Private Equity & Venture Capital

With a robust private equity practice spanning the Americas, Asia and Europe, and a growing presence in the Middle East, Squire Sanders offers clients access to a private equity team that includes approximately 50 lawyers – many recognized as leaders in the field in their respective jurisdictions – supported by tax, corporate and securities practitioners from our offices worldwide.

Our clients include leading equity houses and fund managers, private equity-backed companies, debt providers and management teams in a wide array of geographies and industries. The breadth and diversity of our practice keep us in close contact with current market standards and emerging trends in private equity transactions as they develop.

We have extensive experience advising on mainstream private equity transactions, growth and venture capital investments, mezzanine financings and turnaround situations. We also regularly counsel sponsors on the formation of investment funds and act for private equity-backed businesses looking to grow organically or by acquisition.

Mid-Market Expertise

Our strong emphasis on mid-market transactions differentiates us from other large legal practices. Our mid-market clients benefit from the geographic reach and quality of advice that can be found only in a top-tier global practice, while enjoying a level of partner involvement and commitment to value exceptional for an organization of our size. In a typical year, we act on mid-market private equity transactions with an aggregate value of several billion dollars.

Active Growth and Venture Capital Practice

Expansion and venture investments raise issues distinct from leveraged buyouts, which is why we have a team of practitioners who focus primarily on these types of transactions. In recent years, our lawyers have completed hundreds of expansion and venture capital deals on behalf of our clients. Our significant experience in this area enables us to counsel clients on how best to secure governance rights, negotiate minority protections and facilitate exits.

Broad Industry Expertise

Our private equity lawyers have a deep understanding of the issues peculiar to several industry sectors including:

Banking & Financial Services Chemicals Communications Consumer Products & Retail Energy & Utilities Hospitality & Leisure

Information Technology Life Sciences Media & Advertising Metals, Mining & Natural Resources Real Estate

Exceptional Emerging Markets Footprint

Squire Sanders has one of the broadest emerging market footprints of any legal practice. Clients benefit from the shared knowledge and expertise of our Emerging Markets Private Equity Group, which brings the right balance of global and local expertise to every transaction. Our offerings include:

• A market-leading private equity practice in Russia and the CIS
• One of the strongest integrated platforms in Central and Eastern Europe, with offices in Bratislava, Budapest, Kyiv, Prague and Warsaw and an independent network firm in Bucharest
• Resources that span China, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong
• Offices in Rio de Janeiro and Santo Domingo, supported by the Squire Sanders Legal Counsel Worldwide Network, which includes six independent firms across Latin America
• Strong working relationships with independent network firms in the Middle East

Representative Transactions

We represent private equity funds, investors and portfolio companies in a broad array of geographies and industries. Examples of recent representative transactions include:

United States and Canada

• Advising Voyage Medical, a privately held, venture-backed company developing a high-resolution, direct visualization medical technology, on the receipt of a US$20 million investment.
• Advising Sherwood Partners, a private equity fund that focuses on the energy sector, on its US$40 million investment in GeoMet, a natural gas exploration and development company based in Houston, Texas.
• Advising Logan Oil Tools, a portfolio company of a New York-based private equity fund, Cadent Energy Partners, and a leading manufacturer of down-hole tools for the oil and gas industry, on its US$200 million acquisition of Destiny Resources, an oil and gas tool company based in Canada and traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
• Counseling a New Jersey-based producer and distributor of pipe fittings and municipal castings in closing a private equity buyout deal by a Chicago-based private equity firm for US$181 million.
• Counseling an Arizona-based, privately held developer of utility-scale solar power generation plants in connection with restructuring and recapitalization that included a US$100 million investment in our client by a renewable energy investment firm.
• Counseling a leading provider of business software and consulting services and its shareholders in connection with its US$350 million recapitalization by New Mountain Capital LLC and its affiliates.
• Representing a group of real estate holding companies in its US$1.5 billion acquisition of a multifamily real estate investment trust.
• Representing a NYSE-listed chemical lubricants company in the US$270 million sale of its food ingredients and industrial specialties businesses to a private investment firm.
• Advising a US-based, publicly traded private equity firm on the US$50 million sale of a mattress manufacturer as well as in financings of various portfolio companies.
• Counseling a California-based private equity firm in a portfolio company’s US$300 million acquisition of a manufacturing group including related credit financing.
• Advising a US-based manager of alternative asset vehicles on the US$92.5 million leveraged buyout of a furniture manufacturer and the US$57 million leveraged buyout of a food engineering company.

Europe

• Advising ECI Partners on its £80 million investment in XLN Telecom, the UK’s largest independent provider of telecom services to small businesses in Britain.
• Advising Montagu Private Equity on its £280 million exit from Survitec Group, a UK-based market leader in marine, defense and aerospace survival technology.
• Advising Cath Kidston, a well-known British lifestyle brand and established retailer, and its owners on their £106 million sale to TA Associates.
• Advising Care UK plc, a leading independent provider of health and social care services, and its owners on their £281 million sale to Bridgepoint Development Capital.
• Advising a UK-based e-commerce company on its US$13.5 million second round of venture capital funding.
• Advising a private equity firm with offices in London and Dublin on the €392 million acquisition of an Ireland-based telecom unit.
• Advising a Netherlands-based hospitality group in the €51 million private equity and debt funding of 30 hotels in the UK and Ireland.
• Advising Cerigo Developpement on its €30 million investment in Imperative Energy, a supplier of renewable energy generated from biomass based in Ireland.
• Advising Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners on its investment in Aurenis, a France-based global leader in the sale of partworks.
• Advising an international private equity fund concerning the €35 million financing by a major Germany-based bank of the acquisition of a service provider in the automobile, air and space industries, as well as in the financing of the acquisition of a dealer of audio hardware. We also acted as German acquisition finance counsel to our client in connection with its acquisition of a leading manufacturer of pumps and valves for selected segments in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. 
• Acting as special counsel for a private equity firm in connection with the multibillion-dollar acquisition from a Germany-based utility group of the world’s largest manufacturer of utility meters for measuring energy, gas and water consumption.
• Advising a consortium led by Columbia Capital, M/C Venture Partners, Innova Capital and HarbourVest Partners on the €440 million acquisition of GTS Central Europe, an alternative telecom operator in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and the Slovak Republic.
• Advising HILD, the leading provider of life annuity to senior citizens in Hungary, on the receipt of a series of investments.
• Advising Wood & Company, a leading independent investment bank in Central and Southeastern Europe, on the receipt of an investment.
• Advising Unicredit CA IB and HVB Capital Partners on their investment in CS Cargo, a logistics company operating in Central Europe.

Emerging Markets

• Advising CTC Media, Russia’s only privately owned television network, in connection with several equity rounds and acting as co-counsel with respect to its US$2.75 billion IPO on Nasdaq.
• Advising UFG Capital Partners as co-investor in a consortium led by Baring Vostok Capital Partners and Tiger Global Management on a US$100 million investment in Yandex N.V., Russia’s leading Internet portal with a market cap of US$1.1 billion.
• Advising Troika Capital Partners on its investment in URSA Bank, the largest bank headquartered in the Russian regions.
• Advising Alfa Capital Partners in connection with its co-investment with A1 in Nezavisimost Group, a leading Russia-based automotive retailer.
• Advising Moore Capital on its US$319 million investment in and exit from Transcontainer, Russia’s largest operator of container flat cars.
• Advising Goldman Sachs European Special Situations Group on its investment in Digital Sky Technologies, the holding company for investments in several of Russia’s largest Internet companies.
• Advising a consortium led by Fidelity Asia Ventures on its investment in iSoftStone, a leading China-based provider of outsourced technology services.
• Advising Orchid Asia on its US$25 million investment in T-Star Group, a prominent sports and leisure brand operator in China.
• Advising Mobius Water, a leading provider of innovative solutions for large-scale municipal and industrial water treatment based in Beijing, on the receipt of a Series A investment by Kleiner Perkins.
• Advising Euronet Worldwide on its US$32 million purchase of Telecom Net (Ativi), a leading Brazil-based distributor of electronic prepaid products and bill payment services, from a group of private equity investors, including Darby Technology Ventures, Intel Capital and Mifactory Fondo de Inversion Privado.
• Advising Banif Private Equity on its US$26 million investment in Usina Paranaíba, a greenfield plant for ethanol production based in Brazil.