BRENT STEELE is a partner in the firm’s Chicago office and a member of the Corporate group. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital transactions and securities/corporate finance transactions. Brent also regularly advises publicly traded and private companies regarding corporate governance matters, the federal securities laws and state corporate law.
Brent has represented companies in a wide range of industries in public and private mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, investments and joint ventures. Recently he has represented:
- MasterCard in multiple transactions, including its acquisition of Trans-Fast Remittance from GCP Capital Partners and Apis Partners (finalist for The Deal Financial Services Deal of the Year);
- AptarGroup, Inc. in multiple acquisitions, including its acquisition of CSP Technologies S.a r.l.;
- Stryker Corp. in its acquisition of HyperBranch Medical Technology Inc., a developer of polymer and hydrogel-based medical devices;
- Churchill Downs Incorporated in multiple transactions, including the sale of its mobile gaming subsidiary, Big Fish Games, to Aristocrat Leisure Limited in a transaction valued at $990 million;
- RoundTable Healthcare Partners and its portfolio companies in multiple transactions, including its investment in Deerland Enzymes & Probiotics and its sale of Aqua Pharmaceuticals to Almirall S.A.;
- GE Aviation in multiple transactions, including its joint ventures with Praxair, Inc. and Woodward, Inc.;
- Thompson Street Capital Partners and its portfolio companies in multiple transactions, including its acquisition of Global Software and subsequent sale of Global Software to TA Associates;
- The special committee of the board of directors of Blue Bird Corporation in connection with the committee’s evaluation of a going-private transaction proposed by Blue Bird’s controlling stockholder, American Securities LLC;
- Allscripts Healthcare Solutions in its co-investment with GI Partners and acquisition of Netsmart from Genstar Capital (2016 M&A Atlas Deal of the Year);
- R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. in its unsolicited offer for and acquisition of Courier Corp. (Nasdaq: CRRC), an e-book publisher and book manufacturer;
- General Electric in the sale by GE Capital Rail Services of its per diem boxcar business to GATX Corporation for approximately $340 million; and
- Weber-Stephen Products Co. (maker of Weber grills) in its sale of a majority stake to BDT Capital Partners LLC.
While at the firm, Brent completed a secondment at MasterCard’s world headquarters in Purchase, New York, where he led various cross-border M&A transactions as part of MasterCard’s Strategic Transactions Group. Brent received his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was a Contributing Editor of the Michigan Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif. Brent was also a Certified Public Accountant.