Sarah Beth Rizzo is head of Skadden's Chicago Tax Group. She advises clients on a wide range of federal income tax planning matters, including REIT transactions, mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, reorganizations, partnership transactions, private and public securities offerings, financings, private equity transactions and foreign investments in the United States.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Tax Lawyers | 2026 | M&A, Tax Transactions |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Real Estate Lawyers | 2025 | REITs |
| The Inaugural Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Tax Lawyers | 2025 | M&A, Tax Transactions |
Rizzo has represented clients in various tax-free and taxable acquisitions, dispositions, financings, spin-offs and restructurings, including:
REITS
- Apartment Income REIT Corp. in:
- its $10 billion going-private acquisition by Blackstone Real Estate Partners X
- its joint venture with Blackstone Inc.
- a $1.1 billion joint venture with a sovereign wealth fund and related acquisitions
- its joint venture with a global asset manager
- Western Asset Mortgage Capital Corporation in its acquisition by AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc.
- Landmark Healthcare Companies LLC in a $750 million transaction involving the contribution of 14 medical office buildings to the operating partnership of Physicians Realty Trust
- Apartment Investment and Management Company (an UPREIT) in its $10.4 billion spin-off of Apartment Income REIT
- Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. in its REIT conversion
- Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. in the unsolicited, but subsequently agreed upon, acquisition of substantially all of its real estate by Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc.
- Darden Restaurants, Inc. in the tax-free spin-off of a portion of its real estate assets into a separate, publicly traded REIT
- Ladder Capital Corp in its REIT conversion
Financial Sponsors and Asset Management
- York Capital Management in its:
- sale of Renuity to Greenbriar Equity Group
- sale of The Bay Club Company to KKR
- Burke Porter Group, a leading global provider of automated diagnostic, testing and production solutions serving life science and specialty industrial end markets, in its sale to AEA Investors LP
- Perella Weinberg Partners in a variety of matters for its asset management and advisory business, including its de-SPAC merger with FinTech Acquisition Corp. IV at an enterprise value of $975 million. As a result of the merger, PWP became a publicly traded company with an “Up-C” structure
Other Tax Matters
- A committee of independent directors of Snap One Holdings Corp. in Snap’s $1.4 billion acquisition by Resideo Technologies, Inc.
- Computershare Limited in the $720 million carve-out sale of Computershare Mortgage Services Inc. and certain affiliated companies, including Specialized Loan Servicing LLC, to Rithm Capital Corp.
- Cardinal Health, Inc. in the $1 billion sale of its Cordis business to Hellman & Friedman, LLC
- Genesis HealthCare, LLC (now Genesis Healthcare Inc.) in its combination with Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. using an “Up-C” structure
- CME Group in its joint venture with S&P/Dow Jones Indices LLC
Rizzo also represents U.S. and international corporations and investment banks in connection with public offerings of debt, equity and other financial instruments. Ms. Rizzo also has experience assisting several clients in obtaining private letter rulings from the IRS, and in audits and tax controversy matters before the IRS.