Our business transactions group represents a variety of investors and investment banks in alternative investment structures, including private investment in public equity (PIPE) transactions and related products such as Rule 144A offerings, registered direct offerings, pre-IPO financings, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), reverse-merger financings and equity lines.
Long a leader in investor representation, particularly in the development of sophisticated and complex products, SRZ has also become a leading adviser to investment banks and placement agents. The firm has represented investment banks in innovative going-public, reverse-merger transactions with simultaneous completion of syndicated private placements, and helped an investment bank develop a complicated product that combines PIPE and SPAC elements.
In response to an ever-changing SEC regulatory landscape, SRZ has been at the forefront of developing new structures, approaches and solutions for navigating through the challenges of capital-raising. The firm provides the market with updates on policy changes. In fact, it was at an SRZ-sponsored seminar that the Chief Counsel of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance first announced its new policy regarding Rule 415, which governs the use of shelf registration statements in PIPE offerings.
SRZ placed No. 1 in PrivateRaise.com's list of the Top 25 PIPE Investor Law Firms, both as to number of deals and total amount advised, for 2007 and 2008 (the most recent years for which data is available). The firm’s position as America’s leading investor counsel in PIPEs was also recently recognized by PlacementTracker, another leading research service, which ranked SRZ No. 1 for the first three quarters of 2009 based on number of transactions (its sole ranking criterion). Moreover, in both firms' league tables, SRZ’s deal and dollar totals were not only sizable enough to earn the firm the top spot, but far exceeded those of any other listed investor counsel.