Willkie is consistently ranked among the nation’s leading specialists in mergers and acquisitions, representing buyers, sellers, special committees of boards, debt and equity investors and financial advisors in some of the most significant and complex acquisition transactions. Our attorneys provide expertise not only on significant domestic matters, but also on complex cross-border transactions. Our U.S. attorneys work in close cooperation with our European offices, which are, themselves, recognized M&A industry leaders in their respective markets.

Our Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group includes comprehensive representation for contested takeovers, strategic alliances, management buyouts, leveraged recaps, as well as, acquisitions from reorganization proceedings, where we employ the skills and experience of our nationally renowned Business Reorganization and Restructuring Department. We regularly participate in corporate auctions, representing bidders and sellers. These transactions often involve dealing with multiple bidders simultaneously and require extensive coordination and planning.

We focus on finding solutions to meet client objectives and helping clients early on in the process to identify and asses the risks in a transaction. Our practice involves both public and private companies in a broad range of industries. Our specialists are also skilled in all types of private equity transactions, ranging from complex leveraged buyouts that have multitiered capital structures to minority investments that must effectively address difficult governance and liquidity issues. We also regularly advise clients on relevant regulatory and judicial developments in areas such as antitrust, tax, ERISA, corporate governance and securities laws as they affect the M&A environment.

As needed, the firm staffs each transaction with specialists in the relevant fields of expertise. Depending on the transaction, this expertise may involve the participation of our corporate, debt finance, capital markets, bankruptcy and business reorganization, antitrust, tax, real estate, environmental, employee benefits and intellectual property practitioners. These attorneys are familiar with the pace and nature of M&A transactions. They evaluate specific risks and provide clients with crucial options with regard to their respective areas of expertise. Other specialists in practice areas such as litigation and foreign investment in the United States are also called upon as needed.

Additionally, our attorneys have specific expertise in industries such as insurance, asset management, pharmaceuticals and biomedical devices, REITs and communications that enables our M&A teams to better understand and respond to our clients’ unique requirements. This multidisciplinary approach enables us to provide comprehensive legal counsel throughout the duration of a transaction.