Private Equity

The climate for buyouts and acquisitions is constantly changing, demanding a high degree of tax and financial literacy, a commercial negotiating style and market sector expertise. Goodwin consistently answers those challenges, making it one of the premier M&A practices in the United States, with a robust focus on the middle market. And with the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world, we have a team that is equally proficient in advising the innovators and the investors across the private equity, technology, healthcare and life sciences sectors. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a lasting impact.

Our group consists of more than 100 corporate M&A attorneys and professional staff with significant and substantive expertise and hands-on experience in structuring complex mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, spinoffs and tender offers. 

Goodwin’s unique combination of deep experience serving both the innovators and investors in a rapidly-changing, technology-driven economy sets us apart. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a lasting impact. Our Debt Finance practice represents borrowers, private equity sponsors and lenders in a broad range of financing transactions. Our Debt Finance lawyers work closely with the firm's Private Equity, Technology Companies, Capital Markets, and Financial Restructuring groups structuring, negotiating and documenting domestic and cross-border debt financing arrangements, including secured and unsecured senior, mezzanine and subordinated debt facilities, acquisition-financing transactions, working capital facilities, as well as loan workouts and restructurings.

On the borrower side, Goodwin represents private equity firms and their portfolio companies, leading public and private companies and start-ups in a wide variety of business industries. On the lender side, Goodwin’s clients include domestic and international banks, insurance and finance companies, mezzanine lenders, business development companies and other institutional investors.

Technology has permeated the modern age and influences nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Long-standing financial services institutions are a prime example of how far the technological revolution has reached. Brick and mortar financial institutions are facing new disruptive competitors in everything ranging from mobile and peer-to-peer payments to online banking and lending. Fintech companies are receiving record high investments across the globe and the market is thriving at an unparalleled pace. With new regulatory considerations developing in tandem, it is crucial for a successful Fintech company to have expert legal counsel that is fully apprised of all the newest developments, such as GDPR in Europe, and how they affect the industry.

Succeeding in the life sciences industry is as much about strategy and execution as it is about research and development. And with the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries on a global scale, Goodwin’s depth of experience not only in the life sciences space, but also in collaboration with our technology, healthcare, real estate and private equity lawyers, makes our team exceptionally suited to address whatever the future brings. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a profound and lasting impact.

Goodwin’s fully integrated, globally recognized destination life sciences practice is dedicated to serving the needs of innovators and investors working collaboratively to improve patients' lives. Our team of more than 150 lawyers is devoted to life sciences companies across the entire company lifecycle, and team members are strategically located across the major life sciences hubs in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Few firms offer the breadth of practice that we bring to private fund managers and investors. We understand the issues specific to different types of funds and offer advice that comes from a wealth of experience across industries and global markets. Our lawyers work in all the key industries, including, real estate, venture capital, private equity, infrastructure, natural resources and hedge funds, raising funds worldwide that range from less than $50 million to over $17 billion. And with the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world, we have a team that is equally proficient in advising the innovators and the investors across the private equity, technology, healthcare and life sciences sectors. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a lasting impact.

The depth and breadth of our experience allows us to provide our clients with the most current market terms for their industry as well as access to cutting-edge developments across industries. We handle every stage in the life cycle, and we provide fund managers with the sophisticated level of counsel required for forming, advising and operating private investment funds. Within fund formation, we take a creative approach, starting with not only the specific objectives of a particular fund but also an assessment of how the fund fits within the client’s broader business goals. We then help fund managers determine the best structure and terms to achieve those goals.

As a growing technology company, your prospects are exciting and your challenges are unique – from securing funding, protecting IP, and navigating the regulatory environment, to differentiating yourself in the marketplace, managing customer acquisition and scaling your business. We get it. Our dedicated team brings a comprehensive, coordinated approach that interconnects business, new technologies and the law. Our depth of experience in the private equity space along with our technology, healthcare and life sciences lawyers makes Goodwin uniquely suited to harness the breakneck pace of technology. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a profound and lasting impact.

Goodwin’s greater China team of multilingual lawyers qualified in the PRC, UK, Hong Kong, and the U.S. offers skilled cross-border legal advice within a broad range of sectors and practice areas.

Our comprehensive China practice is focused on capital markets and securities (U.S. listings, GEM and H-shares or capital raisings), mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic transactions, private equity, venture capital, fund formation, hospitality and real estate, and regulatory compliance. With the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world, we partner with our clients and embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a lasting impact. More broadly, Goodwin has a global team that we believe is unique in BigLaw – a team that is equally proficient in advising the innovators and the investors across the private equity, technology, real estate, healthcare and life sciences sectors.

As businesses today face an increasingly sophisticated threat environment compounded by aggressive regulatory enforcement, companies need a partner who can help mitigate risk and respond to the unthinkable. Our top ranked Data + Privacy + Cybersecurity practice is one of the longest-standing of any Am Law 50 firm. Our practice is fully integrated and leverages the firm's core strengths, with the group's lawyers coming from our technology, financial institutions, licensing, litigation, regulatory and appellate practices. Our unique approach, focusing on client needs and value, enables us to engage specialists whose experience is framed by a holistic understanding of clients' greatest risks in this threatening environment.

Workouts. Reorganization. Liquidation.

Companies of all sizes – from start-ups to more established businesses and international corporations – have benefited over the last several years from sustained economic growth, favorable interest rates and higher investment income. Banner years have been common for many businesses. Yet the reality is that not every business succeeds. Shifting investor preferences, regulatory developments, ongoing disputes over tariffs and trade, and the potential for economic slowdown could mean trouble for many companies going forward.

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) are newly-formed companies that raise capital in an initial public offering (IPO) for the sole purpose of using that capital to acquire assets or, more typically, one or more companies identified after the IPO. Our lawyers have a deep understanding of the legal, business, financial and marketing issues that affect the success of SPACs. We offer a global team, with lawyers in the U.S., Europe and Asia working collaboratively to assist clients with fast-track cross-border transactions.