Associated Materials and its affiliates (collectively, “AMI”), a North American manufacturer and distributor of exterior building products with over $1.3 billion in annual sales, has closed on a series of recapitalization transactions with a group of investment funds, including those managed by Oak Hill Advisors LP, pursuant to which such funds have exchanged their holdings of AMI’s $675-million senior secured notes due 2024 for substantially all of the common equity securities of AMI. Schulte has been advising Oak Hill Advisors on all aspects of the recapitalization transactions. As part of the recapitalization, AMI issued $250 million 9.00% Senior Secured Notes due 2025, the proceeds of which will be used to, among other things, significantly de-lever AMI’s balance sheet and provide AMI with working capital to support its operations going forward.

The Schulte team is led by business reorganization partner Kristine Manoukian. The team also includes finance & derivatives of counsel Ronald Risdon; tax partner Dan Kusnetz and associate Joseph Reich; employment & employee benefits partner Ian Levin and associate Adam Gartner; business reorganization associate Kelly (Bucky) Knight; and former Schulte lawyers Andrew Fadale and William Tevlin.

International law firm McDermott Will & Emery today announced that Michael Siekman and Jenny Chen have joined the Intellectual Property (IP) practice as partners based in the Boston office. The duo builds upon Boston’s active and diverse IP practice and will complement the Firm’s robust legal service offering to the life sciences and health industries.

“We are laser-focused on smart expansion, and virtually every McDermott practice group and geography is focused on legal representation for the life sciences sector,” Michael Poulos, head of strategy at the Firm, said. “Our new partners reflect our continuing strategic commitment to growing the pre-eminent life sciences practice in our industry.”

“The last few years have shown an increasing need for breakthrough innovations in the life sciences market. Patent protection is essential for bringing necessary technology to market, and Michael and Jenny truly understand what it takes to be a fearless client advocate during every stage of the IP lifecycle,” Bill Gaede, leader of the Firm’s Global Intellectual Property practice, said. “Michael’s and Jenny’s addition in Boston bolsters our IP capabilities in this leading region for life sciences innovators and research institutions as well as across our international platform.”

“This IP team is a natural part of our planned Boston expansion given the significance of the life sciences industry to our region,”  Tony Bongiorno, litigation partner and Boston office managing partner, added. “We look forward to collaborating with Michael and Jenny on exciting opportunities across all of our practices in Boston.”

Michael focuses his practice on a broad range of intellectual property matters, including architecting patent prosecution strategies, life sciences partnering and transactions, licensing, post-grant proceedings and litigation. Leveraging more than 25 years of experience, Michael has built in-depth patent portfolios, advising clients in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

“We are thrilled to join McDermott as we share the Firm’s commitment to partnering with clients and protecting and maximizing their investment in critical life sciences technologies,” Michael added. “The Firm’s leading position in the life sciences and healthcare industries provides an unmatched platform for our work.”

Jenny counsels both US and international clients in a variety of patent-related matters in the biotech and life sciences space, including prosecution, due diligence and post-grant proceedings. Her practice focuses on matters including cell and gene therapies, antibodies, diagnosis and pharmaceutical formulations. She is particularly experienced in strategic counseling on life cycle management of both biological and small molecule products.

Michael received his BS at Bates College and his JD at Boston University School of Law. Jenny received her BS from Fudan University, her PhD in pharmacology from Baylor College of Medicine and her JD from Northeastern University School of Law.

McDermott Will & Emery partners with leaders around the world to fuel missions, knock down barriers and shape markets. Our team works seamlessly across practices, industries and more than 20 locations to deliver highly effective—and often unexpected—solutions that propel success. More than 1,200 lawyers strong, we bring our personal passion and legal prowess to bear in every matter for our clients and the people they serve.

International law firm McDermott Will & Emery has won The Deal’s “Retail, Consumer, Food & Beverage Deal of the Year” award for its representation of Dogfish Head in its strategic merger with Boston Beer, the producer of iconic brands Samuel Adams lager, Angry Orchard hard cider and TRULY hard seltzer. This transformative transaction in the craft beer industry was valued at approximately $300 million and closed in June 2019. McDermott was fortunate to work with former Firm associate and Dogfish Head chief lawyer, Shauna Barnes as well as former Boston Beer lawyer and now McDermott counsel, Nichole Shustack. Nixon Peabody represented Boston Beer.

“This Dogfish Head-Boston Beer merger united two of the great names in the craft beer industry—Jim Koch and Sam Calagione,” said McDermott partner Tom Conaghan, who served as the lead lawyer on the transaction. “We were honored to help the Calagione family find a new home for the amazing brands they have built, and we’re excited to watch how the business combination will fuel even more creative brews from Dogfish Head in the future.”

The McDermott team advising Dogfish Head was led by Tom Conaghan, Marc Sorini (ret.) and Christine Kretkowski. Patrick McCurry led the tax team, with assistance from Dan Zucker, Tom Young and Kevin Hall. Jennifer Mikulina advised on intellectual property matters, and Jon Dubrow led the antitrust effort with assistance from Ryan Leske and Matt Evola. Additional assistance was provided by Andrew Kim, Art DeCelle, Daphne Trotter, Maureen O’Brien, David Lipkin, Aimee Lin and Beth Hatef.

McDermott’s top-ranked and widely recognized Alcohol Industry Group, then led by Marc Sorini, served as advisor to Dogfish Head on several regulatory and transactional matters for nearly 20 years. In July 2020, Sorini retired from the Firm and is succeeded by Alva Mather, a well-known industry veteran.

McDermott Will & Emery partners with leaders around the world to fuel missions, knock down barriers and shape markets. Our team works seamlessly across practices, industries and more than 20 locations to deliver highly effective—and often unexpected—solutions that propel success. More than 1,200 lawyers strong, we bring our personal passion and legal prowess to bear in every matter for our clients and the people they serve.

New York, July 13, 2020 — Schulte Roth & Zabel (SRZ) announces the addition of Andrea “Andi” Mandell as a partner in the Tax Group and Paula-Marie “Polly” O’Brien as a partner in the Finance & Derivatives Group. Ms. Mandell is resident in the New York office and Ms. O’Brien is in the firm’s London office. Ms. Mandell joins the firm from Dentons, where she was a partner in the capital markets and tax practices. Ms. O’Brien was previously a finance partner at Jones Day.

Ms. Mandell advises on the tax aspects relating to structured finance, securitization and fund formation. Her practice focuses on residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities and structured finance, including the structuring of REO-to-rental financings, servicer advance facilities, debt repackagings, securitization of nonperforming and re-performing mortgage loans, resecuritizations, distressed asset funds and MSR purchases and sales. She also has extensive experience advising tax-exempt entities, REITs, hedge funds and private equity firms.

“We are delighted to have Andi join the firm. Her experience handling complex transactions will further strengthen our robust tax practice,” said David Efron, SRZ co-managing partner and co-head of the Investment Management Group. “Andi is a market-leading lawyer and her qualifications expand our capabilities. We are very excited to have her join us,” said Alan Waldenberg, co-head of the Tax Group.

“SRZ’s tax lawyers are well known for their leading-edge knowledge and business acumen. I am thrilled to join this stellar group,” commented Ms. Mandell, who holds a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, an LL.M. in taxation from NYU School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. O’Brien focuses her practice on specialty finance, including structured products, trading of distressed debt, loan portfolio acquisitions, forward flow transactions and direct lending. She has significant experience acting for borrowers, sponsors, and multi-strategy funds on domestic and international cross-border financings, acquisitions and restructurings. Ms. O’Brien also has expertise in private equity financings and M&A projects, including in a broad range of bespoke opportunistic financing transactions spanning the spectrum of debt and equity.  

“Polly is a highly skilled lawyer with fluency in a broad range of asset classes. Her arrival brings even greater depth to our offerings,” said Marc Elovitz, SRZ co-managing partner and chair of the Investment Management Regulatory & Compliance Group. “We are so pleased to have Polly as part of our team. She is an outstanding lawyer with specialist capabilities as well as substantial experience handling sophisticated matters,” said Boris Ziser, co-head of the Finance & Derivatives Group.

“This firm has a strong entrepreneurial spirit and a long tradition of providing clients with innovative counsel. I am proud to be a part of such a forward-thinking firm and to continue the SRZ tradition,” said Ms. O’Brien, who received her M.A. from Cambridge University and completed her legal studies (GDL and LPC) at Nottingham Law School.

SRZ’s tax lawyers advise on high-stakes deals and provide counsel to prominent financial services firms. In the finance area, representing both capital providers and capital users, the Tax Group has significant experience designing conventional and complex structured finance transactions. As part of the firm’s transactional practice, the Tax Group is integrally involved in tax-free reorganizations, acquisitions and dispositions of companies, leveraged buyouts, carve-outs and other forms of strategic acquisitions and dispositions. Working closely with SRZ’s investment management lawyers, the Tax Group provides essential advice on establishing funds, as part of their ongoing investment program and in relation to acquisitions and dispositions involving fund managers.

SRZ’s finance and derivatives lawyers represent a wide range of market participants, including private investment funds, managers, issuers, purchasers and sellers of assets, underwriters, placement agents, borrowers and investors. They structure and negotiate a variety of complex structured finance and securitization transactions, advising on a diverse breadth of matters, including specialty finance transactions, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and asset-backed securitizations, as well as regulatory capital offerings.