Don Lonczak joins Baker Botts as tax partner

Leading international tax lawyer Don J. Lonczak, who has substantial experience counseling clients on tax matters associated with cross border transactions, joined Baker Botts L.L.P. today as a partner in the firm’s Tax department. He will reside in the firm’s Washington and New York offices.

Lonczak has a broad-based, transaction-oriented practice that includes structuring and negotiating the tax aspects of domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate spin-offs, as well as of public and private financings and derivatives financial products. He regularly advises major corporate clients with respect to their internal tax planning strategies — both domestic and cross-border, transfer pricing policies and tax controversy matters.

Representative Engagements

• Marriott International in connection with the spin-off to shareholders of its worldwide timeshare business and related internal restructurings
• Liberty Global in connection with its pending merger with Virgin Media
• General Electric in connection with its acquisition of the aviation business of Avio S.p.A.
• Helm Corporation in its pending sale of Helm Bank SA to CorpBanca Columbia
• Dycom Industries in connection with its acquisition of the domestic telecommunications infrastructure services business of Quanta Services
• EQT Infrastructure Fund and Foristar in connection with the acquisition of Midland Cogeneration Venture Limited Partnership
• Borealis Infrastructure in connection with its minority investment in a portfolio of wind farm assets from EDP Renováveis S.A.
• LMA International N.V. in connection with its initial public offering on the Singapore Stock Exchange, its acquisition of Wolfe Tory Medical, Inc. and its sale to Teleflex, Inc.
• GrupoSura in connection with its acquisition of the Latin American pensions, life insurance and investment management operations of the ING Group
• Sungard Data Systems Inc. in connection with its acquisition by a consortium of private equity investment firms
• Cinram, Inc. in connection with a comprehensive refinancing and recapitalization transaction
• JBS S.A. in connection with its joint venture with Link Snacks, Inc. and its acquisition of a majority stake in Pilgrim’s Pride through a bankruptcy proceeding
• Diamond Castle Holding, LLC in connection with its leveraged acquisition of Blue Stone TV
• Bunge Limited in connection with its acquisition of Cereol S.A.
• Boston Scientific Corporation in connection with its acquisition of Guidant Corporation and the sale of its neurovascular business to Stryker Corporation
• DLJ Merchant Banking in connection with the sale of Peachtree Financial to J.G. Wentworth
• Abengoa Solar LLC in connection with its joint venture with BrightSource Energy to develop a solar electric generating system in California
• HLTH Corporation in connection with the downstream merger into its principal subsidiary, WebMD Health Corporation
• ContourGlobal in connection with the sale to International Finance Corporation of an interest in a thermal power plant in Togo, West Africa
• GE Energy Financial Services in connection with financing for its Caledonia combined cycle power plant
• BE Aerospace in connection with its acquisition of Interturbine Projekt Management GmbH, TSI Group Inc. and UFC Aerospace Corp.
• Avenue Capital in connection with the bankruptcy reorganization of Milacron Inc.
• Société Générale in connection with the joint venture of worldwide brokerage businesses between its Fimat affiliate and Calyon Financial
• Mittal Steel N.V. in connection with its acquisition of International Steel Group in a partially tax-free reorganization
• Novartis AG in connection with the divestiture of its medical nutrition business to Nestlé, the acquisition of the adult nutritional supplement business of the Mead Johnson division of Bristol Myers Squibb and the spin-off of its worldwide agricultural business as Syngenta AG
• Deutsche Bank AG in connection with the sale of its worldwide custody business to State Street, and the sale of its U.S.-based consumer finance business to E*Trade

Prior to joining Baker Botts, Lonczak was a partner in Shearman & Sterling LLP’s tax group. He earned his law degree from Georgetown University and his LL.M. in Tax from New York University.