Matthew S. Schonholz
Biography
Matthew Schonholz is a Tax partner based in Baker McKenzie's Los Angeles office. Matthew counsels clients on tax and executive compensation law, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and debt investments, public securities offerings, joint ventures and investment fund formation. Matthew has been recognized by Chambers USA for Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, most recently in 2024, with clients describing him as "...excellent. He is responsive, thoughtful and knowledgeable," "...never loses focus of his clients' interests and effortlessly translates their desire to effective negotiation," and "...sharp, responsive and provides great counsel."
Following law school, Matthew clerked for Judges Nora M. Manella and Dikran Tevrizian of the US District Court for the Central District of California.
Matthew was also an adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law School Los Angeles.
Practice Focus
Matthew guides client through complex transactional tax issues. He regularly counsels public and private companies, investment fund sponsors, and boards of directors in the tax structuring and documentation of mergers, equity and asset acquisitions and dispositions. He also advises on private equity, real estate, direct lending and hedge fund formations, joint ventures and operating partnerships well as on transactions involving S corporations, partnerships, LLCs and disregarded entities.
Additionally, he advises founders, C-suite executives, management teams, portfolio managers, public and private companies, investment funds and family offices in compensation and employment arrangements.
Clerkships
- Judge Nora M. Manella of the US District Court for the Central District of California
- Judge Dikran Tevrizian of the US District Court for the Central District of California
Representative Legal Matters
Prior to joining the Firm, Matthew handled the following matters:
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Represented the senior executives of Kayne Anderson Real Estate in connection with Goldman Sachs Asset Management Petershill Platform’s minority investment in Kayne Anderson Real Estate.
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Advised Apollo Global Management in its USD 2.6 billion acquisition of Aspen Insurance Holdings.
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Advised an investor group led by investment funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC in its USD 1.4 billion acquisition of 40.6% of OneMain Holdings, Inc. from affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC.
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Advised investment funds affiliated with Siris Capital Group, LLC in their USD 654 million acquisition of Xura, Inc. (formerly Comverse) and their USD 500 million acquisition of Mitel Mobility Inc. (renamed Mavenir Systems, Inc.).
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Represented Nexus Capital Partners in its acquisition of FTD in a 363 sale.
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Represented Berkshire Hathaway in its commitment to invest USD 10 billion in Occidental Petroleum to finance Occidental’s proposed acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum and its issuance and sale of a USD 1.25 billion 4.25% investment grade senior notes offering due 2049.
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Represented Ken Lin (co-founder and CEO of Credit Karma, Inc.) in the sale of Credit Karma to Intuit Inc. for USD 8.1 billion in cash and stock.
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Advised Intel Corporation in its agreement to sell its NAND flash memory solid state drive and wafer businesses to SK hynix for USD 9 billion.
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Counseled the special committee of Pope Resources’ board of directors in the acquisition by Rayonier Inc.
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Advised J. Paul Getty Trust in leading a consortium of foundations in the acquisition of the priceless photographic archive of Ebony and Jet magazines at auction.
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Represented Roche in its acquisitions of Ignyta, Inc., a cancer therapy company, for USD 1.7 billion in cash, ForSight VISION4, a privately held biotechnology company focusing on drug delivery for treatment of retinal diseases, Genia Technologies, a DNA sequencing company, for USD 125 million in cash and up to USD 225 million in milestones, and GeneWEAVE BioSciences, clinical microbiology diagnostics solutions company, for up to USD 425 million.
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Represented Genentech in its acquisition of Seragon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the treatment of breast cancer, for up to USD 1.725 billion in cash.
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Advised IPC Healthcare in its acquisition by Team Health Holdings for USD 1.6 billion.
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Represented Medivation in its acquisition of worldwide rights to the breast cancer treatment, Talazoparib, from BioMarin Pharmaceutical for cash consideration of up to USD 570 million.
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Advised Omnicell in its acquisition of Aesynt, a leading provider of medication and supply management solutions, for USD 275 million.
Admissions
- California~United States
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit~United States
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California~United States
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California~United States
Education
- Loyola Law School (LLM, high distinction) (2011)
- University of Pennsylvania Law School (JD, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif) (2005)
- University of Pennsylvania (BA, cum laude) (2000)