Sheppard Mullin’s Corporate practice has been busy closing a variety of deals and transactions over the past few months:
Financings
- Represented Signet Healthcare Partners, a New York-based growth equity firm specializing in healthcare investments, with its growth equity investment in Ascendia Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) dedicated to developing and manufacturing enhanced formulations for pre-clinical, clinical stage drug candidates, and marketed drug products. The financing will be used to fund Ascendia’s facility expansion to support the growing demand in the sector. The deal team was led by partner Shon Glusky and special counsel Amanda Ackerman and Carol Archer. Invaluable assistance was provided by partners Michael Orlando, Lorna Tanner, Allison Fulton and Dmitriy Chelnitsky, associates Ethan Aronson and Brian Egan, and attorney Christina Nguyen. (April 8)
- Represented LunaPBC, manager of LunaDNA, a health data platform uniting people, communities, and researchers, in a pre-Series A funding round. Key investors in the round included returning investors ARCH Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital, and Osage University Partners. Part of the funding round was used to bring on board Joe Beery (former Chief Information Officer for America West Airlines, US Airways, Life Technologies, and Thermo Fisher Scientific) as Luna PBC’s new Chief Executive Officer. The Sheppard Mullin team included partner John Tishler and associate Jason Jones. (May 8)
Mergers & Acquisitions
- Represented Hampton, VA-based Main Industries, Inc. in its acquisition by International Marine and Industrial Applicators, LLC, a portfolio company of J.F. Lehman & Company. The deal team was led by partner Shon Glusky and special counsel Amanda Ackerman and included partners Michael Chan, Dmitriy Chelnitsky, Michael Leake, Alexis Robinson and Keith Szeliga, special counsel Sean Kirby, Carol Archer and Verity Rees, and associates Allison Troianos, John Crisp, and Brian Egan, and attorney Christina Nguyen. (April 16)
- Represented UV Resources, LLC (“UVR”), a leading provider of ultraviolet-based germicidal solutions used to disinfect surface and airstream environments, ranging anywhere from HVAC systems for buildings and hospitals to large air handling units for airports and indoor shopping centers, in its sale to Madison Industries, as part of its ongoing Indoor Air Quality (“IAQ”) strategy. UVR has seen an explosive increase in demand for its products and solutions in the wake of COVID-19 (with revenue growing by nearly 225% in 2020), given the widespread focus on indoor air quality as a means to control the spread of infectious agents and airborne pathogens. The deal was led by partner Larry Braun, special counsel Jeff Kaye and associate Rambod Peykar. Other members of the deal team included partners Frank Dworak, Daniel Yannuzzi, and Michael Chan, and associates Taylor Parks, John Crisp, Michael Weisshar, and attorney Jay Lee. (April 16)
- Represented Arlington Capital Partners-backed Octo Consulting, the premier pure-play IT modernization provider for the Federal Government, in its acquisition of Volant Associates, a technology integrator and software development company at the fore of enterprise-scale IT solutions for the Defense Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission. The Sheppard Mullin team was led by partners Michael Koltonyuk and Luca Salvi and associates Wes Fischer and Michael Ragan. Special assistance was provided by partners Keith Gercken, Fatema Merchant, Olivier Theard, and Carlo Van den Bosch, special counsel Lidore DeRose, Sean Kirby, Robert Gorzelany, and Verity Rees, and associates Michael Baranovic, John Crisp, Elfin Noce, Jarred Ramo, and Shinduk Seo. (July 13)
- Represented Wpromote, a leading digital marketing company and portfolio company of Shamrock Capital, in its acquisition of Visiture, an Atlanta- and Charleston-based ecommerce agency. The Sheppard Mullin team was led by partner Zac Turke and included partners David Sands, Michael Chan, and Frank Dworak; and associates Taylor Parks, Michael Weisshar, and John Crisp. (August 1)
Public Offerings
- Represented Kiromic BioPharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: KRBP), an immuno-oncology target discovery and gene-editing company with a proprietary artificial intelligence neural network platform (Diamond AI) that is used to develop novel oncology therapeutics, in the closing of its $40 million public offering. The Sheppard Mullin team was led by partner Jeff Fessler, special counsel Sean Reid and law clerk Brett Uslaner. (July 2)
- Advised the placement agent in connection with a $8.48 million registered direct offering of Datasea, Inc., a technology company in China engaged in providing smart security solutions, smart hardware and developing education-related technologies. The Sheppard Mullin team included partners Richard Friedman and Stephen Cohen, associate Yuanmei Lu and law clerk Brett Uslaner. (July 20)
- Advised the underwriter in connection with a $100 million initial public offering of Units of Oxbridge Acquisition Corp. Oxbridge Acquisition Corp. is a blank check company, also commonly referred to as a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. While the Company may pursue an initial business combination target in any business, industry or geographical location, it intends to focus its search on a technology business within the insurtech, blockchain and artificial intelligence verticals, with enterprise value in excess of $300 million. The Sheppard Mullin team included partners Richard Friedman and Stephen Cohen, and special counsel Sean Reid. (August 16)
- Advised DatChat, Inc. in connection with its $12 million initial public offering of Common Stock and Warrants. DatChat Messenger allows users to change how long their messages can be viewed before or after they send them, completely prevent screenshots and hide encrypted messages in plain site on their camera roll. The Sheppard Mullin team included partner Richard Friedman, special counsel Sean Reid, and law clerk Brett Uslaner. (August 17)