IN HAEC VERBA: AKERMAN SENTERFITT EXPECTS MORE MERGERS WORK

Akerman Senterfitt Expands Corporate Practice in Response to Buoyant U.S. M&A Market
June 8, 2010
Akerman Senterfitt, the largest law firm in Florida and one of the top 100 firms in the U.S., announced today that six attorneys have joined its Corporate practice, as the firm expands in response to the brisk pace of middle market M&A and other corporate finance activities. Akerman has been advising inVentiv Health through its $1.1billion acquisition by Thomas H. Lee Partners and The GEO Group Inc. through its $685 million merger with Cornell Companies, among other significant transactions since the beginning of 2010.

Esther Moreno has returned to the firm, joining the Corporate practice in Miami as Shareholder. Ms. Moreno advises public and private companies on corporate finance matters. She has extensive experience in equity offerings as well as high-yield and convertible debt financings. She also brings significant experience in the area of M&A transactions, strategic investments, going private transactions, tender offers and other “control” transactions and representation of special committees of the Board.

Additionally, Ernest Stern has joined Akerman as a Shareholder in the Tysons Corner office. Mr. Stern has strong experience representing emerging public and private companies, predominantly in the technology sector. He works with these companies on venture financing, institutional venture capital, PIPE investments, and IPOs. Additionally, he advises companies in cross-border and domestic mergers and acquisitions, and has extensive experience in advising on SEC and NASD compliance issues.

“As the economy recovers, more and more, pending deals have been coming off the shelf and we’re seeing a significant up-tick in the M&A area,” said Jonathan Awner, Chair of Akerman’s Corporate practice. “We are pleased to welcome Ernie and Esther who add important depth to our practice in the area of public and private financings, M&A transactions and corporate governance counsel.”

The Corporate practice has also added several associates, including: Alia Luria in Orlando, Lisa Applebaum in New York and Shane Seggarra and Jacob Spiegler in Miami.

Akerman is ranked #1 by Chambers & Partners for Corporate/M&A in Florida and is recognized by The Legal 500 within the National Firms - Middle Market category. Akerman advises many public and emerging companies, and private equity and investment funds on M&A, public offerings, private equity and venture capital investments, and other transactional matters.

About Akerman Senterfitt
Akerman is ranked among the top 100 law firms in the U.S. by The National Law Journal NLJ 250 (2009) in number of lawyers and is the largest firm in Florida. With more than 500 lawyers and government affairs professionals, we serve clients from major business centers in Florida, New York, Washington, D.C., California, Virginia, Colorado, Nevada and Texas. More information can be found at www.akerman.com or www.twitter.com/akerman_llp