Joseph H. Kaufman

Joseph H. Kaufman

Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Joseph Kaufman is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP where he is a member of the Firm's Corporate Department.  Mr. Kaufman advises clients on public and private offerings of debt and equity securities, corporate governance, business combinations and general corporate and securities law matters.

Mr. Kaufman advised HCA Holdings Inc. in its March 2011 $4.35 billion initial public offering, the largest private-equity backed IPO ever in the United States.  He also advised Nielsen Holdings N.V. in its January 2011 $1.89 billion initial public offering, as well as each of Dollar General Corporation, Virgin Mobile USA, Inc., Sealy Corporation and PanAmSat Holding Corporation in connection with their respective initial public offerings.  He also advised The Mosaic Company in connection with $8.7 billion in secondary equity offerings during 2011 relating to Mosaic’s split-off from Cargill, Incorporated, as well as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in connection with its business combination with KKR Private Equity Investors L.P., resulting in KKR being listed publicly on the New York Stock Exchange.

With respect to debt securities, he advised Del Monte Foods Company, ARAMARK Corporation, Dollar General, Sealy and Accellent Inc. in connection with 144A high yield note offerings related to their leveraged acquisitions as well as subsequent refinancings.  He also represented Wyeth in connection with its sale to Pfizer Inc., as well as the issuance by Wyeth of over $12 billion of notes and convertible debentures.

Mr. Kaufman joined Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in 1994 and was elected a member of the Firm in November 2002.  In 2011, he was named by The National Law Journal as one of the three “Most Influential Lawyers” in the Finance and Capital Markets category. In 2005, he was named one of 17 “Up-and-Comers of the Deal Economy” by The Deal magazine.  He received his A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard College in 1989, and his B.A. (Hons.) in Economics from the University of Canterbury (New Zealand) in 1990.  He received his J.D. with honors from University of Chicago Law School in 1994, where he was managing editor of the University of Chicago Legal Forum.  He is admitted to practice in the State of New York.



  • University of Chicago Law School, 1994 J.D.
    With Honors
  • University of Canterbury, 1990 B.A.
    With Honors in Economics; With Honors
  • Harvard University, 1989 A.B.
    magna cum laude

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