Michael Diz is Co-Chair of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions Group, co-managing partner of the San Francisco office, and a leader in the Technology, ...
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Experience
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Technology
- TPG Growth in its acquisition of a majority stake in Crowe Healthcare Consulting, establishing it as an independent entity.
- Kelso & Company in its investment in Valenz.
- J.P. Morgan Securities, as financial advisor to multi-cloud services provider VMware, in its sale to global technology leader Broadcom, in a transaction valued at approximately $61 billion.
- Smartly.io, the leading social advertising platform, in its acquisition of Ad-Lib.io, the creative optimization platform.
- DoubleVerify, a Providence Equity Partners portfolio company and a leading software platform for digital media measurement and analytics, in its acquisition of OpenSlate, a content-focused measurement and analytics company.
- Smartly.io, the leading social advertising platform, in its acquisition of Viralspace.ai, a startup in artificial intelligence-driven creative optimization for digital advertising.
- DoubleVerify, a Providence Equity Partners portfolio company and a leading software platform for digital media measurement and analytics, in its agreement to acquire Meetrics, a European ad verification company, in an all-cash transaction.
- Providence Equity Partners in the combination of Blackboard, a leading global educational technology software and solutions company, and Anthology, a leading provider of proven higher education solutions.
- GoDaddy in its acquisitions of the .club and .design domain extensions, as well as 28 domain extensions (and certain other business assets) owned and operated by Minds + Machines Group Limited (MMX).
- Verizon in its acquisition of BlueJeans, a market-leading cloud-based video conferencing and event platform.
- GoDaddy in its acquisition of Neustar’s Registry business, a registry technology platform that includes an extensive portfolio of top-level domains.
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in the acquisition of Carestream Dental, an industry-leading provider of dental digital product lines and services, from Carestream Health/Onex.
- Providence Equity Partners in its majority investment of €200 million in Smartly.io.
- Amazon as strategic partner to Yankee Global Enterprises in the acquisition of the YES Network from The Walt Disney Company at a total enterprise value of $3.47 billion.
- OEConnection (OEC) and Providence Equity in the sale of a majority stake in OEC to Genstar Capital.
- GoDaddy in its acquisition of Sellbrite, a multi-channel management platform.
- Sequoia Capital as a shareholder of Qualtrics International in Qualtric’s $8 billion sale to SAP.
- Verizon Communications in its acquisition of Telogis, a provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology and services, specifically in the connected vehicle and mobile enterprise management sectors.
- Providence Equity Partners in its acquisition from General Motors and Ford of a majority stake in OEConnection, the established market leader in cloud-based technology solutions that facilitate the efficient location, sale, distribution and dynamic pricing of automotive parts.
- Providence Equity Partners and SRA in the merger of SRA with the government services unit of CSC, creating the largest pure-play IT services provider serving the U.S. government sector.
- The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Dell in litigation challenging the $24.9 billion sale of Dell to an investor group including Michael Dell and Silver Lake.
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Media & Telecommunications
- Providence Equity Partners in its investment in a multi-decade lease for nine marquee billboards at Two Times Square and 1600 Broadway from Universal Branding Group.
- Providence Equity Partners in its minority investment of up to $500 million in the formation of The North Road Company.
- Qatar Investment Authority in its $375 million co-investment in Elon Musk’s take private acquisition of Twitter.
- Verizon in its $6.25 billion acquisition of Tracfone, the largest reseller of wireless services in the U.S.
- The Special Committee of Liberty Broadband in Liberty Broadband’s $10.59 billion acquisition of GCI Liberty.
- The Dolan Family in MSG Entertainment’s acquisition of MSG Networks.
- Time Inc. in its $2.8 billion sale to Meredith.
- Verizon Communications in its $3.1 billion acquisition of Straight Path Communications, a leading wireless spectrum holder.
- Verizon Communications in its $1.8 billion acquisition of XO Communications’ fiber-optic network business.
- The Dolan family, controlling stockholders of Cablevision Systems Corporation, in Cablevision’s $17.7 billion sale to Altice.
- Verizon Communications in the $10.54 billion sale of its local wireline operations in California, Florida and Texas to Frontier Communications.
- Beijing Galloping Horse Film and Galloping Horse America in their acquisition of the visual effects and other assets of Digital Domain Productions in a Section 363 sale under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
- Verizon Wireless in its $3.6 billion acquisition of Advanced Wireless Services spectrum licenses.
- Verizon Wireless in its $2.67 billion acquisition of Rural Cellular.
- Verizon Wireless in its acquisition of Alltel Corporation, a transaction valued at $28.1 billion.
- Verizon Wireless in its $2.35 billion sale of wireless assets to AT&T and $240 million acquisition of wireless assets from AT&T.
- Oxygen Media in its $925 million acquisition by NBC Universal.
- General Electric in the repurchase of Vivendi’s stock of NBC Universal for $5.8 billion, along with advice to NBC Universal on certain corporate matters related to the formation of the NBC Universal - Comcast joint venture valued at $37.5 billion.
- Discovery, Inc. in its $1.9 billion acquisition from Cox Communications of a 25% interest in Discovery for cash and certain assets, including the Travel Channel.
- The Dolan family in its $22 billion effort to take Cablevision private.
- Verizon Communications in the $2.72 billion spin-off and merger of Verizon's local exchange business in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont with Fairpoint Communications.
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Industrials
- Kelso & Company and its portfolio company, BradyIFS, in the merger of BradyIFS and Envoy Solutions, which includes a new strategic and financial partnership with Warburg Pincus and its affiliate funds.
- TPG Rise Climate, the dedicated climate investing strategy of TPG's global impact investing platform TPG Rise, in the equity portion of a $700 million investment in Hybar, a newly formed company, to start up and operate a technologically advanced, environmentally sustainable scrap metal recycling steel rebar mill.
- Kelso & Company in its acquisition of a majority interest in Inovar Packaging Group, a full-service provider of pressure sensitive labels, shrink sleeves and flexibles for a wide range of industries.
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and Solenis in the sale of Solenis to Platinum Equity at an implied enterprise value of $5.25 billion.
- Kelso & Company in its acquisition of a majority interest in C.L. Smith and its combination of C.L. Smith with Inmark.
- Individual FoodService, a Kelso & Company portfolio company, in its merger with Brady Industries.
- Kelso & Company and US LBM in Bain Capital Private Equity’s acquisition of a majority interest in US LBM.
- Dealer Tire, a Bain Capital portfolio company, in its acquisition of Dent Wizard.
- Morgan Stanley and Greenhill Partners, as financial advisors to International Flavors and Fragrances, in its $45 billion Reverse Morris Trust merger with the nutrition and biosciences unit of DuPont de Nemours.
- The Special Conflicts Committee of the Board of Directors of Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. in the sale by Navios of its ship management division and certain general partnership interests to a related party.
- One Rock Capital Partners in its acquisition of the Engineered Components and Systems segment of Actuant Corporation.
- SouthernCarlson in its sale to Kyocera Corporation.
- Dealer Tire in a significant investment by Bain Capital Private Equity.
- Dealer Tire in its significant investment in SimpleTire.
- Solenis, a Clayton, Dubilier & Rice portfolio company, in its combination with BASF's paper and water chemicals business.
- International Paper in the $1.8 billion combination of its North America Consumer Packaging business with Graphic Packaging.
- Dealer Tire in its sale of the assets of Dealer Tire Canada to Groupe Touchette.
- Dover Corporation in its $780 million acquisition of Wayne Fueling Systems from Riverstone Holdings.
- International Paper in its $2.2 billion acquisition of Weyerhaeuser’s pulp business.
- Truck-Lite, a Kelso & Company portfolio company, in its sale to Koch Equity Development and BDT Capital Partners.
- Roofing Supply Group, a Clayton, Dubilier & Rice portfolio company, in its $1.1 billion sale to Beacon Roofing Supply.
- Kelso & Company in its acquisition of US LBM Holdings, a building products distributor, from BlackEagle Partners.
- Solenis, a Clayton, Dubilier & Rice portfolio company, in its acquisition of Clearwater Specialties, a specialty chemical company.
- Chemtura in the $1 billion sale of its agrochemicals business, Chemtura AgroSolutions.
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its $1.8 billion acquisition of Ashland Water Technologies.
- Reynolds Group in its $6 billion acquisition of Pactiv, a NYSE-listed global manufacturer and supplier of consumer food and beverage packaging and storage products.
- International Paper in its $4.3 billion acquisition of Temple-Inland.
- Ripplewood and Oak Hill Capital in the financings for the $3.4 billion acquisition of RSC Equipment Rental.
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Consumer
- Kelso & Company and its portfolio company, Eagle Family Foods Group, in their acquisition of General Mills’ Helper main meals and Suddenly Salad side dishes businesses, in a transaction valued at approximately $610 million.
- Kelso & Company in its acquisition of Ferraro Foods, a specialty foodservice distributor.
- Elliott Management in its $683 million acquisition of Barnes & Noble, the largest retail bookseller in the U.S.
- Morgan Stanley Capital Partners in its acquisition of Educate 360 Holdings.
- Hojeij Branded Foods in its $330 million sale to Lagardère Travel Retail.
- Morgan Stanley Private Equity in its acquisition of Manna Pro, a leading producer of nutritional supplements and other animal products, from Carlyle.
- Eagle Foods, a Kelso & Company portfolio company, in its acquisition of Popcorn, Indiana, a maker of ready-to-eat popcorn products.
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its $415 million acquisition of High Ridge Brands, the largest North American consolidation platform focused on acquiring orphaned personal care brands, from Brynwood Partners.
- Kelso & Company in its acquisition of the J.M. Smucker Company’s U.S. canned milk brands and operations.
- Energy Brands, also known as Glacéau, the maker of VitaminWater, in its $4.1 billion acquisition by The Coca-Cola Company.
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Business Services
- Kelso & Company in its investment in Pathstone, an independently operated, partner-owned advisory firm offering comprehensive family office services.
- Kelso & Company in its strategic investment in WilliamsMarston, a leader in complex accounting, tax and valuation advisory services.
- Kelso & Company in its acquisition of a majority interest in ReSource Pro, a market leader in business process solutions for the P&C insurance industry.
- Kelso & Company, as part of a consortium with Arch Capital Group and Warburg Pincus, in the $700 million acquisition of Watford Holdings, a global property and casualty insurance and reinsurance company.
- Kelso & Company in its acquisition of a majority equity interest in Individual FoodService from Sole Source Capital.
- Kelso & Company in its acquisition of J.S. Held, a global consulting firm focused on high value insurance claims and construction-related matters.
- CoAdvantage, a Morgan Stanley Private Equity portfolio company, in its acquisition of Progressive Employer Management Company.
- Altegrity and Providence Equity Partners in their $1.13 billion acquisition of Kroll from Marsh & McLennan.
Education
- University of Virginia School of Law, 2004, J.D.
- University of Virginia, 1999, B.A.