Many companies use mergers and acquisitions to grow their market share, expand their operations, and diversify their holdings. Facilitating these challenging transactions requires legal finesse, rapid execution, and the ability to access and leverage capital.
Offering the experience of a large law firm combined with the flexibility and personal attention of a midsized firm, Pryor Cashman advises on business acquisitions and dispositions and helps negotiate and close transactions on a global scale. With a particular focus on middle-market companies and their investors, our M+A practice helps clients achieve growth and success through smart, strategic planning.
What We Do
Our M+A practice works with domestic and international companies, from startups to Fortune 500 corporations to financial institutions and investment funds, including venture capital, FinTech, and private equity investors. Our clients engage in a wide variety of industries, such as fashion, real estate, apparel, technology, music, advertising, media + entertainment, and life sciences. When advising our clients, we incorporate guidance from the firm’s various practices, including the Intellectual Property, Tax, Labor + Employment, Real Estate, and Banking + Finance Groups.
Our lawyers are experienced with all types of business combinations, including joint ventures, strategic alliances, collaborative arrangements, equity purchases, asset purchases, unsolicited leveraged buyouts, spinoffs, recapitalizations, PIPEs and restructurings, going-private efforts, tender offers, and proxy fights.
We counsel clients on the many issues that arise when acquiring, structuring, and managing businesses, including financing, tax, and corporate governance matters. When clients need to raise capital, we introduce them to private equity investors seeking investment opportunities or to underwriters and placement agents that can assist with all types of capital transactions. Additionally, we offer counsel regarding regulatory and antitrust considerations to ensure transactions execute as planned. We also help effect a smooth post-M+A business integration so that our client derives the maximum value from the deal.
As part of our work on public and private company acquisitions, buyouts, divestitures, minority investments, and other M+A transactions, we provide guidance on structuring considerations, related-party rules, special committee obligations, takeover bids, securities regulation, and tax matters. When the need arises, we also handle any related litigation.
International Deals
Cross-border mergers and acquisitions present special concerns due to differing legal and regulatory standards, including employee rights and tax obligations. Our non-exclusive membership in Interlaw, a worldwide network of independent law firms which has been consistently recognized by Chambers Global as a Global Elite Law Firm Network, helps to ensure that we structure and execute cross-border transactions with a nuanced understanding of all commercial, transactional, and regulatory laws particular to those jurisdictions.
Our M+A team’s international experience is vast and includes specialty practices focusing on China and Germany, which assists in providing coverage across the European Union and the Asia-Pacific. For example, we recently advised a German biotech company on the U.S. aspects of its acquisition of a California-based high-speed microchip creator. We also represented a large China-based software and information services company in connection with its acquisition of a leading U.S.-based technology consulting firm.
Uncommon Client Service
Among our strengths as a midsize firm is our ability, particularly in smaller to middle-market transactions, to assist clients in all phases of a transaction as, in effect, in-house counsel. From the letter of intent stage through due diligence and contract drafting and negotiations, we lead our clients through the deal process from beginning to end. Our dedication, attentiveness, and full-service approach assure comprehensive representation and form the foundation of the long-lasting client relationships we hold.
