North America - United States • M&A/corporate and commercial
Akerman LLP
Akerman LLP’s Florida-based corporate practice group is geared to handle a broad range of middle-market deals, including buy and sell-side M&A work, domestic IPOs, as well as leveraged recapitalizations and buyouts. In Miami, Jonathan Awner co-heads the practice and has a strong track record in transactional work connected to the automotive retail sector. Also in Miami, Carl Roston‘s practice encompasses the representation of investors and companies in distressed situations and transactions. Fort Lauderdale-based David Birke completes the leadership team and frequently assists private and public companies in matters ranging from executive compensation to corporate governance. Birke’s Fort Lauderdale colleague Martin Burkett is well-versed in acquisitions in the healthcare sector. Kenneth Wiggins, Santiago Assalini and Sergey Kotelnikov are further key contacts in the Miami office: Wiggins’ expertise in corporate mandates encompasses venture and growth capital investments as well as executive employment agreements, Assalini is frequently sought out by private equity and healthcare clients for transactional advice, and Kotelnikov is noted for his experience handling leveraged buyouts.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Jed Freeland is an extremely strong lead counsel who directly oversees all specialty groups in a transaction (HR, Environmental, Property, etc.), yet is the single point of contact for all areas and understands all the nuances of each area. In addition, their specialty support areas for M&A are very strong'
Key clients
- AutoNation
- Trivest Partners
- Comvest Partners
- Ferguson Enterprises
- H.I.G. Capital
- Ondas Holdings
- New Water Capital
- The Beekman Group
- Titan Home Improvement
- Warren Equity Partners
- Stone Point Capital
- Branford Castle Partners
- MBF Healthcare Partners
- AE Industrial Partners
- Shoreline Equity Partners
- MPE Partners
- TZP Group
- Boyne Capital
- JM Family Enterprises
- Supply Chain Equity Partners
Work highlights
- Represented HEICO Corporation in its acquisition of Wencor Group from affiliates of Warburg Pincus in a transaction valued at $2.05bn.
- Represented The Beekman Group in multiple acquisitions, including several in the healthcare and fitness industries.
- Represented Ferguson Enterprises in multiple transactions totaling more than $600m.
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Akerman LLP
Ken Wiggins represents public and private companies, private equity funds, and individuals in a variety of complex corporate transactions and general corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, venture and growth capital investments, private placements of debt and equity securities, recapitalizations, executive employment agreements, and management equity plans. In addition, Ken represents several companies with respect to all of their corporate transactions, and effectively serves as their outside general counsel. Ken also represents both insureds and underwriters in connection with transactional risk products, including the issuance of representations and warranties insurance policies. Ken’s experience spans numerous sectors, including: automotive retail; plumbing; HVAC and industrial product distribution; IT; transportation; aerospace; and correctional services. His private equity experience includes advising numerous firms on a diverse range of acquisitions and dispositions and other corporate matters.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Jonathan Awner, David Birke