Allen Matkins, a California-based full service real estate and business law firm, announced today the hiring of corporate partner Benjamin D. Fackler in its San Francisco office. Ben joins Allen Matkins’ Corporate and Finance Department as head of the firm’s San Francisco Mergers and Acquisitions Practice where he will advise clients on complex transactions and matters affecting corporate governance and strategy. Ben has worked with a broad range of clients, from individuals and investment firms to public and private companies, on mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, cross-border takeovers, contested situations and shareholder activism, as well as financings and general corporate and securities matters.

“Ben’s deep hands-on experience in mergers & acquisitions as an attorney at Wachtell, coupled with his work as an investment banker and investor, affords him capabilities and business know-how that is critical to our clients,” says David L. Osias, managing partner of Allen Matkins. “Ben doesn’t ‘serve’ the M&A industry, he is ‘of’ it. This parallels our approach to serving clients in the real estate industry by providing superior advice driven by deep inside knowledge and industry experience.”

“Allen Matkins’ business-minded approach to legal services and deep West Coast credentials provide a strong, nimble platform to bring the level of transactional advisory services usually associated with large New York firms to a broader range of clients,” said Ben. “We see great opportunities to creatively serve the significant concentration of large and mid-market companies and investment firms here on the West Coast, as well as those beyond.” In addition to Ben, Allen Matkins has hired 12 new attorneys in the past year as part of the firm’s strategic expansion to further serve institutional real estate and capital markets.

After graduating from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, Ben practiced as a corporate attorney at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York City where he advised clients on a variety of complex public and private company transactions totaling more than $250 billion in value. This included the restructuring, recapitalization and initial public offering of financial advisory and asset management firm Lazard Ltd. Soon after, Ben went on to serve as a Director in Lazard’s New York office, where he advised InBev on its historic acquisition of Anheuser Busch and the successful effort to secure over $50 billion in financing for the global conglomerate.

Most recently, Ben was a partner at investment firm Casablanca Capital LP where he focused on investments involving complex legal, regulatory and transactional elements, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs, IPOs, recapitalizations, corporate governance issues, regulatory investigations and activist situations.

Prior to Harvard Law School, Ben received a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in International Relations from Pomona College where he graduated with Honors as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Ben is admitted to the New York State Bar. He is not presently admitted to the State Bar of California.

www.allenmatkins.com