II (an affiliate of Avista Capital Holdings), in its $850 million business combination with OmniAb, Inc.*
- Magellan Health, Inc. in its $2.2 billion merger with Centene Corporation.*
- Cardtronics plc in its $2.5 billion sale to NCR Corporation.*
- Software Luxembourg Holding S.A. in its $1.3 billion merger with and into Churchill Capital Corp II, a SPAC sponsored by the Churchill Capital Group to create Skillsoft Corp.*
- Fortress Value Acquisition Corp., a SPAC sponsored by Fortress Investment Group, in its acquisition of Secure Natural Resources and MP Materials in a stock-for-stock transaction that valued the combined company at $1.5 billion.*
- QuickChek Corporation in its $645 million sale to Murphy USA.*
- Brooks Brothers Group, Inc. in its $325 million sale to SPARC Group LLC.*
- Total S.A. in its $4 billion acquisition of all of the oil and natural gas assets, liabilities, businesses and operations of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in Mozambique and South Africa.*
- Campbell Soup Company in its $2.2 billion sale of Campbell International, Inc. and its $300 million sale of Kelsen Group A/S.*
- GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. in its up to $740 million sale of Avera Semiconductor LLC and its $430 million sale of a semiconductor fabrication plant to ON Semiconductor Corporation.*
- Willis Towers Watson PLC in its $1.3 billion acquisition of TRANZACT.*
- Atos S.E. in its $3.57 billion acquisition of Syntel, Inc.*
- General Electric Company in its $2.6 billion sale of GE Industrial Solutions.*
- Discovery, Inc. in its joint venture with Magnolia, the home and lifestyle brand led by Chip and Joanna Gaines, in the formation of the Magnolia Network.*
- General Electric Company and Synchrony Financial in connection with the separation and initial public offering of Synchrony Financial (GE Capital’s North American retail finance business) and in GE’s $20.4 billion offer to exchange Synchrony common stock for GE common stock, completing the separation of Synchrony from GE.*
- Atos S.E. in its $1.1 billion acquisition of the information technology outsourcing business of Xerox Corporation.*
- NBC Universal and parent General Electric in GE’s $37.25 billion joint venture with Comcast for ownership of NBC Universal and Comcast’s cable channels and regional sports networks and, thereafter, GE in the $18.1 billion sale of its remaining 49 percent stake in NBC Universal and related real estate to Comcast.*
- DIRECTV in its $28.5 billion stock-for-stock merger with Liberty Entertainment.*
*Handled prior to joining Ropes & Gray