Mergers & Acquisitions
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;
- insurance; and
- technology and telecommunications
Accolades
Our M&A practice is consistently among the most active in the nation.
- Top 15 “M&A Advisers in Announced Deals with a Value of $100 Million or More,” based on number of deals in 2021.
- Ranked in the top 10, based on number of deals, in the M&A category “US Middle Market Announced Deals,” in 2021. (FactSet)
- Ranked #2 among U.S. law firms representing financial advisors in M&A activity for 2021. (Corporate Control Alert)
- Nationally ranked in Tier 1 for Mergers & Acquisitions Law since 2013. (U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”)
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 ADS-TEC Energy, a global leader in battery buffered ultrafast charging technology, and its majority shareholders in its $580 million business combination with European Sustainable Growth Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company.
- Represented Asahi Intecc Co. Ltd., a Japan-based medical equipment manufacturer, in its $30 million acquisition of Pathways Medical Corporation, a U.S.-based company that possesses unique technology related to electrical wiring which can be formed on the surface of guide wires, etc., from Cygnus Investment Corporation and a number of individual shareholders.
- Represented Mississippi-based BancorpSouth Bank in its $2.7 billion merger with Texas-based Cadence Bancorporation, the parent company of Cadence Bank, N.A. At the time of announcement, it was the second-largest Texas bank deal in history.
- Represented Boral Industries Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Boral Limited, an international building products and construction materials group, in the $2.15 billion sale of its North American building products businesses to Westlake Chemical Corporation, a global manufacturer and supplier of materials.
- Represented Builders FirstSource, a leading manufacturer and distributor of building products to professional homebuilders, in its $450 million acquisition of WTS Paradigm LLC, a software solutions and services provider for the building products industry.
- Represented Caelum Biosciences, founded by pharmaceutical company Fortress Biotech, in its $150 million sale of all remaining equity, plus additional payments up to $350 million based on regulatory and commercial milestones, to AstraZeneca through Alexion Pharmaceuticals, the arm of AstraZeneca focused on rare diseases. This deal follows a previous minority investment by Alexion that included an exclusive option to purchase the remainder of Caelum.
- Represented Citi and Credit Suisse, as financial advisors to Hormel Foods Corporation, in its $3.35 billion acquisition of Planters® from the Kraft Heinz Company.
- Represented Texas-based Cobra Legal Solutions in its strategic investment from private equity firm Blue Sage Capital.
- Represented Cox Automotive Inc. in its acquisition of Fyusion, a computer vision company and leader in immersive vehicle imaging solutions for automotive and other industries.
- Represented Credit Suisse, financial advisor to Altria, a US-based tobacco, food and brewery company, on the $1.2 billion sale of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates to private equity firm Sycamore Partners Management LP.
- Represented FirstCash Inc., the leading international operator of over 2,800 retail pawn stores in the U.S. and Latin America, in its $1.17 billion acquisition of American First Finance Inc., a technology-driven virtual lease-to-own and retail finance provider focused on underserved, non-prime customers.
- Represented Fifth Third Bancorp, a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, in its acquisition of Provide, a fintech company providing a digital platform for healthcare practices.
- 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 $280 million acquisition of Americraft Carton 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 Hilton Grand Vacations in its $1.4 billion acquisition of Diamond Resorts International, Inc. from funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc., funds managed by affiliates of Reverence Capital Partners, and other Diamond stockholders.
- Counsel to Houlihan Lokey, financial advisor to special purpose acquisition company Reinvent Technology Partners Y in its proposed acquisition of Aurora Innovation, a self-driving technology company.
- Represented PC Advisors LLC in its acquisition, through its subsidiary McMahon Contracting and Construction LLC, of the assets and business of McMahon Contracting L.P., a construction business engaged in concrete paving, installing underground utilities and constructing concrete structures, roads and bridge segments, and the personal goodwill of the owner of McMahon Contracting, L.P.
- Represented global manufacturer RENK AG in its $400 million acquisition of Combat Propulsion Systems, a manufacturer of military engines and transmission, and related businesses from L3Harris Technologies.
- Represented Select Interior Concepts Inc., a premier distributor of interior building products, in its $411 million sale to an affiliate of global private equity firm Sun Capital Partners Inc.
- Represented Tenet Healthcare Corporation, a publicly-traded healthcare services company, in its $1.1 billion sale of 5 hospitals in the Miami-Dade and Southern Broward county area to Steward Health Care System LLC.
- Represented Truist Securities, financial advisor to Griffin-American Healthcare REIT IV Inc. in its $4.2 billion proposed merger with Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III Inc.
- Represented Wells Fargo Securities, financial advisor to Independence Energy, an oil and gas business managed by New York-based investment firm KKR’s Energy Real Assets team, in its $5.7 billion business combination with Texas-based Contango Oil & Gas.
- Represented White Cap Supply Holdings, a portfolio company of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, with its acquisitions of National Concrete Accessories Canada Inc., substantially all of the assets of Tri-Supply & Equipment Inc., Diamond Tool & Fasteners Inc., and the rebar operations of The Cook & Boardman Group.