Practice Areas & Industries: Akerman Senterfitt

Practice/Industry Group Overview

A substantial focus of Akerman Senterfitt's corporate practice is representing private equity and venture capital firms and the companies in which they invest.

Our Corporate Practice Group represents many of the leading private equity funds based in Florida, primarily in portfolio acquisitions, financings, and divestitures. We have handled fund formations as large as $150 million. We work with many of the leading venture capital firms based in or investing in Florida. Our clients also include numerous emerging growth companies in varying stages of development, as well as seasoned private companies.

Services Available

With the largest concentration of corporate, securities, tax, and technology lawyers in Florida, we are uniquely positioned to accelerate the speed to market of our growth-oriented clients, whether they are early stage technology ventures or "old economy" businesses. We advise start-up companies in virtually all phases of their lifecycles, from formation, through equity rounds and debt financings, to public offering or sale. We focus on all types of financing activities, from raising seed capital, to structuring mezzanine financing, to arranging senior secured and subordinated credit facilities, and to handling private and public offerings of equity and debt securities. We are corporate counsel to several portfolio companies sponsored by leading private equity funds, handling strategic stock and asset acquisitions, recapitalizations and merger transactions, as well as contract, tax, employee benefit, and other matters.

For a new business, our practice group has established a cost-effective process of forming companies with optimal structures for capital raising, while protecting the founders' interests. Our corporate and securities lawyers routinely advise founders in early stage capital raising, general corporate counseling, and subsequent rounds of investments. Our employee benefits lawyers design employment agreements, equity incentive plans, and other benefit programs to attract and retain key talent. Our patent lawyers protect and license intellectual property rights in the U.S. and in foreign markets. Our tax lawyers implement strategies designed to allow founders and key talent to minimize capital gains taxes upon a liquidity event and to transfer company stock to family members on a tax-advantaged basis. For a Florida-based business, our practice group offers the depth and experience of the leading New York, California, and national law firms, with all the inherent advantages of being a local service provider.

We also offer over 25 seasoned bilingual corporate lawyers with extensive experience representing institutional clients and multinational corporations investing in businesses throughout Latin America. For the description of our International practice please click the "International" link in the right hand margin of this page.

Our objectives are to treat our clients as valuable business partners, to combine excellent legal skills and pragmatic business advice, to offer access to capital and deal flow, and to be a catalyst to help our clients achieve their potential. Like successful entrepreneurs, we recognize the correlation between the success of our clients and our own success.

Clients:
HIG Capital LLC , Crossbow Ventures , Bermuda Estates Associates , Fortune Financial, Inc. , Stanford Venture Capital Holdings, Inc, Palm Beach County Bank , Pinnacle Healthcare Technologies , First Allied Securities , Rose Glen Capital , Interprise Technology Partners, Inc. , IGT Services, Inc. , Interprise Technology Partners , HeartLife, LLC , NationsRent, Inc. , PHP Holdings, Inc. , SportingArena.com, Inc., Bush Industries, Inc., Claire's Stores, Inc., Ecometry Corporation, Haircolorxpress International, Inc., Kellstrom Industries, Inc., Thales Corporation, Trendium Corporation , Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, General Electric Company, Kemper Insurance Companies, AutoNation, Inc., NationsRent, Inc., Bluegreen Corporation