Private Equity
Depth and breadth of experience to efficiently negotiate and close middle-market private equity transactions
Capabilities at a glance
- Deep experience executing on both platform acquisitions and sales, and portfolio company add-on acquisitions.
- Practical legal support from attorneys who have served private equity funds that range from millions to billions of assets under management.
- A private equity-focused team with the technical proficiency and knowledge from structuring capital market transactions across multiple industry sectors.
- Broad skills from acting as outside general counsel for many companies, either in lieu of, or as an extension of their in-house legal teams.
- A fund formation team that supports the formation and operations of a variety of private equity, venture capital and real estate funds, generally with assets under management of less than $1 billion.
Solutions-oriented guidance for all your investments
The Quarles Private Equity team supports private investors in every phase of the investment cycle. Our attorneys help clients advance their strategies with practical, solutions-oriented guidance in a wide variety of private equity transactions, including leveraged buyouts, add-on acquisitions, recapitalizations, growth capital and minority investments, and portfolio company exits. We leverage our diverse resources as a leading full-service firm to deliver cost-effective, practical results. We are well-versed in the broad range of concerns that arise in the process of considering and consummating a deal — often involving tax, real estate, environmental, intellectual property, labor and employment, employee benefits, litigation, regulatory and antitrust issues. Our attorneys take the time to learn your business, focusing on what matters most to you, and adding value by developing a deep understanding of where you want to go and how best to get you there.
Agility and industry knowledge are critical in the private equity ecosystem
Our diverse client base includes private equity funds, family offices, universities, foundations, individual investors and management, operating in the U.S., cross-border and internationally. Our clients invest in a wide range of industries, including health care, manufacturing, information technology and numerous business and consumer services verticals. Quarles is also perfectly suited to provide general counsel services to portfolio companies and their businesses, whether that involves day-to-day advice on employment, IP, real estate or governance issues, or managing a critical incident response or proactively addressing compliance risks.
Experience
- Leveraged and management buyouts
- Equity rights
- Follow-on investments
- Portfolio company development and tax-effective investment structuring
- Exit strategies
- Outside general counsel services
- Recapitalizations
- Debt and mezzanine financing
- Fund formation
Successes
- Represented a private equity-backed B2B services company in more than 13 acquisitions and two growth-oriented debt refinancings over a two-year period, in addition to the subsequent auction sale process of the portfolio company.
- Represented a leading Midwest-based private equity firm with approximately $1.5 billion in assets under management across its private equity funds, including formation of five funds ranging up to more than $760 million in investments.
- Represented a private equity firm in the acquisition of a consumer packaged goods company from its founder.
- Represented a private equity-backed health care company in more than 30 add-on acquisitions.
