Gail C. Saracco is a transactional attorney with substantial experience in private investment funds, mergers and acquisitions, and joint venture transactions. Gail represents real estate fund sponsors in the structuring of a variety of open and closed end funds with a wide range of property types and investment strategies including core, opportunistic, value add, debt and fund of funds. Her structuring of real estate funds regularly involves the formation of private REITs and she has significant experience preparing private placements for REITs to allow them to meet the 100-shareholder requirement. She also represents institutional and high net worth investors with respect to their investments in private equity and real estate funds by subscription of new interests or acquisition of secondary interests.
Gail also represents buyers and sellers in international and domestic asset and stock acquisitions and merger transactions and corporations in joint venture transactions. She has experience across a wide variety of industries, including representing health care institutions in corporate transactions, representing investors in start-ups, and representing food companies and professional service companies in acquisitions and dispositions.
Areas of Concentration
ˇ Real estate funds
ˇ Fund formation
ˇ REIT private placements
ˇ Joint ventures
ˇ Mergers and acquisitions
Significant Representations
Real Estate Funds
ˇ Representation of the sponsor of a $1 billion open end core real estate fund with respect to the formation of the fund and the ongoing offerings of interests and other corporate issues.
ˇ Representation of the sponsor of an $800 million open end core real estate fund with respect to the formation of the fund and the ongoing offerings of interests and other corporate issues.
ˇ Representation of Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers with respect to the conversion of an insurance separate account to an open end real estate fund and ongoing corporate issues with respect to the fund.
ˇ Representation of Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers with respect to its sponsorship of a hotel fund with over $300 million in commitments.
ˇ Representation of the sponsor with respect to its first and second residential multi-family development funds.
ˇ Representation of the sponsor of a $700 million real estate fund of funds with respect to the formation of the fund and the acquisition of limited partnership interests on the secondary market.
ˇ Representation of the sponsor of a series of apartment funds.
ˇ Representation of an insurance company with respect to its investments in real estate and private equity funds.
ˇ Representation of an institutional investor from time to time in the acquisition of limited partnership interests in private equity funds on the secondary market.
ˇ Representation of a family trust in the acquisition of a limited partnership interest in a real estate fund on the secondary market.
Mergers and Acquisitions/Joint Ventures
ˇ Representation of a financing corporation in the sale of an international portfolio of aircraft.
ˇ Representation of a food ingredients company from time to time in the acquisition and merger of various companies in the United States and Mexico.
ˇ Representation of a professional service organization in the disposition of several departments.
ˇ Representation of a professional service organization in international and domestic joint ventures with software companies.
ˇ Representation of a Chicago-area hospital system in the acquisitions of two hospitals and a home health agency.
ˇ Representation of a Chicago-area hospital in the reorganization and merger of several subsidiaries.
ˇ Representation of a children's hospital in negotiating an affiliation agreement with a teaching hospital.
*Certain of the above representations were handled by Gail prior to her joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Professional & Community Involvement
ˇ Member, Black Women Lawyers' Association of Greater Chicago, Inc.
ˇ Board of Trustees, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
ˇ Executive Board, Jack and Jill of America, Inc., Western Cook County Chapter
ˇ Voting Member, Pension Real Estate Association
ˇ Steering Committee, Greenberg Traurig's 2011 Women's Business Forum
Awards & Recognition
ˇ Selected by Super Lawyers magazine, 2006, 2008-2009
ˇ Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow, 2002-2003
ˇ Rated, AV® Preeminent™ 5.0 out of 5
Previous Employment
ˇ Partner, Mayer Brown LLP
ˇ Associate, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Articles, Publications, & Lectures
ˇ Speaker, "Options in a Limited Credit Environment," Corporate Counsel Institute, December 3, 2009
ˇ Speaker, "Working with the Revised Illinois Uniform Partnership Act: So You Thought You Knew Illinois Partnership Law?" Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, June 25, 2003