Bio

Richard S. Brail is a Partner and Chairman of M&A. He joined the firm in 2009 and previously spent 18 years as an M&A banker at Morgan Stanley, where he specialized in advising clients across the media, entertainment, communication and technology sectors. He actively advises across the Media & Entertainment landscape specializing in companies in content (film/video, music/audio, book, art, IP) creation, distribution and exhibition. He also advises clients across the Experience Economy and the associated immersive, location-based entertainment concepts which create social connections. Rich has over 30 years of experience advising public and private companies in completed transactions involving acquisitions, divestitures and strategic combinations, including mergers, joint ventures and minority investments across the TMT sector. He has also advised several international clients on cross border acquisitions into the U.S. and maintains relationships across the financial sponsor and venture capital communities. He has extensive experience advising family-owned businesses, Trusts & Estates and special committees of boards. Rich recently advised the Special Committee of SiriusXM’s Board on the combination with Liberty SiriusXM Tracking Stock Group, the Special Committee of System1’s Board on the sale of Total Security to Just Develop It, Puttshack on its growth equity raise, Banijay on its $2.2 billion acquisition of Endemol Shine Group, Vivendi on its stake sales of Universal Music Group to Tencent, MJR Digital Cinemas on its $152 million sale to Kinepolis, Moviehouse & Eatery on its sale to Cinépolis, Len Riggio in connection with the $683 million sale of Barnes & Noble to Elliot Management, VSS-Southern Theatres on its sale of Movie Tavern to Marcus Theatres, a consortium of investors, including iSubscribed, WndrCo and General Catalyst, on their acquisition of Intersections, Cobb Theatres on its sale to Cinemex, Santikos on the sale of its Houston properties to Regal, MBS Textbook Exchange on its sale to Barnes & Noble Education, Marcus Theatres on its $65 million acquisition of Wehrenberg Theatres, Hal Leonard on its recapitalization and sale to private equity, Bow Tie Cinemas on its sale of a collection of theatres to Cinépolis, Starplex Cinemas on its $172 million sale to AMC Theatres, Searchlight Capital on its acquisition of TouchTunes Interactive Networks, Christie’s on its acquisition of Collectrium (digital management of art), Newsy on its sale to E.W. Scripps, MediaNews Group on its acquisition of Journal Register to form Digital First Media, the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of American Greetings on its $814 million go-private sale to its control shareholder, National CineMedia on its sale of Fathom Events to its Founding Partners (Regal, AMC, Cinemark), Sony on its $2.2 billion acquisition of EMI Music Publishing, Barnes & Noble founder Len Riggio on the $204 million Liberty Media investment, eBay on its $2.4 billion acquisition of GSI Commerce and Thomas Nelson book publishing on its sale to HarperCollins. Rich advised Sirius Satellite Radio on its merger with XM Satellite Radio and has advised clients in all areas of the music industry, including music publishing, recorded music and radio and digital music distribution. He has also advised extensively in the movie theater exhibition sector, including the sale of several regional and family-owned operators, as well as across the “experience economy.” He has advised on transactions involving content creation and distribution and digital media. Additionally, he has advised extensively in the satellite/mobile communications industry, in particular across the Fixed Satellite Services sector and related industries, including the sale of PanAmSat, the sale of Intelsat, SES’s acquisition of GE Americom and Loral’s acquisition of Telesat. He also works closely with Solomon Partners’ longstanding retail and branded consumer clients in evaluating digital media, direct to consumer and e-commerce strategies and transactions. Rich lives in Chappaqua, New York with his wife and three sons. Rich is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he received a BS in Economics from the Wharton School and a BA from the College of Arts and Sciences with a major in Philosophy. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School.