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Chambers just ranked ours as one of the country’s leading business law firms.
Awards aren’t everything in the legal profession. Still, when you have been selected as one of the country’s leading business law firms - as Dickinson Wright has - it tells you something. Especially when you consider that Chambers does such extensive research in every state to determine the best business lawyers in the country.
And when you consider that 11 of our lawyers achieved individual recognition in five featured practice areas, it just substantiates everything we have been known for since 1878 - credibility, creativity, depth of experience and intellectual firepower. Put our reputation to work for you and let us add value to your enterprise.
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Private Equity
Expanded Description
Our transactional practice includes the full range of private equity and private capital investment-related activities, typically involving middle market investments but also including investments of more moderate size or earlier stage, including venture capital transactions. We have extensive experience in all kinds of investment and exit transactions, including LBOs, MBOs, stock and asset acquisitions, mergers, recapitalizations, "going private" transactions, IPOs, control and minority investments and "club" transactions involving multiple sponsors.
Finance
Dickinson Wright's private equity practice is enhanced by its broad experience in capital markets and institutional financings generally, on both sides of the table. We have represented equity sponsors, portfolio company borrowers, underwriters, financial institutions and other lenders (both as lead arranger and as participants) in a wide variety of complex and traditional financing transactions, including large, syndicated senior credit facilities, acquisition and recapitalization financings, international and other cross-border financings, asset-based loans, debtor-in-possession financings, mezzanine finance transactions with various equity participations, and "high yield" and other debt offerings. Our finance practice also includes one of the Midwest's leading workout or restructuring practices, which includes extensive experience in the special issues faced by portfolio companies over a wide variety of industries in workouts, insolvencies, bankruptcies and other similar situations. Our understanding of the legal environment and the requirements of the various participants in the market enable us to efficiently structure and resolve our client's financing needs.
Organization of Fund Sponsors & Investment Funds
We also routinely advise fund sponsors on all aspects of organizing and running their businesses. For example, we have organized numerous private equity funds, mezzanine funds, "turn-around" funds, and "funds of funds," as well as their respective general partners and managers. Naturally, this includes significant experience in the organization of funds, their sponsors and their managers, helping them to achieve an appropriate and tax-efficient structure as to ownership, compensation, governance and similar matters.
Approach
Our private equity team is creative, experienced, responsive and market-seasoned. Our goal is to provide our clients with sophisticated advice and practical guidance tailored to help achieve their unique business objectives efficiently and cost-effectively. Our private equity lawyers manage each transaction based upon their extensive experience, the multi-faceted legal expertise available to assist on the transaction, and our in-depth understanding of the legal issues, structuring objectives and regulatory environment affecting our clients. We proactively manage all aspects of acquisition or divestiture transactions and each tier of the capital structure to work in harmony with the financial and business goals, management incentives and ultimate exit strategies.
Dickinson Wright is regularly recognized in the Private Equity Analyst's League Tables as one of the most active law firms in the nation, and the only firm based in Michigan, based both on the number of the funds organized and the number of private equity transactions negotiated and closed.
Related practice areas include:
For more information, please contact:
Richard M. Bolton
313-223-3648 or rbolton@dickinsonwright.com