Edward J. O'Connell

Edward O'Connell is a Member in the Washington, D.C. office, where he is a leader of the firm’s Business Transactions and Corporate department and a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. His practice covers a wide variety of M&A, transactional, corporate, financing and securities law matters, with a special focus on higher education institutions and media, communications and entertainment companies, as well as joint ventures between non-profit and for-profit entities in the post-secondary education sector.

In connection with his corporate and securities practice, Mr. O'Connell also has represented many media and cable companies and many of the largest investment banks in the United States. Mr. O'Connell also represents private equity and venture capital companies in connection with fund formation and investments in the education, media, communications and Internet industries.

Representative Experience

• Represented WaveDivision Holdings, LLC and affiliates of Sandler Capital Management in connection with the sale of WaveDivision to affiliates of Oak Hill Capital Partners, GI Partners and WaveDivision’s executive management. WaveDivision operates cable systems in Washington, Oregon and California. 
• Represented Education Corporation of America (Virginia College) in connection with its acquisition of New England College of Business and Finance.
• Represented Touro College in connection with a Touro affiliate becoming the sole sponsor of the non-profit entity that operates New York Medical College, one of the nation’s largest private health sciences universities, which previously operated under the sponsorship of the Archdiocese of New York. 
• Represented SAE Group, the owners of the SAE Institutes, which operate audio engineering and training facilities around the globe, in connection with the sale of SAE’s U.S. and international business operations to Navitas Limited.
• Represented The National Labor College, a regionally accredited higher learning institution founded in 1969 by the AFL-CIO, in connection with its joint venture with The Princeton Review to establish an online education service to bring high-quality degree programs to the AFL-CIO’s 12 million members and their families. 
• Represented Discover Media LLC, the publisher of Discover magazine and owner of related website assets, in connection with the sale of all of Discover Media’s assets to Kalmbach Publishing Company. 
• Represented CAEL (the Council on Adult and Experiential Learning) in connection with the formation of EdLink, LLC – a joint venture between CAEL and ACT (the non-profit organization that administers the ACT college admissions exam). EdLink is a leading provider of employer tuition assistance program management services. 
• Represented Touro College and Touro University in connection with the sale of Touro’s online division, Touro University International, to Summit Partners. 
• Represented stockholders of Citizens Telephone Company, a North Carolina telephone and cable television company, in connection with the sale of the stock of Citizens Telephone Company to Rock Hill Telephone Company. 
• Advised the Board of Directors of Trailer Bridge, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed public company that is a leading shipper of cargo in the Puerto Rico maritime trade lanes, in connection with various strategic matters. 
• Represented Sandler Capital Management in connection with the formation of six private equity funds, representing an aggregate of over $2 billion of committed capital, to invest in the media, communications, entertainment and Internet industries, and also represented the funds in connection with numerous portfolio company investments in preferred stock and “mezzanine” debt securities. 
• Represented SunCom Wireless in connection with its $1 billion exchange of PCS networks with Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless, and various related transactions. 
• Served as lead issuer’s counsel in initial public equity and debt offerings by CMP Media, Inc., Teleport Communications Group, FrontierVision Operating Partners, L.P., SunCom Wireless, International Family Entertainment, Inc. (The Family Channel), Falcon Holding Group (Falcon Cable), Marcus Cable Company, L.P., Renaissance Media Group, and Cablevision Industries Corporation. 
• Served as lead underwriters’ counsel in public equity and debt offerings by Emmis Broadcasting Corporation, Young Broadcasting, Inc., Insight Communications Company, Star Cablevision Group and Katz Media Group.