Justin A. Macke

JUSTIN MACKE focuses his practice on corporate law and counsels private equity firms and their portfolio companies, founder-led private companies, and public companies and their boards of directors in a wide variety of transactions, including leveraged buyouts, carve-out transactions, restructurings and 363 sales, public to public mergers, and cross-border M&A. Justin advises companies across many industry verticals, with particular focus on industrials, aerospace and defense, and consumer.

Prior to joining Sidley, Justin was a partner at another global law firm, where he advised boards of directors of public companies with internal governance matters and public mergers in the face of activist shareholders.

Justin graduated magna cum laude from Notre Dame Law School, where he served as executive managing editor of the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy. He received his B.A. in political science and English from Miami University.

Justin has been honored as a “Top Rising Star” by The Deal (2021) and a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers (2017–2024).

Justin services on the Board of Trustees of Community-Word Project.

• Garage Beer, the fastest growing, independent beer brand in the U.S., in its strategic growth investment from Durational Capital Management.
• American Industrial Partners and its portfolio companies in multiple transactions, including:
  • AIP’s acquisition of Aluminium Duffel.
  • AIP’s acquisition of Aluminium Dunkerque.
  • AIP’s acquisition of Crestview Aerospace
  • AIP’s investment in GD Energy Products.
  • AIP’s investment in Orizon Aerospace.
  • AIP’s acquisition of RelaDyne.
  • AIP’s acquisition of Vertex Aerospace.
  • AIP’s acquisition of Grain & Protein Technologies.
  • AIP’s sale of Carlstar to Titan International.
  • Grain & Protein Technologies acquisition of Munters’ FoodTech Equipment business.
  • RelaDyne’s acquisition of Grupo Lucalza.
  • RelaDyne’s acquisition of Sun Coast Resources.
  • Vertex Aerospace’s acquisition of Raytheon Technologies’ Defense Training and Mission Critical Solutions Business Lines.
  • Stock-for-stock merger of Vertex Aerospace and Vectrus, Inc.
• Ebix, Inc., a global software and technology company, and certain of its affiliates in their Chapter 11 cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, through a successful asset sale and sponsored plan of reorganization.
• Compactor Rentals of America, LLC in its acquisition of Pak-Rite Rentals, LLC.
• VIO Med Spa in its majority investment from Freeman Spogli.
• Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners in the sale of its portfolio company, WTG Midstream Holdings LLC – the largest private Permian gas gathering and processing business with assets located in the core of the Midland Basin – to Energy Transfer LP. for US$3.25 billion.
• Altabancorp in its stock-for-stock merger with Glacier Bancorp.
• Sherwin-Williams in its US$11.3 billion acquisition of Valspar.
• Lord Corporation in its US$3.7 billion sale to Parker-Hannifin.
• Associated Estates in its US$2.5 billion sale to Brookfield Asset Management.
• Cintas in its US$2.2 billion acquisition of G&K Services.
• Exelis in its US$4.8 billion sale to Harris Corporation.
• OM Group in its US$1.03 billion sale to Apollo Global and Platform Specialty Chemicals.
• ACI Worldwide in its acquisition of Western Union’s Speedpay Business; in its divestiture of its corporate online banking solutions to One Equity Partners; and its real-time payments partnership with Mastercard.
• Publicly disclosed proxy contests and activism defense representations include: Associated Estates, Cleveland-Cliffs, Louisiana Pacific, Marathon Petroleum, OM Group, Northern Oil & Gas, TriMas Corporation, and Verint Systems.

Some of the above matters were handled prior to joining Sidley.