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John O'Brien joined Sullivan & Cromwell in 1992 and has been a partner since 2001. He specializes in mergers and acquisitions, investment management, corporate and securities matters for both domestic and foreign clients. Selected Transactions Recent significant engagements include representing: Lone Star Funds in its acquisition of Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co.; Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in its sale of Merrill Lynch Investment Management (MLIM) to Blackrock, Inc.; The Bank of New York in connection with the swap of its retail banking business for the corporate trust business of JPMorgan Chase & Co.; and SBC Communications (now AT&T Inc.) in connection with its acquisition of AT&T Corp. Mr. O'Brien has specialized experience with acquisitions and joint ventures involving investment managers, broker-dealers and other financial institutions. Recent assignments in the asset management area, in addition to the sale of MLIM, include the acquisition of: Nuveen Investments by a consortium led by Madison Dearborn Partners LLC (representing co-investor Merrill Lynch); AssetMark Investment Services, Inc. by Genworth Financial Inc.; and a minority stake in Artisan Partners L.P. by Hellman & Friedman LLC. Other engagements for financial institutions include representing: Bank of Montreal in connection with its sale of Harrisdirect LLC to E*TRADE Financial Corporation; John Hancock Financial Services in connection with its merger with Manulife Corporation; Mizuho Corporate Bank in divestitures of its US asset management operations; UBS in connection with its acquisition of PaineWebber Group; and Allianz AG in connection with its acquisition of Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management and majority control of PIMCO Advisors. | 