Alison S. Ressler

Ressler, a member of Sullivan & Cromwell's senior management committee, is the first female and first non-New York partner to have been invited to join that group. She heads the firm's California practice, where she is a leading authority on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and capital markets. She specializes in blockbuster deals, including her role as counsel to independent investment bank Moelis & Co. LLC as it advised Oracle Corp. board members in Oracle's agreement, announced in late July, to acquire software company NetSuite Inc. in a $9.3 billion all-cash transaction.

Among her clients: Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., whose $55 billion unsolicited offer to acquire Botox maker Allergan Inc., was one of the health care sector's most complex takeover bids. In August, she advised Valeant on its $125 million agreement to divest all North American commercialization rights to its angioedema drug Ruconest to Netherlands-based Pharming Group N.V.

Ressler's efforts this year have focused on the oil and gas sector that has been in turmoil with the sharp decline in oil prices. She is advising Los Angeles-based client Platinum Equity LLC in connection with the prepackaged bankruptcy of Houston-based oilfield facilities supplier Key Energy Services Inc. and subsidiaries. The deal, announced in late August, is known as a plan support agreement. Upon successful completion of the transaction, Key Energy's funded debt will be reduced by $725 million, and it will remain a public company with Platinum as its largest shareholder and Key Energy will be positioned to continue operating successfully, she said.

"It's the first time Platinum has invested significantly in the debt of a company in need of restructuring," Ressler said. Her client is a global investment firm with experience helping businesses in transition. "The bankruptcy will be done in a way that will preserve some value for existing shareholders and position Key to be a platform for consolidation in the industry."

Ressler and her team advised California Resources Corp., which spun off from Occidental Petroleum Corp. in 2014, in a series of transactions over the last year that significantly deleveraged its balance sheet in the face of unsustainable debt levels as oil prices no longer supported existing debt levels. While other companies succumbed to bankruptcy, California Resources on Aug. 17 completed a new $1 billion secured credit facility to reduce about $1.6 billion of outstanding debt. "It is gratifying to help structure creative transactions that help stabilize the industry as it goes through this rough patch," Ressler said.

— John Roemer