Sidley Austin LLP - Our People

Thomas A. Cole

Partner

Chicago
312.853.7473
312.853.7036 Fax

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THOMAS A. COLE is a partner in Sidley’s Chicago office. He became a partner of the firm in 1981, a member of the firm’s Executive Committee in 1987 and a member of its Management Committee in 1988. Since May 1998, he has served as Chair of the firm’s Executive Committee, the committee that exercises general authority over the affairs of the firm. While a partner in the firm, Mr. Cole was also vice president-law of Northwest Industries, Inc. from 1982 through 1985.

Mr. Cole maintains a substantial practice in public company mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance, along with his firm management responsibilities. He has been involved in dozens of public company mergers and spin-offs, including the following which were each valued at more than $1 billion:

Aon/Hewitt (pending)

EOP/Blackstone

Clear Channel/THLee and Bain (represented special committee)

Exelon/PSEG (terminated)

Exelon/NRG (terminated unsolicited merger proposal)

Pulte/Centex

Tribune/ESOP-Zell

Corn Products/Bunge (terminated)

Nationwide Financial/Nationwide Mutual (represented special committee)

ServiceMaster/Clayton Dubilier

CDW/Madison Dearborn

CNL Hotels/Morgan Stanley

Ventana Medical/Roche (began as hostile defense)

Sally Beauty/Clayton Dubilier

Tellabs/AFC

Maverick Tube/Tenaris

IMC/Cargill

Williams/Barrett (including the successful defense against Shell)

Kimberly-Clark/Scott Paper

Monsanto/DeKalb Genetics

Jefferson Smurfit/Stone Container

Interpublic Group/True North

Wolters Kluwer/CCH

Fred Meyer/QFC

Aon/Alexander & Alexander

IMC Global/Vigoro

Tribune/Renaissance Communications

Northwest Industries/Farley

Ohio Mattress/Gibbons Green

His other significant public company merger transactions include:

Midwest Air Group/TPG (including the successful defense against Air Tran)
Sun Capital/ShopKo Stores
Goldner Hawn/ShopKo Stores (topped by Sun Capital)
Lyphomed/Fujisawa
Unilever/Helene Curtis
Mercantile/Mark Twain
True North/Bozell (including the successful defense against Publicis)
Humana/Emphesys
GE Medical/Marquette
Berisford/Scotsman

Corporate Governance assignments have included advising public company boards, standing committees and special litigation, transactions and investigative committees. For the five years ended 1998, he taught the seminar on corporate governance at The University of Chicago Law School.

In 2001, Mr. Cole was recognized by Chambers Global, the London-based publication, as one of the 26 U.S. lawyers included in its list of the “Global 100 Lawyers”—“lawyers who stand out from their colleagues and are recognized internationally." He was designated an M&A "Dealmaker of the Year" for 2007 by The American Lawyer. He was selected to BTI Consulting's "Client Service All-Star" team for 2008.