Oliver Brahmst

Partner, New York

Biography

Clients describe Oliver as a “partner of special skills for any transaction related project… one of the best lawyers you would want to have by your side during negotiations” and “a true legal counselor and excellent negotiator.”
Chambers USA

Overview

Oliver Brahmst is White & Case's Global Co-Head of Private Equity. His practice focuses on domestic and cross-border acquisitions and divestitures, including joint ventures and equity co-investments.

Oliver has built up a significant track record in the resolution of complex cross-border transactions, having worked on some of the most innovative and exciting deals of the last ten years.

Often working across multiple jurisdictions, Oliver has advised on high-profile transactions and taken a major role in such landmark deals as the representation of a consortium composed of Brookfield Infrastructure, its institutional partners and GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, on the US$8.4 billion acquisition of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (NYSE:GWR), a freight railroad owner and operator based in the United States. This transaction was named "Private Equity Deal of the Year" by IFLR (2020). Oliver's recent deals also include the representation of CVC Capital Partners its acquisition of a majority interest in ExamWorks, a global leader in independent medical examinations, peer reviews, document management, and related services.

As a mark of the esteem in which he is held in the financial and legal community, Oliver is named as a leading individual for M&A and Private Equity in Chambers, Euromoney, The Legal 500, Best Lawyers, Lawdragon and Who's Who Legal.

Bars and Courts
New York
Education
LLM
Tax
Osgoode Hall Law School
LLB
University of Ottawa
BA
University of Toronto
Languages
English
German

Experience

Recent matters include the representation of:

  • CVC Capital Partners in numerous transactions, including its:
    • acquisition of Scan Logistics, a global full suite freight and logistics provider.
    • acquisition of Veritext, a leading provider of deposition and litigation support solutions in North America.
    • investment in a 22.55% stake in Authentic Brands Group LLC, a brand management company and owner of a portfolio of brand name companies, including Forever 21, Brooks Brothers, Barneys New York, Lucky Brand and Juicy Couture, valuing the company at US$12.7 billion in enterprise value.
    • acquisition of a majority interest in ExamWorks, a global leader in independent medical examinations, peer reviews, document management, and related services.
    • acquisition, with minority co-investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), of a majority stake in the international agencies of BlueFocus Intelligent Communications Group Co., Ltd., a leading publicly-traded Chinese marketing services conglomerate.
    • acquisition of a majority stake in MedRisk, a leading provider of managed physical medicine services for the workers' compensation industry in the United States.
    • acquisition of Vitech Systems Group, a leading provider of cloud-based financial administration solutions.
    • US$1.8 billion acquisition of ConvergeOne Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVON), a leading global IT and managed services provider of collaboration and technology solutions. The transaction was named "M&A Deal of the Year (Over US$1 billion)" and "Information Technology Deal of the Year (Over US$1 billion)" by the M&A Advisor (2020).
    • acquisition of a majority equity stake in UnitedLex, a leading alternative legal services provider.
    • US$1.425 billion acquisition of beauty and personal care products company PDC Brands from Yellow Partners Wood Partners.
    • proposed investment, together with Silver Lake Partners and KKR, in US$6 billion convertible notes to be issued by Broadcom, a leading designer, developer and global supplier of a broad range of digital and analog semiconductor connectivity solutions, for the purpose of Broadcom's previously proposed acquisition of Qualcomm in a deal valued at US$121 billion.
    • acquisition of OANDA Global Corporation, a global online retail trading platform, currency data and analytics company.
    • acquisition of a controlling stake in Alvogen, a leading generic pharmaceuticals company; and in the subsequent acquisition of County Line Pharmaceuticals LLC by Alvogen.
    • pending US$500 million take-private acquisition of Innovid Corp., an omnichannel advertising and analytics platform built for television, by portfolio company MediaOcean.
  • Brookfield in numerous transactions, including:
    • Brookfield Renewable in the sale of 121MWs of wind and solar project in Uruguay to Cubico Sustainable Investments.
    • Brookfield Infrastructure in connection with its £4.08 billion acquisition of HomeServe plc, a home repairs and emergency services group with businesses across the UK, US, Europe and Asia.
    • Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. in its joint venture with Digital Realty focused on the development, ownership and operation of institutional quality data centers in India, with a subsequent 1/3 stake investment by Reliance Industries.
    • Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in its bid to acquire Inter Pipeline Ltd., a Canadian company publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, for an implied value of CAD$13.5 billion.
    • A consortium composed of Brookfield Infrastructure, its institutional partners and GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, on the US$8.4 billion acquisition of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (NYSE:GWR), a freight railroad owner and operator based in the United States. This transaction was named "Private Equity Deal of the Year" by IFLR (2020).
    • Brookfield Infrastructure in its US$2.6 billion bid to acquire Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB), a regional telecommunications provider.
    • Brookfield Asset Management in its CAD$4.3 billion acquisition of Enercare Inc., one of North America's largest home and commercial services companies.
    • Brookfield Asset Management as 50 percent equity investor with Digital Realty Trust in its US$1.8 billion acquisition of Ascenty from Great Hill Partners.
  • Mill Rock Capital and its portfolio companies in numerous transactions, including:
    • its acquisition of Asbury Carbons, a leading provider of advance materials, specializing in carbon additive solutions for a wide array of end markets and applications.
    • Trojan Lithograph Corporation, a portfolio company of Mill Rock Capital, on its acquisition of Impressions Packaging LLC, a market leader in the design, engineering, and production of high-end paperboard packaging and commercial printing products.
    • Tandym Group, a leading recruitment, contract staffing, consulting, and workforce solutions company, and a portfolio company of Mill Rock Capital, in its acquisition of Metro Systems Inc., a provider of IT staffing services to clients in the North American marketplace. 
    • Mill Rock Capital in the acquisition of Trojan Lithograph Corporation, a U.S.-based full service provider of high-end, graphic paper packaging, from Arbor Investments.
    • Mill Rock Packaging Partners LLC and its affiliates in its acquisition of All Packaging Company, a cartons manufacturing company.
  • Certares LP in numerous transactions, including its:
    • investment in AmaWaterways, a leading luxury river cruising company.
    • preferred equity investment in Avoya Travel, a leading travel marketing and technology company.
    • acquisition of Guardian Alarm, and its acquisition of Guardian Medical Monitoring.
    • US$325 million co-investment in convertible debentures issued by Azul S.A., the largest airline in Brazil.
    • all-cash convertible preferred equity investment for approximately 40 percent equity ownership in MysticInvest Holding, S.A., a river and expedition cruise chartering and touring business operating throughout Europe.
  • Investcorp and its portfolio companies in numerous transactions, including:
    • Investcorp and its portfolio company ICR, a leading strategic communications and advisory company, in the strategic investment made by CDPQ into ICR.
    • its acquisition of Multivision, LLC, an IT solutions and training provider.
    • its majority investment in ICR, LLC, a leading strategic communications and advisory company. He also advised ICR, LLC in its acquisition of Westwicke Partners, LLC, a leading healthcare-focused investor relations firm.
    • its co-acquisition of CVC Capital Partners' ownership stake in AlixPartners.
  • Qatar Investment Authority in numerous transactions, including its:
    • co-investment with a consortium led by Tencent Holdings Ltd. and its affiliate Tencent Music Entertainment Group (NYSE: TME) in the acquisition of a 10% stake in Universal Music Group, from Vivendi S.A.
    • purchase of shares in Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (ESRT) (NYSE:ESRT) through a private offering worth approximately US$622 million.
    • US$2.9 billion sale of FRHI, the parent company of luxury hotel brands Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel, to AccorHotels.
  • Toys "R" Us on WHP Global's significant minority investment in and strategic partnership with TRU Kids Parent LLC, parent company to the Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us brands.
  • Alberta Investment Management Corporation (Aimco), in a joint venture with The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) to merge the sPower development platform, a leading independent solar developer in the United States, with AES' US-based clean energy development business to accelerate the safe, reliable transition to cleaner energy solutions in the United States.
  • HgCapital in numerous transactions, including its:
    • investment in Intelerad Medical Systems, a leading global provider of medical imaging software and enterprise workflow solutions.
    • acquisition of a majority interest in Sovos Compliance, a leading provider of regulatory tax compliance software. He also advised in relation to a co-investment by Vista Equity Partners (the current majority interest holder in the Sovos Compliance Group) and the refinancing of the Sovos Compliance Group's existing debt package.
  • Antin Infrastructure Partners in the US$1.25 billion acquisition of Veolia Group's district energy assets in the United States, which comprises steam, hot and chilled water and electricity production plants, including cogeneration plants, and 13 networks in ten US cities.
  • Harvest Partners and its portfolio companies in numerous transactions, including its:
    • sale of Total Fleet Solutions, Ltd., a leading provider of material handling solutions.
    • sale of Concentric, LLC, the national leader in DC power management and maintenance for the material handling and critical power industries, to Mitsubishi Heavy Indutries through portfolio company OnPoint Group, LLC.
    • sale of TruckPro Holding Corp., one of the nation's largest independent distributors of heavy-duty truck and trailer parts, to an affiliate of Platinum Equity.
    • US$1.3 billion sale of Associated Materials to Hellman & Friedman LLC; and the acquisition of Material Handling Services; and the joint acquisition, with Audax Private Equity, of CWD Holdings Corp., a distributor of auto parts.
  • Pilot Flying J, the largest operator of travel centers in North America, and its shareholders, the Haslam Family, in numerous transactions, including:
    • the investment of a significant minority stake by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway.
    • its acquisition of a controlling interest in Maxum Petroleum, Inc., a leading independent energy logistics company.
    • the acquisition of Flying J Inc.'s core travel plaza and truck stop businesses by Pilot Travel Centers LLC. The acquisition, which combined the first and second largest travel plaza operators in the nation to create a new company called Pilot Flying J with a combined value in excess of US$5 billion, was featured as one of the "Most Innovative M&A Transactions in the United States" by The Financial Times (2010) and was named "Deal of the Decade," "Turnaround Deal of the Year (Large Market)" and "Divestiture Deal of the Year" by the M&A Advisor (2011).
  • FCX Performance, Inc., a portfolio company of Harvest Partners, in its US$768 million sale to Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: AIT).
  • Odebrecht S.A. in its US$1.39 billion sale of the 456 MW Chaglla hydroelectric power plant in Peru to a consortium headed by China Three Gorges Corp.
  • BHI Investments, a leading specialty energy services company and a portfolio company of Harvest Partners, in its sale to AE Industrial Partners.
  • China Three Gorges Corporation, in its US$1.2 billion acquisition of Duke Energy's assets in Brazil.
  • Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC in numerous transactions, including its:
    • US$2.65 billion acquisition of the US-based generic drugs businesses, Roxane Laboratories and Boehringer Ingelheim Roxane, from German drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim.
    • acquisition of assets relating to a portfolio of six injectable products for commercialization in certain European markets, from Pfizer.
    • acquisition of the assets of the Ben Venue manufacturing facilities and equipment located in Bedford, Ohio.
  • Salesforce in its acquisition of AKTA US LLC., a leading mobile application development, design and consulting company.
  • Funds advised by Triton Investment Management Ltd. in the acquisition of ACRE Operating Group, LLC, a leading end-to-end security solutions provider.
  • GDF Suez S.A. in the US$840 million sale of power assets in Panama and Costa Rica to Celsia S.A. E.S.P., one of Colombia's largest power generators. This transaction was named "Cross-border deal of the Year" by the M&A Advisor, 2015.
  • Electronic Funds Source LLC, a leader in innovative corporate payment solutions, in its sale to an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, LLC. 
  • Univar Inc., a leading global distributor of industrial and specialty chemicals in more than 100 countries, in its acquisition of Magnablend Holdings, Inc., and in its acquisition of Basic Chemical Solutions, LLC, a leading global distributor and trader of commodity chemicals.
  • Nordic Capital and Avista Capital Partners in the US$4.1 billion acquisition of the ConvaTec business unit from Bristol-Myers Squibb. The transaction, the largest private equity deal globally at the time of signing in 2008, was named LBO Deal of the Year by Dow Jones' Private Equity Analyst.
Publications

Oliver is a frequent author and contributor to highly reputable publications such as Mergermarket, Lexology, and The M&A Explorer among others

Co-author, "Debt Financing Risk Allocation in US Sponsor-Led Acquisitions: A Short History and Primer," Euromoney's Banking Finance and Transactional Expert Guide, 2012 (with Matthew Hendy)

Awards and Recognition

Leading Individual for M&A and Private Equity
Chambers USA, 2024

Leading Lawyer for Private Equity Buyouts
Legal 500 US, 2024

Recommended Lawyer for M&A
Who's Who Legal, 2024

Leading Dealmaker in America for Private Equity, Lawdragon 500, 2025

The Best Lawyers in America: Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law, 2021

Leading Lawyer for M&A and Private Equity in the United States, Euromoney, 2022