Christopher Carlisle

Chris is a leading corporate finance attorney with a focus on mergers and acquisitions and emerging company/venture finance. He offers legal guidance to a diverse range of clients, including founders, entrepreneurs, venture capitalist and private equity funds, spanning from startups to established publicly held enterprises. These clients represent various industries, such as consumer products, software (including among other segments, fintech, insurtech and enterprise software), health care technology, professional and IT services, franchise, agriculture, branded products and industrials.

Recognized as a client advocate, Chris is a highly regarded business advisor who often serves as the primary point of contact for all legal matters of his clients. His approachable and practical style, combined with his in-depth knowledge of finance, corporate law and market dynamics, enables him to counsel his clients effectively. Chris is skilled in navigating the intricacies of organizational structures, financing, and market entry, making him a trusted advisor for companies at all stages of development.

Chris provides comprehensive guidance to his clients throughout all stages of their financing development. This includes initial capitalization, multiple series of venture capital, friends and family investment, angel investors, strategic partnerships, as well as senior and mezzanine lending. He offers practical legal and business advice, delivered with sound judgment. In his commitment to earning the role of a trusted advisor on both legal and business matters, Chris invests off-the-clock time to understand his clients’ unique needs and priorities.

Throughout his career, Chris has provided legal representation to both publicly held and private companies during the mergers and acquisitions process in the U.S. and internationally, with key clients based in the U.K., Canada, Italy, Belgium as well as other EU and Pacific Rim jurisdictions. His expertise extends from directing and managing due diligence to facilitating post-merger integration. Chris is known for assisting international companies with their market entry into the U.S.

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Represents a U.K. based publicly held global consulting firm in its U.S. acquisitions and strategy.
• Directed the acquisition of the first U.S. asset for a private equity-backed U.K. based e-learning company.
• Provides day-to-day M&A counsel for the world’s largest hearing aid retailer.
• Significant experience in the car dealership market, including the representation of a strategic joint venture holding car dealership assets in a series of acquisitions across various OEMs (Ford, Volkswagen, Kia, Subaru, Toyota).
• Represents a diversified agricultural business headquartered in North Dakota in various acquisitions, investments, and joint ventures.
• Represented Drylock Technologies, a Belgian private equity backed manufacturer of personal absorbent hygiene products, in its acquisition of Presto Absorbent Products, Inc. a division of National Presto Industries, Inc. (NYSE: NPK).
• Served as legal counsel to WellBeats, Inc. a U.S.-based venture backed on-demand, SaaS physical wellbeing platform in its sale to LifeSpeak, Inc. (TSX: LSPK), the leading mental health and total wellbeing platform for employers, health plans and insurance companies.
• Supported a healthcare technology company through its capitalization efforts (common and Series A, B, and C financing rounds), key contracts, and agreements with strategic partners and clients (including leading global health care providers and research institutions, first-tier manufacturing partners, and Fortune 100 clients), and ultimately its strategic combination with a leading provider of remote cardiac monitoring products and services.
• Represented ExperienceIT, a U.S. based digital transformation consultancy with a diverse array of services and deep expertise in health care, in its acquisition by Globant (NYSE: GLOB), a digital native technology services company based in Luxembourg.
• Represented various IT services companies in the CRM ecosystems in their sale, including (a) Magnet 360, a technology-based marketing and consulting company and “platinum” partner of Salesforce.com, on its sale to MindTree (NYSE: MINDTREE), a publicly held Indian based IT consulting firm, (b) PowerObjects, a consulting firm and Microsoft partner focused on Microsoft CRM implementations to HCL Technologies (NYSE: HCLTECH), a publicly held Indian based IT consulting firm, and (c) Sonoma Partners, a “platinum” Salesforce.com partner and Microsoft partner focused on Microsoft CRM to Ernst & Young LLP, the global accountancy and consulting firm.

Capital Markets

• Represented the special committee of the Board of Directors of Turning Point Brands, Inc. (NYSE: TPB), a leading provider of “other tobacco products” and adult consumer alternatives in connection with its merger transaction between TPB’s wholly-owned subsidiary and Standard Diversified, Inc. (NYSE: SDI), the related secondary offering and Form S-4.

Start-Ups and Venture Capital

• Ongoing representation of a SaaS company that develops enterprise-grade marketing operating systems built for financial services organizations, including through its initial formation and capitalization, and Series Seed, A, B and C rounds of venture capital.
• Ongoing representation of a resourcing, forecasting and analytics platform that helps digital agencies and software consultancies, including through several rounds of venture capital finance.
• Represent venture capital firms in their investment (primarily in preferred equity) in a variety of high-technology companies, with investments ranging from $500,000 to $50 million.

International

• Represents a facilitator and supplier of private-label food products to grocery and mass merchandising channels in Canada and the United States in its acquisition of assets in several EU jurisdictions.
• Represented a privately held agricultural processing and production operation related to its recapitalization and divestiture of material assets located in Ukraine. The transaction required the management and oversight of parties and professional advisors in the U.K., France, Germany, Denmark, and Ukraine.

Governance

• Chris serves as board counsel and company secretary for many privately held companies. In this capacity, he provides guidance on various governance matters, including board, committee, and stockholder-related documentation. Chris offers expertise in preparing and advising on appropriate documentation to ensure compliance with relevant regulations and standards.