Steven C. Balet is a Senior Managing Director of Okapi Partners. Steve has over 14 years of experience in the proxy solicitation business; most recently as Head of the London office of MacKenzie Partners, Inc. In that capacity, Steve has worked extensively with investors and issuers on transactions. Steve’s experiences include providing strategic advice in dissident investor campaigns, proxy fights and mergers and acquisition transactions.
Steve has been retained on some of the best known campaigns for issuers and opposition groups in the past decade. He has represented: Sanofi-Synthelabo in its hostile acquisition of Aventis; Walter Hewlett in his campaign against the Hewlett-Packard acquisition of Compaq; Roy Disney and Stanley Gold in their “just vote no” campaign against directors at The Walt Disney Company; and Oracle Corporation in its successful takeover of PeopleSoft. In addition, Steve advised: hedge fund Knight Vinke Asset Management in its successful opposition campaign against VNU Group B.V. (now The Nielsen Company) in the proposed merger with IMS Health; NovartisAG in its acquisition of Chiron Corporation; and numerous other significant cross-border transactions.
Steve has also represented many other activist investors in other campaigns over the years. He brings a sense of passion and energy as well as true strategic knowledge to any engagement. Steve holds a B.A. from SUNY Albany and a J.D. from SUNY Buffalo School of Law. |
