Overview
James focuses on mergers and acquisitions, with a significant part of his practice involving family-owned and founder-led businesses. He has particular experience in construction, contracting, and the skilled trades, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, paving, general contracting, and infrastructure services. He also works with companies in healthcare, manufacturing, technology, retail, and business services.
Much of James’s work involves owners who have spent years building a business and are now considering a sale, bringing on an investor, or planning for the next stage of growth. He regularly represents sellers in transactions with private equity firms and strategic buyers, and represents strategic and private equity buyers in add-on acquisitions. In closely held businesses, he understands that the economics are only one part of the transaction. Ownership transition, employees, family dynamics, rollover equity, future involvement in the business, and post-closing arrangements often shape both the structure of the deal and the negotiations around it.
James works with clients throughout the life cycle of a transaction, including deal structuring, pre-sale reorganizations, rollover and management equity, seller financing, acquisition financing, and post-closing governance arrangements. Outside of M&A, he advises on joint ventures, corporate restructurings, debt and equity financings, private securities offerings, and commercial agreements. He also has experience managing cross-border transactions and coordinating deal teams across multiple jurisdictions.
Experience
Representative Work
- Represented KUIU, a leading performance hunting apparel and gear company, in its approximately $800 million sale of a controlling equity interest to a private equity buyer.
- Represented a Midwestern manufacturer and distributor of animal health and nutrition products in an approximately $60 million asset sale to a foreign private equity buyer.
- Represented an AI venture-building and technology company focused on physical industries in an approximately $150 million sale of a controlling equity interest to a private equity buyer.
- Represented a private equity backed energy distribution company providing heating oil, propane, and related HVAC services in an approximately $40 million asset sale of its New York operations to a strategic buyer.
- Represented a commercial painting, coatings, and waterproofing contractor in an approximately $120 million sale of a controlling equity interest to a private equity buyer.
- Represented a national workforce and operational services provider serving the waste, recycling, and manufacturing industries in an approximately $110 million sale of a controlling equity interest to a private equity buyer.
- Represented a leading national drywall and specialty construction services provider in multiple add-on acquisitions of drywall and construction services businesses throughout the United States.
- Represented private buyer in the acquisition of an HVAC distribution business.
- Represented a national mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services platform in multiple add-on acquisitions of commercial MEP services businesses.
- Represented a telecommunications software company providing cloud-based number management and portability solutions in $10 million equity sale to a strategic buyer.
- Represented portfolio company providing temporary and corporate housing solutions in its approximately $1 billion sale to a private equity buyer.
- Represented a California-based payment processing company in a $1.2 billion cross-border acquisition. *
- Represented an Arizona-based construction company in acquisitions totaling $60 million. *
- Represented the largest family-founded manufacturer, supplier, and marketer of antifreeze and functional fluids in the United States in its sale to a private equity buyer for $100 million. *
- Represented dozens of insurance brokerages in sales totaling an aggregate $800 million. *
- Represented a Japanese public company in the cross-border acquisition of an Arizona-based farm equipment manufacturer. *
- Represented an Arizona-based beer distributing company in a $150 million acquisition. *
- Represented a Bay Area-based insurance software company in a $50 million sale. *
- Represented a California-based irrigation manufacturer in a $50 million sale to a private equity buyer. *
- Represented a private equity sponsor in the $20 million acquisition of a Texas-based insurance services provider. *
- Represented an HVAC manufacturing and installation company in a $100 million sale to a Japanese public company. *
- Represented a private equity–sponsored portfolio company in several add-on acquisitions totaling $40 million. *
*Experience occurred prior to joining Dorsey.
