Mergers & Acquisitions

You hire M&A lawyers to facilitate deals, not hold them up. Our team carefully assesses risk, and structures and negotiates your transactions to position you best. However, we don’t give you unnecessary, protracted updates on minor details. We maximize time by ensuring clear communication, lean staffing, and a keen understanding of your long-term objectives.

We have one of the country’s most experienced groups of M&A attorneys, advising businesses every day on how to access the market to achieve their strategic and liquidity objectives. With over 125 M&A attorneys throughout our firm, we have the depth to assemble a complete team of lawyers that can react quickly to solve the most critical challenges facing your business today. We serve clients ranging from Fortune 500 corporations, closely held companies, private equity sponsors, investment banks and special committees.

Represented AGC Networks Limited, a global IT solutions provider, in its $118.7 million acquisition of Black Box Corporation.
Represented American Proteins in the sale of its poultry rendering and blending assets to Tyson Foods for $850 million.
Represented CatchMark Timber Trust in its acquisition of 1.1 million acres of Crown Pine East Texas timberlands for approximately $1.39 billion in a joint venture with a consortium of institutional investors.
Represented CommScope Holding Company Inc. in its $3 billion purchase of TE Connectivity’s Broadband Network Solutions unit, consisting of telecom, enterprise, and wireless businesses.
Represented Cox Automotive in its acquisition of Clutch Technologies, a vehicle subscription business.
Represented Credit Suisse, the financial advisor to Pinnacle Foods, in Conagra Brands’ acquisition of Pinnacle Foods in a cash and stock merger valued at $10.9 billion.
Represented First Cash Financial Services Inc., an international operator of retail pawn shops, in its merger of equals with Cash America International Inc. with a combined enterprise value of approximately $3 billion. The transaction creates the largest combined retail pawn store operator in the U.S. and Latin America, with total annual revenue of approximately $1.8 billion and more than 2,000 locations across four countries.
Represented FLEETCOR Technologies Inc., a leading global provider of fuel cards and workforce payment products to businesses, in its $3.45 billion acquisition of Comdata Inc.
Represented Grain Management LLC, a leading private equity firm focused on the communications sector, in its acquisition of Great Plains Communications, the largest privately owned telecommunications provider in Nebraska.
For more than 10 years, we have represented Graphic Packaging International, a leading provider of paperboard packaging solutions to multinational and other consumer products companies, in more than a dozen M&A transactions, including its acquisition of assets from Delta Natural Kraft Inc.; its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Sierra Pacific Packaging Inc.; several dispositions of non-core businesses; its merger agreement with Altivity Packaging LLC, a paperboard packaging company whose majority interest is held by the private equity group TPG Capital; and its $6 billion combination with the North America consumer packaging business of International Paper Company.
Represented LinQuest Corporation, a federal government contractor and leading provider of space systems technology solutions to the U.S. defense and intelligence communities, in the sale of a controlling interest to Madison Dearborn Partners and CoVant Management.
Represented Osaka, Japan-based Nippon Paint in its acquisition of Dunn-Edwards Corporation, one of the U.S.’s largest independent manufacturers of architectural, industrial, and high-performance paints.
Represented STS Aviation Group, a global aviation solutions company, in the sale of a majority interest in the company to Greenbriar Equity Group, L.P.
Represented Synovus Financial Corporation in its $2.9 billion acquisition of Florida-based FCB Financial Holdings Inc. in the second-largest bank deal in 2018 at time of announcement, based on value.
Represented Turner Broadcasting, a Time Warner subsidiary and owner of CNN, Turner Sports, TNT, and Cartoon Network, in its sale of the broadcast assets of WPCH-TV to Meredith Corp. WPCH-TV is the former “Superstation WTBS” founded by Ted Turner.
Represented Uniti Fiber Holdings in its $54 million acquisition of Information Transport Solutions, a technology solutions provider, primarily for educational institutions.
Represented the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of ZAIS Group Holdings, an investment advisory and asset management firm, in a going-private transaction.

Contacts

Justin R. Howard

Partner

Atlanta

Phone: 404.881.7758

Email: justin.howard@alston.com

Kevin Miller

Partner

New York

Phone: 212.210.9520

Email: kevin.miller@alston.com

Highlights

                        Press Release
                    
                        June 26, 2020
                    
                        Ridgemont Equity Partners Acquires American Safety Council
                    
                            Alston & Bird client Ridgemont Equity Partners has acquired American Safety Council (ASC), a national leader in online workforce training, education, and certification, from private equity firm Falfurrias Capital.

                        Press Release
                    
                        January 22, 2020
                    
                        Alston & Bird Recognized as a Top 25 Law Firm for Private Equity Deals
                    
                            Alston & Bird has been named among the top 25 law firms advising on middle-market private equity M&A deals in newly published league tables by The Deal.

                        Press Release
                    
                        December 17, 2019
                    
                        Clearview Capital Acquires Freedom Detox, Purchase Green, and Ambient Weather
                    
                            Alston & Bird client Clearview Capital LP has announced the completion of three acquisitions by portfolio companies Pyramid Healthcare Inc., Controlled Products LLC, and Nielsen-Kellerman Inc.

                        Press Release
                    
                        November 21, 2019
                    
                        Rosemarie Thurston Named a Top Woman in Real Estate by Connect Media
                    
                            Rosemarie Thurston, partner and leader of Alston & Bird’s REITs and Real Estate Funds Team, has been named to Connect Media’s 2019 “Women in Real Estate” for the Atlanta/Southeast region, an elite group of commercial real estate leaders.

                
                        Press Release
                    
                        November 7, 2019
                    
                        SmartFinancial Announces Acquisition of Progressive Financial Group

                        Press Release
                    
                        October 16, 2019
                    
                        Alston & Bird Named a Top U.S. Corporate Law Firm by Forbes; “Most Recommended” in Antitrust
                    
                            Alston & Bird has been named to the inaugural Forbes survey of “America’s Top Trusted Corporate Law Firms” as one of the country’s “most recommended” firms in antitrust and competition law.

                        Press Release
                    
                        October 15, 2019
                    
                        BancorpSouth Bank to Acquire Texas First Bancshares
                    
                            Alston & Bird client BancorpSouth Bank has signed a definitive agreement to merge with Texas First Bancshares, Inc., the parent company of Texas First State Bank.

                        Press Release
                    
                        October 11, 2019
                    
                        Alston & Bird’s Duncan Douglass, Mary Gill, and Nola Vanhoy Honored as “Georgia Trailblazers” by the Daily Report 
                    
                            Alston & Bird’s Duncan Douglass, Mary Gill, and Nola Vanhoy have been honored as “Georgia Trailblazers” by the Daily Report in its inaugural list of individuals it describes as true agents of change “who made significant marks on the practice, policy, and technological advancement of their practice.”

                        Press Release
                    
                        October 1, 2019
                    
                        Four Alston & Bird Attorneys Named to The National Black Lawyers’ “Top 40 Under 40”
                    
                            Four Alston & Bird attorneys – James Alexander, Marcus Sandifer, Elliot Watts, and Jamila Williams – have been named by The National Black Lawyers to its 2019 class of the “Top 40 Under 40.”

                        Press Release
                    
                        August 20, 2019
                    
                        Charles Cox Recognized Among Los Angeles’ Top Litigators
                    
                            Charles Cox, partner in Alston & Bird’s Securities Litigation Group, has been named a top litigator in Los Angeles.

                        Press Release
                    
                        August 12, 2019
                    
                        The First Bancshares to Acquire First Florida Bancorp for $85 Million
                    
                            Alston & Bird client The First Bancshares, Inc., holding company for The First, A National Banking Association, announced that it plans to acquire First Florida Bancorp, Inc., the parent company of First Florida Bank, for approximately $85 million.

                        Video
                    
                        July 13, 2018
                    
                        James Sullivan | The Art of the Multijurisdictional Transaction
                    
                            James Sullivan, transactions partner, shares insights on structuring cross-border deals, an area with a decade of steady growth.