John Ericson is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where he is a member of the Firm’s Corporate Department.  His practice is focused primarily on corporate finance, and he has represented underwriters and issuers in a wide variety of debt and equity financings, including the following recent transactions:

• the initial public offering of Cellu Tissue Holdings in January 2010,
• the $750 million high yield offering by BRF – Brasil Foods S.A. (formerly Perdigão S.A.) in January 2010, 
• the $512 million secondary offering of ordinary shares of Warner Chilcott plc in November 2009,
• three senior secured high yield debt offerings by HCA Inc. in 2009 totaling $3.1 billion,
• the $4.8 billion acquisition of Sadia S.A. by Brasil Foods, including the related $2.4 billion equity offering by Brasil Foods in July 2009,
• the $255 million senior secured high yield debt offering by Cellu Tissue Holdings in June 2009 and
• debt refinancings by Sirius XM Radio in early 2009.

Mr. Ericson’s past transactions also include advising the underwriters or private equity sponsors in high yield, mezzanine and bridge financing for the acquisitions of HCA (2006), Pinnacle Foods Group (2007), The Reader’s Digest Association (2007), The ServiceMaster Company (2007), Guitar Center (2007), the wholesale building supply business of The Home Depot (2007), the purchase of Unilever’s North American laundry business by Huish Detergents (2008) and Precision Drilling Corporation’s acquisition of Grey Wolf (2008).

Fluent in Portuguese, Mr. Ericson’s work has often involved Brazilian and Portuguese issuers.  In addition to the 2009 and 2010 Brasil Foods transactions, Mr. Ericson has represented the issuers or underwriters in equity and debt offerings by prominent Brazilian companies such as Vivo, Braskem, Embraer, EDP – Energias do Brasil, Natura Cosméticos, DASA - Diagnósticos da América and Banco Bradesco.  Mr. Ericson represented Portugal Telecom in connection with an unsolicited tender offer by Sonaecom and Portugal Telecom’s subsequent spin-off of PT Multimedia, now known as ZON Multimedia.

Born in the United States, Mr. Ericson spent most of his first 18 years in Lisbon, Portugal.  In 1993, he received a B.A. in Political Science from Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  After working briefly in Washington, D.C. for Congressman James A. Leach, Mr. Ericson graduated in 1997 from Yale Law School, where he was an Articles Editor of the Yale Journal of International Law and a co-director of the Street Law Program.

Publications

•	Brazil Increases Tax on Foreign Exchange Transactions Related to Foreign Investments in the Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets
•	Restructuring Public Debt – An Overview of the Legal Framework

Speaking Engagements

•	Simpson Thacher Hosted Event on the M&A and Private Equity Markets in Brazil June 17, 2009

Admissions

•	New York 1999

Education

•	Yale Law School, 1997 J.D. Yale Journal of International Law, Articles Editor
•	Amherst College, 1993 B.A. Phi Beta Kappa