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Stephen M. Kotran was elected a partner of the Firm in 1998 and is a member of Sullivan & Cromwell s Mergers and Acquisitions, Financial Institutions and Private Equity Groups. Steve Kotran represents participants and financial advisors in connection with mergers and acquisitions transactions, including negotiated and hostile acquisitions of public companies, negotiated sales of private companies, subsidiaries and divisions, private equity transactions, leveraged buy-outs, formation of joint ventures and asset sales. Mr. Kotran is a frequent speaker on mergers and acquisitions matters for the Practising Law Institute, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and various other professional organizations. He is a member of the Committee on Negotiated Acquisitions and the Committee on Federal Regulation of Securities of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and of the Special Committee on Mergers, Acquisitions & Corporate Control Contests of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Mr. Kotran has been recognized as a leading mergers and acquisitions lawyer in Chambers USA America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2007), The Best Lawyers in America (2008 - announced), New York Super Lawyers (2007), The Lawdragon 500 - Leading Lawyers in America (finalist, 2007), The Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America (2007) and The Lawdragon 500 New Stars, New Worlds (2006) and as a leading insurance transactional lawyer in Chambers USA - America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2007). Mr. Kotran s mergers and acquisitions assignments have spanned a wide range of industries, with particular emphasis on insurance companies and other financial institutions and technology companies. These assignments have included: American Express Company in its acquisitions and subsequent disposition of the credit card portfolios of Bank of Hawaii and ShopRite; American International Group, Inc. in its acquisitions of 21st Century Industries, Hartford Steam Boiler and Williams Gas Pipelines Central Inc.; Anthem, Inc. in its acquisitions of WellPoint Health Networks Inc. and Trigon Healthcare, Inc.; The Bank of New York in its sales of credit card portfolios to Household International, Associates National Bank (Delaware) and Chase Manhattan Bank USA; Cytec Inc. in its acquisition of the chemicals business of UCB S.A. and its divestiture of UCB's melamine resins business; Eastman Kodak Company in its acquisitions of Creo Inc. and the medical imaging business of Imation Corp., the sales of its office imaging business to Heidelberger Druckmaschinen and its health business to Onex, Inc., the formation of its Kodak Polychrome Graphics joint venture with Sun Chemical Corporation and the subsequent purchase by Kodak of Sun's interests in the joint venture; Folksamerica in its acquisition of Sierra Insurance Group; Ford in the sale of Ford Life Insurance Company to SunAmerica Inc.; Goldman, Sachs & Co. in its acquisition of the variable annuity and variable life insurance business of Allmerica Inc., its sale of the fixed income business of Spear, Leeds & Kellog and the termination of its power business services agreement and investment agreement with Constellation Energy Group, Inc.; Goldman, Sachs & Co., Wachovia Securities, Lehman Brothers, Barclays Capital and other investment banks in their capacity as financial advisor to seller or buyer in connection with more than 200 transactions; H&R Block, Inc. in its sale of CompuServe to WorldCom; ING Groep N.V. in its acquisitions of ReliaStar Financial Corp. and Equitable of Iowa Companies; Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. in its sales of PolyGram N.V. and Beltone Electronics Corporation, its acquisitions of Optiva Corporation, the MICRUS semiconductor manufacturing division of IBM and MedQuist Inc. and its formation of a joint venture between Philips Medical Capital and De Lage Landen International; The Northland Company in its sale to Associates First Capital; Prudential Financial, Inc. in its acquisitions of Allstate s variable annuity business, the retirement investment services business of CIGNA Corporation and Skandia U.S. Inc. and its divestiture of Dryden Wealth Management; Royal Bank of Canada in its acquisition of Business Men s Assurance Company of America; The special committee of Swift Transportation, Inc. in connection with its sale to the Moyes family; Toa Fire and Marine Re in its purchase of M&G Re from Swiss Re; Union Carbide in its acquisition by The Dow Chemical Company; Ventritex, Inc. in its sale to St. Jude Medical, Inc.; Vodafone Group in its acquisition of AirTouch Communications, Inc. and its sale of Iusacell; The independent directors of WEG GP LLC in its acquisition of Williams Energy Partners by an entity formed jointly by Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC and Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund II, L.P.; Western National in its acquisition by American General; Western Resources, Inc. in its acquisitions of Protection One, Inc., Network Multi-Family Services, Inc., Westinghouse Security Systems, Lifeline Systems Inc. and Paradigm Direct LLC. | 