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.
Experience
Alston & Bird M&A attorneys have extensive experience advising clients engaged in a full range of domestic and cross-border public and private transactions, including acquisitions and divestitures, mergers, leveraged buyouts, going-private transactions, strategic alliances and joint ventures. We have developed significant industry-specific knowledge in many cutting-edge industries, including:
- biotechnology;
- consumer products and services;
- energy;
- financial services;
- health care; and
- technology and telecommunications
Accolades
Our M&A practice is consistently among the most active in the nation.
- Top 25 "M&A Legal Advisor", based on number of deals with a value of $100 million or more in 2023. (The Deal)
- Top 15, based on deal value, in the "US Announced Deals” category, and top 20, based on deal value, in the “Global Announced Deals” category. (FactSet, 2023)
- Nationally ranked in Tier 1 for Mergers & Acquisitions Law since 2013. (U.S. News Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms")
- Ranked #6 among U.S. law firms representing financial advisors in M&A activity for 2023. (Corporate Control Alert)
Bringing Value to Our Clients
We operate based on two fundamental principles: first, that a client hires us to be facilitators, not roadblocks; and second, that we are there to protect the value of our client’s deal. We focus on our client’s business and long-term objectives and ascertain the elements of value in the deal for our client. We take a fully integrated approach to assessing the risks that affect value, negotiate to minimize those risks and structure the transaction so that the objectives are accomplished.
- Represented Avanos Medical Inc., a global medical technology company, in the $110 million sale of its respiratory health business to SunMed Group Holdings LLC, a leading North American manufacturer and distributor of consumable medical devices for anesthesia and respiratory care.
- Represented Builders FirstSource, a leading manufacturer and distributor of building products to professional homebuilders, in its $83 million acquisition of Noltex Holdings, Inc. and in its acquisition of Frank’s Cash & Carry.
- Represented CAPTRUST, the largest independent registered investment advisory firm in the nation and backed by GTCR, in a minority growth investment from funds managed by global investment firm Carlyle.
- Represented Certus (f/k/a American Safety Council (ASC)), a leading training and certification platform and portfolio company of Ridgemont Equity Partners, in its acquisition of Workforce180, an eLearning certification company that serves workforce development boards, non-profits and government agencies across the United States.
- Represented Texas-based Charis Holdings Inc., the holding company for Charis Bank, in its acquisition by Texas-based Vista Bancshares Inc., the holding company for Vista Bank.
- Represented Credit Suisse, financial advisor to automation and robotics company Berkshire Grey, in its $375 million sale to Japan-listed strategic investment holding company SoftBank.
- Represented Cardlytics, Inc., in the sale of loyalty marketing unit Entertainment® to Kigo, the digital asset technology subsidiary of Augeo, a global leader in engagement platforms.
- Represented Fifth Third Bancorp in its acquisition of Rize Money, Inc., an embedded payments platform that provides payment infrastructure and risk management capabilities to fintechs and other technology companies and in its acquisition of Big Data Healthcare, a Wisconsin-based technology solutions provider for healthcare payments and remittance.
- Represented GoldState Music, a private investment firm with a primary focus on the music sector, in a new partnership and significant investment from private equity investment firm Flexpoint Ford Asset Opportunities.
- Represented Graphic Packaging International, a leading provider of paper-based packaging solutions, in its $262.5 million acquisition of Bell Incorporated, a South Dakota-based packaging solutions producer.
- Represented Grain Management-backed Hunter Communications, Oregon’s largest privately owned fiber-optic internet provider, in its acquisition of Origin Networks LLC, the parent company to telecommunications provider InfoStructure.
- Represented Houlihan Lokey, financial advisor to Greenhill & Co., Inc. in its $550 million sale to Mizuho Financial Group.
- Represented Morgan Stanley, financial advisor to global energy company Chevron Corporation in its $7.6 billion acquisition of U.S. petroleum producer and distributor PDC Energy, Inc.
- Represented private equity firm Pamlico Capital and its portfolio company TRG Screen, a provider of enterprise subscription management solutions, in TRG Screen’s sale to Vista Equity Partners, a leading enterprise software private equity firm.
- Represented Ready Capital Corporation, a New York-based multi-strategy real estate finance company, in its $787 million acquisition of Broadmark Realty Capital, a Washington-based company specialized in owning, developing, and managing real estate properties. The transaction will form the fourth largest commercial mortgage REIT.
- Represented Reece Group, an Australia-based plumbing, waterworks and HVAC distributor, in its acquisition of Barsco, a Texas-based HVAC distributor.
- Represented Ridgemont Equity Partners in the sale of its interest in Unite Private Networks LLC, a fiber-optic services provider, to cable television and broadband provider Cox Communications Inc.
- Represented Specialty Building Products, a portfolio company of The Jordan Company and a leading distributor of building products across North America, in its acquisition of Amerhart, Ltd., a Wisconsin-based building materials company specializing in wholesale distribution and logistics services.
- Represented Spectrum Science, an independent, integrated marketing, communications and media agency focused on health and science, in its strategic investment from Knox Lane, a San Francisco-based growth-oriented investment firm.
- Represented Standish Management LLC, one of the leading independent providers of fund administration services to private equity, venture capital, and real estate managers, and represented its founding shareholders in private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP’s $1.6 billion acquisition of a 55% stake in Standish from London-based investment firm Vitruvian Partners LLP.
- Represented Tom Barrow Company, a market-leading provider of commercial HVAC solutions in the US Southeast, in its sale of a majority stake to Ardian, a world-leading private investment house.
- Represented Unifeye Vision Partners, a leading network of comprehensive eye care providers and portfolio company of Waud Capital Partners, in its acquisitions of Premier Surgery Center, Sierra Eye Medical Group, Inc., and Southwest Eye Care, P.C. and its associated surgical center, Atlas Surgery Center LLC.
- Represented Veritiv, a leading full-service provider of packaging, in its $2.6 billion acquisition by an affiliate of private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC (CD&R).
- Represented US Foods, a leading national foodservice distributor, in its acquisitions of Saladino's Foodservice, an independently owned broadline distributor based in central California and in its acquisition of Renzi Foodservice, a broadline distributor.
- Represented White Cap Holdings LLC, a portfolio company of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC and Sterling Group LP and distributor of specialty construction supplies, with its acquisitions of substantially all of the assets of Tri-Boro Construction Supplies Inc., Form Tech Concrete Forms Inc., and Reno Hardware & Supply Inc.
Highlights
Alison LeVasseur Named a “40 Under 40” Honoree by Atlanta Business Chronicle
Alison LeVasseur, partner in Alston & Bird’s Corporate & Business Transactions Group, has been named among Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “40 Under 40” Class of 2024.
Alston & Bird Ranked a Top Counsel to Investment Banks in the First Half of 2024
Corporate Control Alert – a service of The Deal that provides analysis of key Delaware case law, trends in dealmaking, activism, and regulation – has ranked Alston & Bird third among counsel to financial advisors on U.S. M&A transactions with a value of $100 million or more announced between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2024.
Alston & Bird Represents The First Bancshares in $1.2 Billion Merger with Renasant Corporation
Alston & Bird represented The First Bancshares in its $1.2 billion merger with Renasant Corporation, combining two of the largest banks headquartered in Mississippi and creating a six-state Southeast banking franchise with approximately $25 billion in total assets. The all-stock transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.
Alston & Bird Represents CommScope in Sale of Outdoor Wireless Networks and Distributed Antenna Systems Businesses to Amphenol
Alston & Bird advised CommScope, a global leader in network connectivity, on the $2.1 billion sale of its outdoor wireless networks segment and its networking, intelligent cellular & security solutions segment’s distributed antenna systems business unit to Amphenol Corporation, a leading provider of high-technology interconnect, sensor, and antenna solutions. The all-cash transaction is expected to be completed within the first half of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.
Alston & Bird Adds Three Lateral Partners to Bolster Corporate, Health Care, and Real Estate Practices from New Offices in Chicago and Century City
Alston & Bird has strengthened its Corporate, Health Care, and Real Estate practices with the addition of three new partners. Dave Zampa, who focuses on complex M&A transactions, health care, and life sciences, and Erin Felchner, who concentrates on real estate finance, will join the firm’s new Chicago office. In addition, Brielle Cuskelly, who handles real estate and real estate finance matters, will reside in the firm’s new Century City office.
Mergers & Acquisitions