PAUL L. CHOI is a Partner in Sidley’s Corporate group, which advises clients on mergers and
acquisitions, corporate finance transactions and corporate governance matters.
In the mergers and acquisitions area, he focuses on public and private mergers, acquisitions,
dispositions, spin-offs and joint ventures. His practice also includes counseling clients on
takeover defense and proxy contests. In recent years, Mr. Choi has advised on a broad range
of mergers and acquisitions transactions, from small private transactions to public multi-billion
dollar mergers. He advised First Data Corporation on its $29 billion acquisition by an investor
group controlled by KKR and previously represented First Data on its $14 billion spin-off of the
Western Union Company. Mr. Choi advised Discover Financial Services in its $15.8 billion
spin-off from Morgan Stanley. He represented West Corporation in its $4.1 billion
recapitalization sponsored by Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. and Quadrangle Group LLC. He
also advised Andersen Worldwide, S.C., the Swiss coordinating body for the independent
Andersen professional firms, on its global corporate matters. Other transactions include
advising Barrett Resources in its response to Shell Oil Company’s hostile takeover attempt
and the subsequent agreement by Barrett Resources to merge with The Williams Companies,
Inc. for $2.8 billion. Mr. Choi also led the representation of KPMG LLP’s spin-off of its global
management and information technology consulting business. He assisted eBay Inc. in its
$2.0 billion sale of Skype Technologies and represented Discover Financial Services in its
$600 million acquisition of The Student Loan Corporation. More recently, he advised
Commercial Metals Company in its successful defense against a $1.7 billion hostile tender
offer and proxy contest launched by Mr. Carl C. Icahn.
In the corporate finance area, he has represented issuers and underwriters on dozens of
private and public equity and debt offerings. These capital markets transactions have included
a variety of initial public offerings, including subsidiary or “carve-out” offerings in the energy,
technology, financial services and real estate sectors, and other acquisition financing
transactions. His practice also includes private equity and debt offerings, Rule 144A
transactions, and high yield debt, equity derivative and hybrid securities offerings. Recently,
he represented Caterpillar Inc. in $4.5 billion of public offerings to finance its acquisition of
Bucyrus International, Inc.
In addition to his transactional work, Mr. Choi advises public company clients on a broad
range of corporate governance and general securities law matters, including Sarbanes-Oxley,
board of director, fiduciary duty, audit committee, PCAOB, disclosure policy and related
issues. He has spoken at numerous seminars on topics relating to directors’ duties, audit
committee best practices, auditor matters and Sarbanes-Oxley issues.
Mr. Choi was named by Crain’s Chicago Business in its annual “40 Under 40” list of leading
Chicago area business executives and professionals. He is included in the Corporate/M&A section of Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business - The Client’s Guide
and Chambers USA: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business - The Client’s Guide in
Illinois. Mr. Choi has been recognized in The International Who's Who Legal: Mergers &
Acquisitions, and is also a recommended lawyer for mergers and acquisitions work by Global
Counsel 3000.
Mr. Choi served as a law clerk to the Honorable Laurence H. Silberman on the United States
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1989-1990.