Benjamin P. Schaye

A Partner in the Firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice, Ben Schaye advises public and private clients in a wide range of transactions across a multitude of industries. As a pioneer in the in the accounting firm M&A space, he was a panelist in Accounting Today’s inaugural PE Summit and has advised on 4 of the 9 deals involving top 25 accounting firms, including New Mountain Capital in its significant growth investment in the non-attest business of Grant Thornton, which was named one of the top five deals in the accounting firm sector according to The Financial Times, and Citrin Cooperman in Blackstone’s investment in the firm, the first transaction involving the sale of an investment in an accounting firm alternative practice structure from one private equity sponsor to another. Ben also has extensive experience in the software and technology, real estate and franchising industries.

He also regularly counsels corporate and private equity clients on complex spin-off and carve-out transactions, such as Blackstone’s spin-off of its financial advisory business, PPL Corporation’s spin-off of Talen Energy and concurrent merger of Talen with entities affiliated with Riverstone Holdings and Avantor’s carveout of the Masterflex bioprocessing business and related assets from Antylia Scientific.

Ben’s private equity clients have included Apax, Blackstone, Centerbridge, Charlesbank Capital Partners and New Mountain Capital, among others. He represents clients in proxy contests, hostile takeover defenses, strategic alliances and joint ventures and counsels clients on issues involving corporate governance, fiduciary duties and shareholder activism. In addition to his legal practice, Ben serves on the Board of Trustees for the Friends of Princeton Wrestling.

Ben’s representative experience included*:

Accounting Firm M&A

• New Mountain Capital in its significant growth investment in the non-attest business of Grant Thornton and its majority investment in Citrin Cooperman
• Citrin Cooperman in its add-on acquisition of Berdon and the pending acquisition by a Blackstone-led group of New Mountain Capital’s investment in the firm
• Grant Thornton Advisors in its combination with the non-attest in its combination with the tax and advisory business of Grant Thornton Ireland
• Charlesbank in its strategic investment in Aprio

Real Estate

• Centerbridge in the establishment of a joint venture backed by Centerbridge-affiliated funds and global institutional investors, with Suntex Marina Investors
• Centerbridge in its sale of a controlling interest in Great Wolf Resorts
• Blackstone in its $4.8 billion terminated acquisition of La Salle Hotel Properties, its purchase of 40 industrial warehouses and two adjacent land parcels from FRP Holdings, its joint venture with Hilton Grand Vacations to purchase Elara, a Hilton Grand Vacations Club and its acquisitions of International Market Centers and AmericasMart
• Kaufman Astoria Studios in its sale to real estate investment management companies Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management
• Carlyle in its sale of Manhattan Beach Studios to Hackman Capital Partners

• Apax portfolio company Authority Brands in its acquisitions of Monster Tree Service, Clockwork, Mosquito Squad, America’s Swimming Pool Company, Junkluggers, and DoodyCalls

• Amergint in its acquisition of Raytheon Technologies’ space-based precision optics business
• Avantor in its acquisition of the Masterflex bioprocessing business and related assets of Antylia Scientific
• Blackstone in the spin-off of its financial and strategic advisory services, restructuring and reorganization of advisory services, and acquisition of Park Hill fund placement businesses and the combination of those businesses with PJT Partners, an independent financial advisory firm founded by Paul J. Taubman
• Apax portfolio company Authority Brands in the carve out of the homes service franchise businesses of Direct Energy
• Apax Portfolio company Oncourse in the appliance service plan business from Consumers Energy

• El Puerto de Liverpool in its pending take private with members of the Nordstrom family of Nordstrom, Inc.
• Blue Yonder in the acquisition by Panasonic of a minority stake in Blue Yonder from existing shareholders and the acquisition of One Network Enterprises
• Dell Technologies and Silver Lake Partners in a transaction to simplify Dell Technologies’ capital structure by eliminating its Class V tracking stock, which tracked the performance of VMware, Inc.
• De-Spac transactions involving Mobix Labs and Blade Urban Air Mobility
• Avantor in its take-private of VWR Corporation
• Ross Aviation in its sale to Atlantic Aviation
• International Business Machines in its acquisitions of Netezza, DemandTec and Unica
• Johnson & Johnson in its sale of its animal health business to Elanco, a division of Eli Lilly And Company
• Casey’s General Stores in its successful hostile takeover defense against Alimentation Couche-Tard

Other Private Equity Transactions

• New Mountain Capital and its portfolio companies in multiple acquisitions, sales and divestitures, including Ascensus Specialties and Verisk Analytics’ 3E Business
• Apax Partners and its portfolio companies in a myriad of initial and add-on acquisitions, including those of Altus Fire and Safety, Homeowner Services Group, Tosca Services, Authority Brands, Polymer Logistics, Facilities Compliance Fire Protection, Contraload and MyCase
• Blackstone in its $5.4 billion acquisition of Gates Corporation, its $225 million acquisition of Accuvant, Inc., its participation in a $575 million equity investment in Blue Yonder and its acquisitions of International Market Centers and the Elara
• Centerbridge in its acquisitions of Trimark and Acoustic
• Oaktree in its sale of approximately 62% of the Oaktree business to Brookfield Asset Management
• Software AG, a company controlled by Silver Lake, in the sale of StreamSets and webMethods

In addition to his legal practice, Ben serves on the Board of Trustees for the Friends of Princeton Wrestling.

Ben received his A.B. from Princeton University in 2002 and his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 2007. He is admitted to practice in New York.

*Includes experience handled prior to joining Simpson Thacher

.