Private Equity

Overview

Strategically located in New York, California, Washington, D.C., Texas and Asia, Sheppard Mullin's Private Equity team serves the legal needs of the private equity community. We represent private equity and leveraged buyout firms of all sizes in connection with acquisitions, divestitures and restructurings of their portfolio investments, including structuring the transaction and preparation and negotiation of documentation, exit transactions, including initial and follow-on public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions. We provide a complete range of services at all stages of the investment cycle from start-up or "seed" capital to growth capital, mature private equity, and management buyouts.

Our transactional experience includes acquisitions of portfolio companies and add-on acquisitions by portfolio companies, recapitalizations, investing in and/or recapitalizing financially distressed companies, mergers, strategic investments, restructurings, dispositions, multinational divestitures, and initial public offerings. Our lawyers are experienced with all stages of investments (including venture, growth, and buy-outs) as well as with the entire balance sheet of a portfolio company (including equity, private investments in public companies, mezzanine capital, and structured financing solutions).

We can also assist private equity clients to structure innovative financing arrangements. We advise clients on how to comply with an array of legal requirements, develop disclosure documents and contracts, devise sound tax strategies and exercise practical judgment on a broad spectrum of law-related issues. Our experience encompasses the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and related state regulations.

Because of the complexity of certain transactions, our lawyers draw on the expertise of lawyers in other practice areas of the firm, including tax, finance, securities, labor, litigation, intellectual property, real estate, employee benefits, and bankruptcy. We have also represented private equity firms and their portfolio companies in the evaluation of patent portfolios and intellectual property protection strategies.

We provide our clients with comprehensive solutions, from the initial letter of intent to the closing of the deal and beyond. Our private equity lawyers have represented clients in making investments in a variety of industries, including retail, aerospace and defense, food and beverage, e-commerce, technology, manufacturing, real estate, telecommunications, biotechnology, financial services, entertainment and media, transportation, energy, construction, healthcare, consumer products, apparel and agribusiness.