Biography: Mergers and Acquisitions

Imad I Qasim is a partner based in Sidley's Chicago office. His principal areas of practice are mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, securities offerings, and private equity and joint ventures transactions. Mr Qasim played a major role in a large number of public company transactions, including Equity Office Properties' acquisition by the Blackstone Group; Tellabs' acquisition of Advanced Fibre Communications; Kimberly-Clark's acquisition of Tecnol Medical Products; True North Communications' acquisition by Interpublic Group; Fred Meyer's acquisition of Quality Food Centers; Mercantile Bancorporation's acquisition of Mark Twain Bancshares; Clear Channel Communications' acquisition of Jacor Communications; Electronic Payment Services' acquisition by Concord EFS; the Cherry family's acquisition of the Cherry Corporation; Marshall & Ilsley's sponsored spin-off of Metavante Technologies; and Kimberly-Clark's spin-off of Neenah Paper.

Mr Qasim has also played a primary role in a number of public and private offerings of securities, including initial public offerings. He regularly advises public companies and their boards of directors on corporate governance and securities law matters.

Mr Qasim has extensive private equity and joint venture experience, including investments by strategic investors in public and private companies, and the formation and organisation of a number of large industry consortiums and B2B exchanges.

Mr Qasim is a member of the American Bar Association and sits on the board of directors of The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He is a graduate of Georgetown University (JD, 1982); and Hamilton College (AB, 1979, with honours). He is admitted to practice in Illinois and New York.