Nicholas O'Keefe is a Partner in Arnold & Porter's Silicon Valley office. Nick has more than 25 years of corporate law and M&A experience, with an emphasis on buy-side and sell-side work and takeover defense, including domestic and cross-border deals. His clients include strategics, private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, and financial advisors. His completed deals range in value from a few million dollars to several billion dollars. Nick also advises emerging growth and mature issuer clients with respect to general corporate work, corporate governance matters, federal and state securities law matters, and securities transactions. Nick also has a deep understanding of emerging markets, having spent three years working in the Middle East. His practice in the Middle East included regional and cross-border deals involving Middle East private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, and regional and U.S. issuers investing in the Middle East.
Nick has worked extensively with public and private companies in the technology, fintech, life sciences and healthcare industries, among others. He has also represented several venture capital and private equity funds making investments, acquisitions, and dispositions in these industries.
Nick also has a deep understanding of emerging markets, having spent three years working in the Middle East. His practice in the Middle East included regional and cross-border deals involving Middle East private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, and regional and U.S. issuers investing in the Middle East.
Experience
- Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. in the $5.6 billion cash/stock acquisition of ATI Technologies, Inc.
- Genstar Capital in the simultaneous acquisitions of a public company and a private company in the healthcare technology services industries.
- KKR and Silver Lake in the $2.7 billion LBO acquisition of the semi-conductor products group of Agilent Technologies Inc. to create Avago Technologies Limited.
- Kyphon Inc. in several acquisitions and investments, and simultaneous $4 billion sale of company to Medtronic, Inc. and FTC-mandated divestiture.
- Micrel, Inc. in a proxy fight with a hedge fund activist
- Scios, Inc. in the $2.4 billion cash sale of company to Johnson & Johnson.
- Steering Committee in the merger of Qatar Navigation and Qatar Shipping, the first merger of two companies on the Qatar Stock Exchange.
- Veeva Systems Inc. in the cash acquisition of Zinc Ahead, a UK company and leading provider of content management solutions for life sciences companies, for approximately $130 million.
- Xilinx, Inc. with regard to multiple corporate venture and M&A transactions.
- Yahoo, Inc. in the acquisition of a Middle Eastern company.
Perspectives
Recognition
Media, Technology and Telecoms: Outsourcing (2019)
Corporate Governance (2018)
Credentials
Education
- J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 1995
- B.Sc., University of Exeter, 1987
Admissions
- California
- New York