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Thomas Asmar

Thomas Asmar

Partner
Baker & McKenzie LLP

Biography

Thomas Asmar has almost two decades of experience advising public and private companies, as well as private equity funds, on all employee benefits and compensation issues arising out of mergers, acquisitions, IPOs, financings and other corporate transactions.

Practice Focus

Thomas counsels companies in a variety of industries on the design and implementation of compensation arrangements, including employment agreements, equity compensation plans, incentive compensation, deferred compensation, severance agreements and change-in-control arrangements.

Thomas advises clients on tax, securities and corporate governance law issues as they relate to executive compensation and employee benefit arrangements. He also counsels clients on golden parachute payments, the limits on the deductibility of executive compensation, the tax rules regarding nonqualified deferred compensation, executive compensation disclosure and reporting for proxy statements and other securities filings, and pension and welfare plan matters.

He writes and speaks frequently on legal developments of importance to his clients, including topics impacting corporate officers and directors.

Representative Legal Matters

Prior to joining the Firm, Thomas advised on the following transactions:

  • Airbnb in its acquisition of Hotel Tonight

  • CBRE in its USD 1.5 billion acquisition of the Global Workplace Solutions business from Johnson Controls

  • DoorDash in its USD 410 million acquisition of the Caviar business from Square

  • Entertainment Partners in its acquisition by TPG Capital

  • Esterline Technologies in its USD 4 billion acquisition by TransDigm Group

  • Interactive Data Corporation, together with Silver Lake Partners and Warburg Pincus, in the USD 5.2 billion sale of Interactive Data Corporation to Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.

  • KKR in multiple transactions, including its acquisition of Air Medical Group and investment in Arbor Pharmaceuticals

  • PayPal in its USD 2.2 billion acquisition of iZettle AB (publ)

  • SolarCity Corporation in its USD 2.6 billion acquisition by Tesla Motors

  • Tessera Technologies in its USD 850 million acquisition by DTS

Admissions

  • California~United States

Publications

Author, “SEC Proposes to Amend Rule 701 and Form S-8 and Extend Rules to “Gig” Workers,” Baker McKenzie InsightPlus, December 2020

Co-author, "SEC Adopts Final Rules to Modernize Regulation S-K Disclosure", Baker McKenzie InsightPlus, September 2020

Author, "SEC Adds New Human Capital Disclosure Requirement to Regulation S-K", The Compensation Connection, September 2020

Co-author, "Top 5 U.S. executive compensation issues for cross-border M&A transactions," Baker McKenzie, 28 May 2020

Author, "Considering Human Capital Management In Proxy Disclosures," Law360, 24 February 2020

Baker & McKenzie LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership organized under the laws of the State of Illinois (USA) and is a member of Baker & McKenzie International, a Verein organized under the laws of Switzerland.