
Julia L. Petty

The Grace Building
1114 Avenue of the Americas
32nd Floor
New York, New York 10036

Julia advises clients on executive compensation and benefits matters in connection with domestic and cross-border business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs and divestitures, public offerings, Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) and de-SPAC transactions, and restructurings and other reorganizations. She routinely counsels clients on disclosure, governance, and shareholder outreach related to compensation and benefits programs, with a particular focus on periods of corporate change, including transaction preparation, senior leadership turnover, shifts in corporate strategy and direction, and shareholder activism.
Julia handles a wide range of other compensation and associated securities, tax, and corporate governance matters, including the design, disclosure, and implementation of equity and cash incentive programs, executive employment and severance arrangements, change in control protections, deferred compensation plans, and retention programs.
Experience Highlights
Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC sponsored by an affiliate of Riverstone Holdings, in its $2.1 billion business combination with Hyzon Motors, a global supplier of zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell powered commercial vehicles
Buckeye Partners and Nala Renewables in their acquisition of a majority interest in Swift Current Energy, a leading North American clean energy development and investment platform with a pipeline of over 6 GW of solar, wind and energy storage projects
Noble Energy in its $13 billion sale to Chevron
EVgo Services, a portfolio company of LS Power and an electric vehicle public fast charging network, in its $2.6 billion business combination with Climate Change Crisis Real Impact I Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC
Apollo Global Management in the formation of a joint venture with Altius Renewable Royalties to accelerate the growth of Great Bay Renewables, a leading provider of renewable energy development capital in North America
Jonah Energy in an out-of-court restructuring involving a deleveraging of the company’s balance sheet by approximately $580 million through a rights offering, tender offer, and redemption of non-tendered notes, together with an amended and restated credit agreement of Jonah’s $750 million credit facility
The Lion Electric Company, a leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of all-electric medium and heavy-duty urban vehicles, in its $1.9 billion combination with Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp., a SPAC
Management team of Arcis Golf in the acquisition by Atairos Management LP of a substantial ownership position in the company, with Fortress Investment Group LLC maintaining a significant ownership stake
Lilis Energy in an in-court sale process in which substantially all of the company’s operating assets were sold to Ameredev Texas LLC as part of its chapter 11 cases involving approximately $400 million in total liabilities
CTO Realty Growth, Inc. in its conversion to a real estate investment trust (REIT)
RiceBran Technologies in its proxy contest defense against LF-RB Group
Khoros, a customer engagement software provider and a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company, in its acquisition of Flow.ai, a conversational AI platform for designing and managing chatbots
Fox Corporation in its $440 million acquisition of Tubi
The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Taubman Centers, Inc. in Taubman’s $3.6 billion merger and joint venture with Simon Property Group
Vitamin Shoppe in its acquisition by Liberty Tax and in its defense against a full slate proxy contest by Vintage Capital and its agreements with Vintage Capital and Shah Capital regarding the composition of the Vitamin Shoppe board of directors
WellCare Health Plans in its $17.3 billion acquisition by Centene Corporation
Infineon Technologies AG in its $10.1 billion acquisition of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation
GlaxoSmithKline in its $12.7 billion joint venture with Pfizer to combine their consumer health businesses
Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Spectrum Brands in connection with the $10 billion merger of Spectrum Brands and HRG Group
Marriott Vacations Worldwide in its $4.7 billion acquisition of Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (ILG)
General Motors and GM Cruise Holdings LLC, GM’s autonomous vehicle (AV) business, in a series of transactions including a $2.25 billion investment from the SoftBank Vision Fund, at a $11.5 billion valuation and a $2.8 billion investment from Honda, at a $14.6 billion valuation
Strayer Education in its $1.9 billion merger of equals with Capella Education Company
Mead Johnson Nutrition in its $17.9 billion sale to Reckitt Benckiser Group plc.
Equity One in its $15.6 billion merger with Regency Centers Corporation, creating the preeminent shopping center REIT in the U.S.
Viking Global Investors as a lead investor in the $15 billion business combination of Ginkgo Bioworks and Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp., a SPAC
Spartan Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC sponsored by funds managed by an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, in its $1.3 billion business combination with Sunlight Financial, a premier U.S. residential solar financing platform
Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corporation III, a SPAC sponsored by an affiliate of Riverstone Holdings, in its $1.2 billion business combination with Solid Power, an industry-leading all-solid-state electric vehicle battery producer
Spartan Acquisition Corp. III, a SPAC, in its $3.14 billion business combination with Allego Holding B.V., a leading pan-European electric vehicle charging network
First Reserve Sustainable Growth Corp., a SPAC, in its $675 million business combination with EO Charging, a leader in electric vehicle fleet charging (pending)
Kadem Sustainable Impact Corporation, a SPAC, in its $175 million initial public offering of units
Funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management in its investment in the Arthur Kill Terminal project, a major offshore wind energy staging and assembly port under development in New York
TPG Growth and The Rise Fund in their majority investment in Greenhouse, a hiring software company
The Carlyle Group in a $374 million investment commitment to Amp Solar Group, a Canadian-based global renewable energy platform, to support its growth in core markets in North America, Japan, Australia, Spain and the UK
RLH Equity Partners in its investment in Astound Commerce, a global provider of digital commerce solutions
Growth equity investor in its lead investment in a $150 million financing round for a leading banking-as-a-service software platform in Latin America
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in its major investment in Allied Universal
The Sun Products Corporation, a portfolio company of Vestar Capital Partners, in its $3.6 billion sale to Henkel Consumer Goods Inc.
Blackstone in its acquisition of Sabre Industries from The Jordan Company
Bain Capital in its acquisition of H.I.G. Capital’s stake in Surgery Partners, Inc.
Cerberus Capital Management in its acquisition of Staples’ European business
Cerberus Capital Management in its acquisition of the North American operations of Avon Products, Inc. and investment in Avon’s remaining international business
Sycamore Partners, in its $2.7 billion acquisition of Belk, Inc.
Credentials
- Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude; Order of the Coif; Associate Editor, Northwestern University Law Review
- University of Pennsylvania, B.S., Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
- Chambers USA, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation (New York), 2022; “Up and Coming” in Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation (New York), 2022
- Legal 500 U.S., Labor & Employment: Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation & Retirement Plans: Transactional, 2021 and 2022, “Rising Star” in Labor & Employment: Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation & Retirement Plans: Transactional, 2021; “Next Generation Partner” in Labor & Employment: Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation & Retirement Plans: Transactional, 2022
- New York
- Rankings & AwardsJune 16, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsJune 1, 2022
- Deals & CasesApril 28, 2022
- Deals & CasesApril 14, 2022
- Deals & CasesApril 11, 2022
- Deals & CasesApril 8, 2022
- Deals & CasesMarch 14, 2022
- Deals & CasesMarch 2, 2022
- Deals & CasesFebruary 22, 2022
- Deals & CasesJanuary 27, 2022
- Deals & CasesJanuary 18, 2022
- Deals & CasesJanuary 12, 2022
- Deals & CasesDecember 20, 2021
- Press ReleaseDecember 1, 2021
- Deals & CasesNovember 29, 2021
- Deals & CasesNovember 9, 2021
- Deals & CasesOctober 22, 2021
- Deals & CasesOctober 4, 2021
- Deals & CasesSeptember 30, 2021
- Deals & CasesSeptember 8, 2021
- Deals & CasesSeptember 7, 2021
- Deals & CasesAugust 25, 2021
- Deals & CasesAugust 12, 2021
- Deals & CasesAugust 10, 2021
- Deals & CasesMay 11, 2021
- Deals & CasesMay 11, 2021
- Deals & CasesApril 13, 2021
- Deals & CasesApril 8, 2021
- Deals & CasesMarch 23, 2021
- Deals & CasesMarch 19, 2021
- Deals & CasesFebruary 5, 2021
- Deals & CasesFebruary 1, 2021
- Deals & CasesJanuary 28, 2021
- Deals & CasesJanuary 25, 2021
- Deals & CasesJanuary 22, 2021
- Deals & CasesJanuary 14, 2021
- Deals & CasesJanuary 6, 2021
- Deals & CasesJanuary 6, 2021
- Deals & CasesJanuary 4, 2021
- Deals & CasesNovember 30, 2020
- Deals & CasesNovember 19, 2020
- Deals & CasesNovember 19, 2020
- Deals & CasesJuly 20, 2020
- Press ReleaseJuly 14, 2020
Betting on the Upside, Why Affirming River Road Favors Distressed Debt Speculators over the Rehabilitation of Businesses, 107 Nw. U.L. Rev. 1881 (2013)