We offer clients a wealth of experience across a broad range of business combinations and related activities. Our group includes more than 30 attorneys who work regularly with public and private companies for whom acquisitions and divestitures are a major strategic focus, as well as financial and entrepreneurial buyers and sellers of businesses.

As part of the firm's substantial international business practice, our attorneys regularly counsel non-U.S. clients who seek to enter or expand their presence in the U.S. market through acquisitions, as well as U.S. companies acquiring or selling businesses overseas.

Our transactional attorneys work with clients in a number of industries, including automotive, equipment rentals, financial services, food services, franchising, health care, information technology, insurance, retail, steel, telecommunications, textiles and home furnishings.

Experience Highlights

We have the experience needed to guide business combinations successfully from structuring through negotiation and closing. In particular, we provide seasoned legal advice and services related to:

• Auction-type divestitures, from both the seller and bidder perspectives
• Leveraged acquisitions and related financing, including senior debt, mezzanine funding and equity financing
• Tender offers, proxy contests and other change of control techniques
• Client roll-up and build-up strategies, including techniques for the efficient and cost-effective completion of a high volume of industry-specific acquisitions
• Alternatives to traditional M&A transactions, including joint ventures, strategic alliances, consortiums and cross-licensing agreements
• Going private transactions, management buyouts and other divestitures implicating the fiduciary responsibilities of officers and of directors (including special committees)
• Acquisitions involving insolvent or distressed companies
• Other aspects of business combinations, including tax planning, legal due diligence investigations, drafting and negotiating transaction documents and obtaining antitrust and other regulatory clearances

We work closely with Parker Poe attorneys in related practice areas, such as tax, antitrust, international business, intellectual property, environmental, employment, employee benefits, health care, information technology, securities and insurance coverage. In collaboration with our clients' in-house counsel, accountants, investment bankers and other advisors, we are able to ensure an effective and cost-efficient completion of transactions.

News

• Parker Poe Names Six New Partners
  January 3, 2012
• Mark Bernstein Receives Charlotte Symphony's Sally Ann Hall Award
  November 10, 2011
• Kevin Chapman Named Vice-Chair of Arts & Science Council Committee
  November 8, 2011
• U.S. News & World Report Names Parker Poe Top-Tier Law Firm for 2012
  Firm Ranked #1 in 33 Legal Areas
  November 1, 2011
• Chambers USA 2011 Ranks Parker Poe as Leading Law Firm
  June 10, 2011
• Client’s Transaction Named Private Equity Deal of the Year
  Carolina Beer & Beverage Deal Recognized at Capital Connection Conference in Durham
  May 10, 2011
• Roy L. “Skip” Smart III Named BTI Client Service All-Star for 2011
  April 7, 2011
• Thirty-Seven Parker Poe Attorneys Named NC Super Lawyers for 2011
  January 25, 2011
• U.S.News & World Report Names Parker Poe as a Top-Tier Law Firm
  Firm Ranked #1 in 22 Legal Areas for 2010
  September 15, 2010
• 61 Parker Poe Attorneys Recognized as Best Lawyers® for 2011
  August 18, 2010
• Chambers USA 2010 Ranks Parker Poe as Leading Law Firm
  June 11, 2010
• Chambers USA 2009 Recognizes Parker Poe As Leading Law Firm
  June 12, 2009
• Delaware Supreme Court Reverses Lyondell Decision
  Business Law Alert
  April 21, 2009
• Q&A with William G. Pappas
  May 5, 2008
• Parker Poe Advises Industry Leader Michael Bailey
  April 25, 2008
• Evins Receives Top Chamber Award
  February 20, 2007
• Kevin W. Chapman and C. Mark Stevenson Join Parker Poe
  November 1, 2006
• M&A Price Adjustment Clauses: Buyer Beware?
  Business Law Alert
  September 11, 2006
• FTC Announces Changes to Premerger Notification Requirements
  Business Law Alert
  February 15, 2006
• Parker Poe Names New Partners
  January 20, 2006
• Seventeen Parker Poe Attorneys Among "Legal Elite"
  January 20, 2006
• Thompson Named to TerraLex Board of Directors
  December 13, 2005
• Parker Poe Attorneys Among The Best Lawyers in America
  September 13, 2005
• Dissecting the Purchase Agreement Seminar Features Parker Poe Attorneys
  September 12, 2005
• Parker Poe Attorney to Present at May 24th Seminar, "Selected Strategies on Mergers and Acquisitions in North Carolina"
  April 4, 2005
• Parker Poe Attorneys Honored as The Best Lawyers in America and the "Legal Elite" in North Carolina
  February 28, 2005
• Announcing Parker Poe's 2004 Fall Associates and Special Counsel
  November 4, 2004