Corporate & Securities

BFKN’s Corporate & Securities Group has a reputation among U.S. and international business leaders for our highly experienced attorneys and our focused attention to each client's strategic needs. Our attorneys regularly provide legal and business advice to our clients and assist them with their day-to-day business requirements and commercial arrangements, as well as their strategic business initiatives. Our broad experience includes mergers, acquisitions and sales of businesses, private equity, debt and equity financing transactions, domestic and international joint ventures, public and private securities offerings and underwritings, private securities investments, SEC filings and compliance matters, and corporate governance and stockholder issues.

We feel that the most effective legal representation requires that we develop a meaningful understanding of our clients’ business and commercial goals, and we take pride in our ability to anticipate the needs of our clients and structure and execute solutions that optimize our clients’ achievement of those goals. As a result, we are well known for crafting practical and creative solutions for complex transactions. In addition, our firm’s flexible, streamlined structure promotes a level of efficiency and quality that makes BFKN especially valuable to some of the world's most successful companies.

We regularly represent domestic and foreign clients in diverse transactions across many different industries including consumer goods and services, luxury goods, retail, insurance and investment advisory brokerage services, manufacturing, motor vehicle, wines and spirits, hospitality, high technology, financial institutions and fintech. Our flexible structure allows us to be sufficiently nimble to handle transactions of all sizes, as we are streamlined to handle smaller transactions with great efficiency, yet we have the experience and resources necessary to handle our clients’ largest transactions.

Practice Contact

James R. Whitney
Partner
312.629.7354
jim.whitney@bfkn.com

How We Can Help

Mergers and acquisitions are among the focal areas of our practice. Our attorneys are regularly called upon to assist our private and publicly-held clients with stock and asset acquisitions, mergers, spin-offs, add-ons, divestitures, and other strategic transactions. Our mergers and acquisitions experience is unique for its diversity, in terms of deal type, subject industries, and deal size.
As companies remain private longer and investors look to deploy capital in high-growth areas, venture and growth equity financings have become a key area of the Corporate & Securities Group. We have developed deep experience structuring and negotiating equity financing arrangements on behalf of issuers and investors at each stage of a company’s growth, ranging from pre-seed financings to growth investments to pre-IPO financing rounds.
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Many of our clients rely on us to develop an intimate understanding of their business, and to both anticipate their legal needs and craft legal solutions to opportunities or challenges as they arise. We serve as outside general counsel to a variety of established and rapidly growing domestic companies and as lead U.S. counsel to a number of large international companies. We also represent entrepreneurs and individuals whose businesses have evolved during the course of our representation from emerging entrepreneurial companies to publicly traded companies with institutional followings.
We regularly assist our clients in assessing, establishing, and negotiating joint ventures and other long-term strategic partnerships. Entering into such relationships involves a unique set of considerations including valuation issues, governance mechanisms, economic incentives, distribution waterfalls, mediation and dispute resolution, and advance exit planning. Our work in this area spans a broad range of industries from real estate and hospitality joint ventures to cross-border relationships to celebrity partnerships.
Our group has experience representing borrowers and lenders in connection with a wide range of secured and unsecured debt financings. Our attorneys counsel clients in a variety of transactions, including cash-flow and asset-backed loans, DIP financings, acquisition financings, subscription lines of credit, mezzanine debt, securitization transactions, and the issuances of debt securities both on public markets and through private placements. Our attorneys also have experience representing borrowers and lenders in cross-border financings with complex collateral packages and have negotiated sophisticated intercreditor arrangements for both bilateral and widely syndicated facilities.
Our group maintains an active practice representing and counseling securities issuers and investors. Our attorneys have handled numerous domestic and international offerings involving a wide range of debt, equity, and hybrid securities. In addition, we regularly assist our publicly held clients with their periodic SEC reporting and disclosure requirements.

In connection with public securities transactions, our attorneys participate in drafting disclosure documents and public filings, negotiating with underwriters and other agents, preparing applications to national exchanges, and providing general counseling for compliance with all applicable federal and state securities and corporate governance laws.

L Catterton Investments & Acquisitions
Represent L Catterton, a leading global consumer-focused investment firm, in connection with growth investments, middle market buyout transactions, and add-on acquisitions.
Moët Hennessy Acquisitions
Serve as principal transaction counsel for Moët Hennessy, one of the world’s largest luxury wines and spirits companies, in its North American acquisitions and investments, acting as lead counsel in its acquisitions of Belvedere Vodka, Woodinville Whiskey Co., Joseph Phelps Vineyards and in its investments in Colgin Cellars, Armand de Brignac, and WhistlePig.
Sephora’s Strategic Partnership with Kohl’s
Represented Sephora in connection with the negotiation and execution of a long-term strategic partnership with Kohl’s to create a new era of elevated Beauty at Kohl's, marrying Kohl's expansive customer reach and omnichannel convenience with Sephora's prestige service, product selection, and exceptional beauty experience.
Centurion Container LLC’s Sale to Greif, Inc.
Represented owners of Centurion Container LLC, a leader in North American intermediate bulk container and plastic drum reconditioning, in their sale of a controlling ownership interest to Greif, Inc. (NYSE: GEF, GEF.B) in an all-cash transaction for $145 million.
Neapco Drivelines Corporate Counseling
Serve as outside general counsel to Neapco Drivelines, one the world’s largest driveshaft and half-shaft manufacturers, regularly advising in the areas of corporate structuring, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, debt restructurings, and contractual negotiations, in addition to intellectual property, employment, and real estate matters.
Digital Garage Investments
Represent a Japanese, publicly held digital marketing, payment, and technology platform in connection with mergers and acquisitions and its U.S. investment activities, as well as inbound operational matters.
First Industrial Financing & Securities Matters
Represent First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: FR), a leading fully integrated owner, operator and developer of industrial real estate, in connection with its revolving credit and term loan facilities, public and private equity and debt offerings, including the 2023 launch of its $800M “at-the-market” offering facility, periodic reporting obligations, and corporate governance matters.
Hub International Acquisitions
Represent Hub International Limited, a leading global insurance brokerage and financial services firm, in connection with over 90 acquisitions of insurance brokerages and retirement and private wealth firms.