Valérie Demont is a partner in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group of Pepper Hamilton LLP, resident in the New York office. Ms. Demont focuses her practice primarily on U.S. and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, corporate finance and securities matters. She has been involved in numerous M&A transactions for corporations and private equity funds in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. Ms. Demont chairs the firm’s U.S.-India Practice Group.
Ms. Demont also represents U.S. and non-U.S. issuers and underwriters in a wide range of primary and secondary capital markets transactions involving equity, debt, convertible and hybrid securities. These transactions include IPOs, private placements and offerings under SEC Rule 144A, offshore offerings under SEC Regulation S and the establishment of American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programs.
She handles complex securities and financing transactions, including debt restructurings, exchange offers, debt tender offers and consent solicitations.
In addition, Ms. Demont regularly advises companies on their reporting obligations under U.S. securities laws as well as corporate governance and other compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and stock exchange regulations.
Ms. Demont has represented:
- a leading construction materials supplier and heavy highway contractor, in the $250 million Rule 144A offering of its high yield debt securities
- a New York-based bank with its IPO and listing on NASDAQ
- the owner and operator of casino resorts in Las Vegas and Macau with its $700 million IPO and listing on the NYSE
- an India-based business process outsourcing company with its IPO in the United States and listing on NASDAQ
- a private equity fund with its acquisition of a distressed trucking and transportation logistics company
- a private equity fund with its acquisition of a leading home fashion supplier
- a publicly-traded REIT in connection with a $300 million bridge financing facility and public offerings of common stock and preferred stock to finance an acquisition
- a publicly traded fiber network provider with its $1.2 billion merger with another publicly traded company
- a publicly traded insurance company with its merger with another publicly traded company
- a publicly traded telecommunications company with its $320 million acquisition of a publicly traded telecommunications company
- a publicly traded manufacturer of hardboard with its sale to another publicly traded company through a tender offer process
- the owners of schools focused on special education needs with the sale of the business to a private equity fund
- a large publicly traded Indian media company with its joint venture with a U.S. media company
- a leading global provider of business information solutions to law firms, corporations and government with its acquisition of a leading Indian publisher
- an Indian publicly-traded IT company with several U.S. acquisitions of IT services providers
- a U.S. publicly-traded BPO company with several acquisitions of IT services providers
- a French technology company with its sale to a French publicly traded media and technology company
- a publicly-traded producer of specialty minerals with its $250 million shelf debt offering
- an NYSE-listed owner and operator of casino resorts in Las Vegas and Macau with the $850 million Rule 144A offering of its high yield secured debt securities and tender offer for its existing bonds
- an owner and operator of a Macau casino resort with the $120 million Regulation S offering of its secured mortgage debt securities to Asian investors to finance the construction of the resort in Macau
- the leading North American producer and processor of multifilament polyester and nylon yearns with the $190 million Rule 144A offering of its high yield senior secured notes to refinance existing debt and related tender offer for its outstanding notes
- one of the largest providers of check products with the $175 million Rule 144A offering of its high yield debt securities to finance its acquisition
- a leading producer of metal additives with the $117.5 million Rule 144A offering of its high yield secured debt securities
- bondholders with a $650 million issue of convertible senior secured debt securities by a telecommunications company
- a Canadian public mining company with its $1 billion and $500 million registered offerings of investment grade debt securities under the MJDS regime
- a Japanese corporation with the establishment of its ADR program
- a UK public company with the establishment of its ADR program
- a French bank with the $500 million sale of its equity interests in a U.S. publicly traded company
- an NYSE-listed insurance company with its $1 billion offering of hybrid debt securities and $800 million offering of senior notes
- the leading producer of polyurethane foam-based products with its debt restructuring and recapitalization
- a private equity fund with the recapitalization of a leading sports goods manufacturer.
Ms. Demont is the former chair of the subcommittee on Best Practices for Women Attorneys of the New York City Bar and is the co-author of the New York City Bar’s report on “Best Practices for the Hiring, Training, Retention and Advancement of Women Attorneys” issued in February 2006.
Ms. Demont is a trustee of the America India Foundation, a leading nonprofit development organization devoted to accelerating social and economic change in India, especially in the education, livelihood and public health sectors in India.
Ms. Demont also is a member of the board of directors of Sing for Hope, a nonprofit organization that mobilizes professional artists in volunteer service programs for schools, hospitals and communities.
Ms. Demont is an adjunct professor at Columbia University School of Law, where she teaches a seminar on Cross-Border Transactions – Doing Business in India. She also is a frequent speaker at events focused on cross-border trade and has written or contributed to several publications, including:
- “Top 10 Lessons Learned from the Vodafone, Aditya Birla and Other Tax Cases in India” Practical International Tax Strategies, October 2011
- “FAQs About Indian Corporate Insolvency,” Corporate Finance Law 360, Bankruptcy Law 360, and International Trade Law 360, May 2011
- “U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices: Doing Business in India …The Way Forward,” Westlaw Journal Medical Devices, May 2011
- “Indian Companies Positioned to Acquire U.S. Assets: BLAW” (interview), Bloomberg Law on Demand, January 26, 2011
- "Exon-Florio: Foreign Buyers Are Increasingly Susceptible to U.S. Government Scrutiny of Their Acquisitions in the U.S." (co-author), North American Free Trade & Investment Report, January 2011, IndUS Business Journal, December 2010; Daily Securities News, July 2010
- “The Credit Crisis in Greece and Ireland and the Effects of a Possible Default by These Countries,” Bloomberg Law Reports, September 2010
- “Shareholder Activism’s for Better or Worse” (interview), The Analyst, ICFAI University Press in Hyderabad, India, August 2010
- “Keeping With the Times: Recent Breakthroughs in Indian Dispute Resolution,” posted on USIBC.com (the U.S.-India Business Council Web site), 2010
- “To Be or Not To Be a Public Company,” The Deal Magazine, December 2009
- “IPOs Are Back: To Be or Not To Be a Public Company,” Securities Mosaic, October 2009 and Daily Securities News, October 2009
- “Low Bond Prices Can Turn to an Issuer’s Advantage Through Repurchase Programs or Tender Offers,” Investment Dealers’ Digest Magazine, October 2009
- “Global M&As – Strategy is the Key,” The Analyst, ICFAI University Press in Hyderabad, India, August 2009
- “Show Me the Money and How to Get It,” universal shelf registration, TheDeal.com, July 2009
- “The Green Path to India,” India Business Law Journal, February 2009
- “Taming the Monster – Modern History’s First Ever Credit Crisis,” The Analyst, ICFAI University Press in Hyderabad, India, November 2008
- “Weathering the Storm,” India Business Law Journal, November 2008
- “Wall Street Woes, India’s Opportunities,” Business Today, India, October 2008
- “Down but Not Out-New York Still Shines as India’s Legal Hub,” India Business Law Journal, October 2008.
Ms. Demont received her LL.M. from Columbia Law School in 1995 where she was a Harlan-Fiske Stone scholar and her LL.M. from the Université de Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne in 1994. She received her LL.B. from the University of Rennes Law School in 1991.
Ms. Demont is fluent in English and French.
