Jeffrey Brill
FinTech Guide 2024
Band 2 : FinTech Legal: Corporate, Securities & Financing
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Band 2
About
Provided by Jeffrey Brill
Practice Areas
Jeffrey Brill is co-head of Skadden’s global fintech practice, which was named Law360 Practice Group of the Year in both 2022 and 2023. He has a diverse practice, primarily concentrating on mergers and acquisitions, other corporate and commercial transactions and corporate law matters.
Mr. Brill has represented public and private clients in a broad variety of U.S. and international transactions, including negotiated and contested acquisitions, dispositions, mergers, auctions, carve-outs, strategic investments, recapitalizations, reorganizations, joint ventures, partnerships, and other corporate and commercial transactions. He also represents clients in connection with various corporate matters, financings and corporate governance.
Mr. Brill serves on the firm’s Policy Committee, its top governing body, as well as the Hiring and M&A Associates committees. He also is the co-coordinator of the firm’s global alumni program.
In recognition of his work, Mr. Brill has been ranked repeatedly in Chambers, in which clients describe him as an “incredible lawyer” with a “keen sense for spotting, and more importantly, resolving even the most difficult issues. He also is recognized by Best Lawyers, The Legal 500 United States and IFLR1000.
Mr. Brill has been named to Who’s Who Legal: Fintech & Blockchain, a 2022 Fintech MVP by Law360, and as one of the best blockchain lawyers by Identity Review, a global technology think tank. In addition, he was named a Sports Business Journal Power Player in Sports Law (Platinum Tier), previously honored by Investment Dealers’ Digest as one of only six attorneys nationwide on its Forty Under Forty list of top dealmakers, and recognized by The M&A Advisor with 40 Under 40 accolades.
Professional Memberships
Member, Board of Directors, National Academy Foundation; Former member, Law360’s M&A Editorial Advisory Board.
Industry Sector Expertise
Mr. Brill has advised clients in a wide range of industries, including representations of:
Fintech; Data and Analytics; Market Infrastructure
S&P Global in the sale of its Engineering Solutions business to funds managed by KKR
Pagaya Technologies Ltd. in its business combination with EJF Acquisition Corp.
Betterment in its acquisition of Makara
iCapital in its acquisition of SIMON Markets
Zip Co Limited, an Australian public company, in its announced acquisition of Sezzle Inc. and its acquisition of QuadPay
Information Builders in its sale to TIBCO Software
Nasdaq in its:
carve-out sale of its U.S. fixed-income electronic trading business to Tradeweb Markets
carve-out acquisition of the eSpeed platform for electronic trading in U.S. Treasury securities from BGC Partners, an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald
spin-off of its private market trading platform to create Nasdaq Private Markets, a joint venture with SVB Financial Group, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley
sale of International Derivatives Clearing Group to LCH. Clearnet Group via merger
strategic investment in LeveL ATS and the subsequent pending merger of LeveL ATS and Luminex
North American Bancard in connection with its:
acquisitions of Signature Payments and CardWorks Acquiring
agreement with Apple to provide the “Tap to Pay” solution on the iPhone
Polypaths, a provider of fixed-income and structured finance analytics and risk management solutions for financial institutions, in connection with its sale to Numerix, a portfolio company of Genstar Capital
Citigroup/Citibank, N.A. in numerous commercial and strategic transactions, including its:
digital lending partnership with Amazon.com, Inc. to offer Citi cardholders alternative payment plans when making purchases on Amazon.com
spin-out of the “Bridge built by Citi” digital platform to Foro Holdings, including an investment in Foro
establishing a service offering to custody and settle digital assets for its customers, including agreements with multiple leading technology providers to financial institutions
partnership with Covr Financial Technologies to offer insurance and long-term care solutions to Citi’s clients via Covr’s digital insurance platform
carve-out sales of its (a) fixed-income analytics and index businesses, including The Yield Book and the World Government Bond Index, to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), and the recent extension of its strategic partnership, including a customer agreement, with LSEG with respect to financial models, analytics and model infrastructure; (b) worldwide prepaid cards business to an affiliate of Wirecard AG; and (c) equities market-making business of Automated Trading Desk Financial Services to Citadel Securities
acquisition of Automated Trading Desk, Inc.
investments in KomGo S.A. and Defacto
Citi Ventures in the formation of, and investment in, Ensemble Technologies and the spin-out of assets to, and initial acquisition of common stock of, Worthi
The Sage Group plc in its acquisitions of Lockstep and Intacct Corporation
Total Merchant Services in its acquisition by North American Bancard and dividend recapitalization
Other fintech clients have included ACI Worldwide, CoinZoom, Pico and QuadPay.
Financial Services and Specialty Finance
For more than two decades, Mr. Brill has been a trusted adviser to longstanding financial institutions clients — including Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Discover, JPMorgan, Nasdaq, Santander and Wells Fargo — on dozens of corporate and commercial transactions. His representations have included:
Wells Fargo & Company/Wells Fargo Bank in connection with its:
carve-out sale of certain assets of Wells Fargo Asset Management, related legal entities and its collective investment trust business to Allspring Global Investment, which was formed by GTCR and Reverence Capital Partners (recognized as Deal of the Year (Large) at the 2022 Americas M&A Atlas Awards)
sale of its private student loan portfolio to a group of investors, with Firstmark, a division of Nelnet, to service the portfolio. The loans were subsequently securitized by Apollo Global Securities, Blackstone Securities Partners and various financial institutions
carve-out sale of its Institutional Retirement & Trust business to Principal Financial Group
Citigroup/Citibank, N.A. in numerous strategic transactions, including in the:
acquisition of Deutsche Bank Mexico to facilitate the exit of the consumer, small business and middle-market banking operations of Citibanamex and Citi’s ability to continue its institutional operations in Mexico
sale by Citi’s subsidiary, AO Citibank, of a portfolio of ruble-denominated personal installment loans to Uralsib, and transfer by AO Citibank to Uralsib of a portfolio of ruble-denominated credit card balances, as part of Citi’s previously announced wind-down of its operations in Russia
sale of its margin foreign exchange business to affiliates of FXCM and Saxo Bank
sale of its mutual fund transfer agency business to affiliates of SunGard Data Systems
sale of its wealth management services business to affiliates of Genpact Limited
sale of The Travelers Insurance Company, The Travelers Life and Annuity Company and other insurance businesses to MetLife, Inc.
sale of CitiStreet LLC to ING Group
restructuring of the CitiFinancial consumer finance business (now OneMain)
The Bank of New York Mellon, Computershare, Clearstream, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and State Street in connection with their investment in Proxymity spun out by Citigroup
Nasdaq, Inc. in:
the carve-out sales of its public relations solutions and digital media services businesses to West Corporation, an Apollo Global Management portfolio company
an offer to acquire all of the shares of the publicly traded Norwegian stock exchange, Oslo Børs VPS Holding ASA, following Euronext NV’s unsolicited offer
its acquisition of Marketwired, a global provider of news distribution services and analytics
the special committee of the board of directors of National Holdings in the company’s acquisition by B. Riley Financial, Inc.
Primerica, the largest independent financial services marketing company in North America, in its restructuring and initial public offering, and in the sale of a significant equity stake to private equity funds controlled by Warburg Pincus LLC. Mr. Brill’s role on this transaction was featured in the Financial Times’ inaugural U.S. Innovative Lawyers report, which ranked Skadden as the top firm in the country for innovation in the legal sector and in the financial services category
The PMI Group in connection with a significant equity investment in PMI by funds affiliated with the Blackstone Group
Citigroup Global Markets, as financial advisor to The New York Stock Exchange, Inc., in connection with a series of mergers with Archipelago Holdings, Inc.
Software and Technology
Information Builders in its acquisition by TIBCO Software
Nasdaq in its acquisition of Boardvantage, a leading provider of board and leadership communications and solutions, via merger
The Sage Group plc in its sales of:
Sage Software Healthcare to Vista Equity Partners
the Nonprofit Solutions business to Accel-KKR
the ACT! contact management and SalesLogix customer relationship management businesses to Swiftpage
Sage Software’s equity interest in Swiftpage to an affiliate of Jump Capital
Chardan Capital Markets, in its capacity as financial advisor and capital markets advisor to Ventoux CCM Acquisition Corp., in connection with Presto Automation’s business combination with Ventoux
Sunrise Capital Partners in its management-led acquisition of substantially all of the assets of SubMicron Systems Corporation, a designer and manufacturer of equipment systems for the semiconductor industry, and subsequent financings of Akrion LLC
Education
Cornell Law School
J.D., (Managing Editor, Cornell Law Review)
1998
Colgate University
B.A., (magna cum laude)
1993
Awards
Fintech MVP
Law360
2022
Top 20 Blockchain Lawyers
Identity Review
2021
Recommended Practitioner
Who’s Who Legal: Fintech & Blockchain
2023
Chambers Review
FinTech
Jeffrey Brill is based out of New York and remains a popular choice for M&A and corporate advisory matters related to FinTech. He regularly represents clients in financing rounds and complex transactions.
Strengths
Provided by Chambers
"Jeffrey is one of those lawyers who truly takes joy in what he does and helping clients achieve their goals. You want him on your most high-stakes matters. He has a great understanding of what in-house lawyers need and the internal politics they are often dealing with. He is also great at the legal technicalities of transactions but conveys information and advice in a digestible way."
"He goes above and beyond, both professionally and personally. He also has expert knowledge and business insights of all things FinTech, M&A and public transactions."
"Jeff Brill is probably my favourite M&A lawyer I've worked with as an in-house counsel. Jeff is extremely hard-working and responsive, and overall an excellent lawyer."
"Jeff Brill is an outstanding FinTech lawyer with deep transaction experience. His level of client service is unmatched and his deal teams are consistently top-notch! I never hesitate to recommend Jeff for transactional work."
"Jeffrey is one of those lawyers who truly takes joy in what he does and helping clients achieve their goals. You want him on your most high-stakes matters. He has a great understanding of what in-house lawyers need and the internal politics they are often dealing with. He is also great at the legal technicalities of transactions but conveys information and advice in a digestible way."
"He goes above and beyond, both professionally and personally. He also has expert knowledge and business insights of all things FinTech, M&A and public transactions."
"Jeff Brill is probably my favourite M&A lawyer I've worked with as an in-house counsel. Jeff is extremely hard-working and responsive, and overall an excellent lawyer."
"Jeff Brill is an outstanding FinTech lawyer with deep transaction experience. His level of client service is unmatched and his deal teams are consistently top-notch! I never hesitate to recommend Jeff for transactional work."