Alison S. Ressler

Trying to place all the parties in one of Ressler's recent deals - which spanned both coasts and involved parties in the United States and Canada - is akin to trying to juggle all the characters in a Dostoyevsky novel.

For approximately $3 billion, Boston-based private equity firm Advent International Corp. agreed to purchase Atlanta-based AOT Bedding Super Holdings LLC, the parent company of Serta Inc. licensee and majority owner National Bedding Co. LLC and Simmons Bedding Co.

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Los Angeles-based investment firm Ares Management LLC had previously controlled AOT Bedding, and both will retain minority ownership in the company.

The deal - in which Ressler's team represented AOT Bedding, Ares Management and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan - was a complex one to iron out and put to bed.

"It was a very interesting and rigorous auction process that was very successful ... We work incredibly long hours. It's very hard to get these deals done," Ressler said. "There are a lot of elements to these deals, and knowing that you get them all done on the required time frame and successfully is a rewarding experience."

Auction transactions can sometimes start with 50 or more interested parties, a pool that is subsequently narrowed to half a dozen or so serious bidders. In the AOT Bedding deal, Ressler had to negotiate with multiple bidders and "keep people sufficiently interested" throughout the process.

"We negotiated with multiple parties down to the final minutes," Ressler said.

With anticipated tax changes on the horizon, there has been talk about an increased desire to sign deals. But the biggest challenge for Ressler has been keeping deals on track and "getting deals done to achieve the clients' objectives in the current environment, which is quite choppy."

The AOT Bedding deal was one of more than a dozen deals Ressler worked on in the past year. For some, she worked on the buyer's side; for others, the seller's. Some deals were large and others were mid-market.

"If I look at what's on my plate at the moment, I have a broad array of strategic transactions," she said.

- ANDREW MCINTYRE