Christopher R. Hale

CHRISTOPHER HALE is a corporate partner in Sidley’s Chicago office. He advises clients on a wide variety of public and private mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate finance transactions. In addition to his transactional work, Chris regularly advises public company clients and their boards of directors on a broad range of corporate and securities law matters, including corporate governance matters, SEC reporting and disclosure issues, activism and takeover defense, fiduciary duty issues, and stock exchange requirements.  

In 2018, Chris was selected as one of Chicago’s emerging leaders by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

In the mergers and acquisitions area, Chris regularly represents buyers, sellers, and joint venturers in public and private M&A transactions in a wide variety of industries. His experience includes substantial cross-border and domestic transactions for U.S.-based and international clients. His experience includes representing:

• Aon (NYSE: Aon) in its $4.9 billion merger with Hewitt Associates (NYSE: HEW) and various other transactions.
• BorgWarner (NYSE: BWA) in its $1.2 billion acquisition of Remy International (Nasdaq: REMY), its sale of Remy’s light-vehicle aftermarket business, and its $200 million acquisition of Sevcon (Nasdaq: SEV).
• Cabela’s (NYSE: CAB) in its $5 billion sale to Bass Pro Group and related transactions with Capital One Financial and Synovus Bank involving the sale of its credit card portfolio for $2 billion.
• Catamaran (Nasdaq: CTRX) in its $12.8 billion sale to UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UHG).
• Cephalon (Nasdaq: CEPH) in its acquisition of Ception Therapeutics (following Cephalon’s purchase and exercise of an option to acquire Ception).
• Codan Limited (ASX: CDA) in its acquisition of Zetron from JVCKenwood Corporation.
• A special committee of the board of directors of Coty, Inc. (NYSE: COTY) in reviewing a $1.75 billion tender offer by an affiliate of JAB Holding Company.
• Diplomat Pharmacy (NYSE: DPLO) in its $850 million sale to UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UHG).
• A special committee of the board of directors of FBL Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: FFG) in reviewing a proposed take-private transaction by Farm Bureau Property & Casualty Insurance Company.
• Generac Holdings (NYSE: GNRC) in its acquisition of its Magnum Products business.
• Hood Companies, Inc. in various acquisitions.
• Invenergy Renewables Holdings in connection with a US$3 billion equity investment in Invenergy Renewables Holdings by funds managed by Blackstone Infrastructure Partners.
• Landauer (NYSE: LDR) in its $770 million sale to Fortive (NYSE: FTV).
• Regal Beloit Corporation (NYSE: RBC) in its $9.2 billion Reverse Morris Trust transaction with Rexnord Corporation (NYSE: RXN).
• Riot Blockchain (Nasdaq: RIOT) in its acquisition of Whinstone US, Inc. from Northern Data AG (ETR: NB2).
• RoundTable Healthcare Partners in its acquisition of Santa Cruz Nutritionals.
• Sara Lee (NYSE: SLE) in the $950 million sale of its North American fresh bakery business to Grupo Bimbo (BMV: BIMBO).
• United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAL) in its acquisition of shares of Azul S.A. (NYSE: Azul) from Hainan Airlines
• Telephone & Data Systems (NYSE: TDS) in its acquisition of the Continuum cable and broadband business.
• Tellabs (Nasdaq: TLAB) in its $890 million sale to affiliates of Marlin Equity Partners.

Chris has also represented public company and other clients in a variety of corporate finance matters, including public and private debt and equity offerings. Chris has also represented investors in venture capital transactions. He also has represented companies and creditors in significant restructuring matters.

Chris also represents major financial advisors in connection with the rendering of fairness opinions and other matters in business combination transactions.

While in law school, Chris served as an extern for the Honorable Mark Filip, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Chris is active in the firm’s pro bono efforts and in 2016 was a recipient of the firm’s Thomas Morsch award for pro bono service in the Chicago area.