McGrath North has one of the most experienced and sophisticated mergers, acquisitions and divestiture practices in the Midwest.  For more than twenty-five years, we have represented public companies, private companies, entrepreneurs, family businesses, private equity groups, non-profits and others in a myriad of acquisition, divestiture and joint venture transactions.  During this time, we have acted as primary M&A counsel for a number of public companies, including Fortune 100 companies. 

This experience and background allows us to counsel clients in all forms of acquisition, divestiture and joint venture transactions, whether large or small, simple or complex.  We have represented clients in mergers (public and private; taxable and non-taxable); asset and stock sales and dispositions; strategic alliances and partnerships; auction transactions; foreign amalgamations; and virtually all other forms of M&A transactions.  We have the expertise, depth and resources to structure transactions, negotiate deals, conduct due diligence, evaluate potential acquisition targets, build and manage data rooms, draft documents and conduct other related M&A activity . . . and we do this for both buyers and sellers.  Our goal is to assist our clients in achieving practical, understandable and effective solutions to transactions that are many times complex. 

Our M&A work has covered a broad range of industries, including branded food manufacturing, sales and distribution, biofuels, agricultural commodities, multiple manufacturing businesses, information technology, product distribution, hotels, banking, retail operations, and others.  The geographic scope of our practice is broad . . . we have represented M&A clients in deals throughout the U.S. and in various foreign locations, including Canada, Mexico, India, Australia, China and numerous countries in Europe, Asia and South America. 

McGrath North’s M&A practice is led by an experienced, sophisticated, multi-functional team of attorneys that focus on transactional work and specialize in the areas of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures.  The attorneys in this group have varying years of experience, which allows us to match a task with the proper level of experience.  This team will lead the transaction while drawing upon the expertise of the firm’s other specialized practice groups, including tax, securities, employee benefits, labor, real estate and intellectual property.  This approach allows us to provide full service to our clients regardless of the complexity or diversity of legal issues involved in a transaction.

Representative Projects

Types of Transactions handled by the M&A group include:

• Public company acquisitions of publicly traded NYSE reporting companies in negotiated merger transactions.
• Private equity portfolio company acquisitions involving multiple small to mid-market roll-up acquisitions.
• Privately held company strategic dispositions involving auction transactions.
• Public company small and mid-market strategic acquisitions of private equity portfolio companies in auction transactions.
• Public company strategic disposition program involving multiple dispositions ranging in value from $20 million to over $1 billion.
• Multi-national company acquisitions of U.S. start-up biofuels companies.
• Publicly traded REIT hotel acquisition transactions.
• Family owned business add-on strategic acquisitions.
• Privately owned bank purchase and sale transactions.
• Family owned business sales to non-family management.
• Companies engaged in multi-national acquisitions, divestitures and joint venture transactions.
• Family owned businesses conducting sales to strategic buyers.
• Public company strategic acquisitions, including new business platforms and strategic add-ons to existing operations.
• Buyers purchasing assets and businesses out of bankruptcy proceedings.