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Deal Maker of the Year Awards 2013 WINNER - JOSEPH J. DEVITO
DEAL: Fives Group to acquire MAG IAS LLC and Forest-Line NAME: Joseph J. DeVito COMPANY: Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC
TEL: 248.723.0323 EMAIL: JDeVito@howardandhoward.com
BIO Mr. DeVito concentrates his practice on
business and financial transactions and real estate matters, including: mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations of business entities; complex commercial and real estate lending and restructuring transactions;
international
business transactions; real estate sale and leasing transactions; securities law and private placements and healthcare related corporate matters.
Mr. DeVito formerly served as Assistant General Counsel responsible for mergers and acquisitions for ThyssenKrupp in North America, and has also served as interim general counsel for corporate clients in the automotive, technology and service industries, and in such capacity has advised members of management on all aspects of corporate, financial and real estate transactions (both domestic and international) and securities issues.
His experience includes negotiation and consummation of mergers and acquisitions, formation of new subsidiaries and joint ventures including certified Minority Business Enterprises, negotiation and drafting licensing, e-commerce and other I.P. related agreements, negotiation and drafting of real estate purchase and leasing
DEAL OVERVIEW
The transaction at issue involved a highly complex corporate carve-out and sale of MAG IAS LLC’s worldwide aerospace industrial machine building business to a French-based private equity firm named Fives Group. The deal included operations and subsidiaries in North America, Europe and Asia. Multiple facilities and thousands of employees were transitioned to the buyer’s control as a result of the transaction.
Mr. DeVito served as lead M&A counsel for the Seller, MAG IAS LLC, negotiating and drafting the
primary acquisition and divestiture documents while quarterbacking the deal team from Howard & Howard comprised of specialists in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, finance, intellectual property, environmental, employee benefits, and labor law among others. He also worked with the general counsel Elizabeth Sitterly to coordinate the efforts of co-counsel from a number of international firms, including tax specialists at Patterson Belknap in NY, NY, lead by Richard Upton.
There were a number of complexities in the deal due to
agreements and various aspects of securities transactions and regulatory compliance. Mr. DeVito’s former firms include Dinsmore & Shohl (Cincinnati) and Butzel Long (Bloomfield Hills).
Mr. DeVito is the former assistant editor of the Michigan International Lawyer, and has authored various articles for the Michigan Business Law Journal.
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He is a frequent lecturer at ICLE and
industry group seminars on various topics, such as mergers and acquisitions, corporate and real estate financing related matters.
Mr. DeVito is a graduate of Wayne State University Law School (LL.M. Corporate Finance, 2005), Wayne State University Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1995) and Michigan State University, James Madison College (B.A. of International Relations – Economics Emphasis, 1992). He is an alumnus of The Hague Academy of Private International Law.
Mr. DeVito is admitted to practice in Michigan and Illinois, and is admitted but inactive in Ohio. He is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of International Trade located in New York.
the international nature of the transaction, including a number of U.S. and foreign regulatory filings. Perhaps the most complex aspect of the transaction was segregating the sizeable global automotive business operations which were retained by MAG; and therefore were carefully excluded from the transaction. This is the inherent nature of large corporate acquisitions and divestitures including divisional carve-out deals, an area of sub-specialty of Mr. DeVito when working for multinational, publicly traded, closely-held and private equity clients.
The respective legal, financial and operational teams coordinated their collective efforts to address and overcome each obstacle in the deal. It was truly a tireless team effort with all parties working around the clock to consummate the transaction.
Mr. DeVito specializes in corporate divestitures and acquisitions of stand-alone and add-on business units for large and middle-market corporate and private equity clients having completed several transactions with both publicly-traded and privately- held clients across
the aerospace, automotive,
industrial, healthcare, energy, technology and media industries. Howard & Howard is a national boutique corporate law firm specializing in representing businesses and business owners in mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property and patent law, and complex commercial and intellectual property dispute resolution. The firm is nearly 150 years old and continues to grow in number and sophistication of transaction type. Mr. DeVito is the chairman of the firm’s transactional practice group and has been recognized as one of the top 50 transactional attorneys in the State of Michigan.
Mr. DeVito and the deal team at Howard & Howard have closed multiple deals in the trailing four (4) quarters and all indications from private equity and corporate clients alike are that deal flow will continue to be strong in the first two quarters of 2014 and the foreseeable future there beyond.