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PRIVATE EQUITY AND VENTURE CAPITAL

We have been providing practical, value-added guidance to businesses and capital providers for more than three decades. You can expect, and receive, not just sound business and legal advice, but coordinated service that adds value to your businesses.

Helping Growing Businesses and Capital Providers Work Together

Our approach is to partner with our clients and develop long-term relationships. To accomplish this, we build client teams that maximize consistency, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

BuchananLABS

Visit Buchanan-Labs.com for insights from our team.

Private Equity

Our work in private equity and venture capital encompasses many industries and funding stages. We represent private equity funds, venture capital funds, hedge funds, family offices and other private capital sponsors.

Fund Formation. We help our clients choose the best tax-efficient structure, including limited partnerships, limited liability companies, corporations and offshore entities, to give them the flexibility they desire in raising capital, making investments and compensating their management teams. We also help our fund clients shape and negotiate the terms of their funds and with their efforts to raise capital.

Fund Investors. We help institutional and other investors review proposed investments in private equity and other funds and negotiate the terms and documentation for their investments.

Portfolio Company Transactions. We count among our clients most of the largest financial institutions in the country. We draw upon our experience representing asset-based, cash-flow and subordinated debt lenders to assist our clients in financing portfolio company acquisitions with senior, mezzanine and subordinated debt.

M&A Experience. Our long M&A experience lets us address any issue that may arise in the purchase or sale of a portfolio company. Our M&A experience transcends geographic boundaries and includes transactions in Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe and Asia.

Other Fund Investments. We represent our private fund clients in other investment transactions, including minority investments; real estate investments; venture capital investments; PIPE investments; senior, mezzanine, and subordinated debt transactions; and purchases of companies in chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Regulatory Compliance. Our securities, tax, ERISA and government relations teams assist clients with the securities, tax and other regulatory areas that impact funds, sponsors and investors. We advise clients on compliance with Securities Act, the Securities Exchange Act, the Investment Advisers Act, the Investment Company Act, privacy regulations, Sarbanes Oxley and the USA PATRIOT Act. 

Portfolio Company Representation. As a full-service law firm, we are able to act as outside counsel to portfolio companies, providing services in connection with public and private financing, add-on acquisitions, litigationenvironmental compliancelabor & employment issuesemployee benefit matters, intellectual property protection and licensing, commercial contractinggovernment relationsimmigration and the many other areas we handle on a daily basis for our business clients.

Management Team Compensation. We are experienced in the structure and negotiation of compensation arrangements for portfolio company management, including equity-based incentives and appropriate noncompetition-related restrictions.

Venture Capital

What makes us the firm of choice for national, regional and local capital providers and for the companies in which they invest? They tell us it’s our substantive knowledge, practical judgment, depth of talent and focus. Our commitment to venture capital and our transaction experience have placed us on the forefront of recognizing new legal and business developments. We have a wide range of talented venture capital lawyers at all levels, from experienced associates to highly regarded partners who are leaders in the venture capital community.

Emerging Companies. We represent emerging companies in many aspects of their development. We understand the mix of legal and business problems that emerging companies face and help them evaluate risks and identify potential financing sources, bringing the benefit of our experience and contacts, as well as our perspective on alternative financing methods that may be available.

Portfolio Company Investments. We represent capital providers active in a variety of industries, including life sciences and medical devices, communications and technology, and information and business services. Our clients invest in companies at all stages of development, providing seed funding, early and later-stage preferred stock financings, bridge loans, mezzanine financing and private placements in public companies.

Fund Formation. Our venture capital attorneys collaborate with our tax attorneys to help fund managers and their investors form venture capital and private equity funds. We help shape and negotiate the terms and structure of the fund. And we counsel clients on matters such as choice of entity, regulatory compliance (including issues involving ERISA investors and state plan investors), fund raising, tax issues related to tax exempt and international investors and issues related to the allocation and distribution of fund gains and losses.

Transfers of Portfolio and Fund Investments. We represent venture capital and private equity funds in connection with the private transfer of portfolio company investments. We also represent funds and their investors in connection with private transfers of interests in venture capital and private equity funds.

The Right Resources for Every Transaction

Our multi-disciplinary and highly collaborative private equity and venture capital teams draw on our bench strength across practice disciplines as appropriate for each specific matter, such as securitiestaxlabor & employmentintellectual propertyantitrustreal estateenvironmentalenergybankruptcy, financial institutions and others.