District of Columbia

The most current version of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson stems from 1971, but has roots dating back to the 1890’s. The firm has four offices, two national and two global: New York, Washington DC, London and Frankfurt. New York serves as both the oldest and largest office.

Focusses / specialisms

The firm has an outstanding hedge fund and private equity practice. Its DC office notably has a stellar M&A team. More broadly, the firm does also focus on banking, capital markets, M&A and restructuring and insolvency. 

In the banking practice the firm represents borrowers and lenders in asset-based lending, incremental facilities, term loans and credit facilities. These are used for refinancing, acquisition finance, inventory financing.

The capital markets team represents issuers and underwriters alike in debt, equity and derivatives. On the debt side, the team has experience in investment grade, high yield and convertible bond issuances. These bond issuances are often tied to acquisition financing.

In equity capital markets, the team directs clients on IPOs, follow on offerings and common stock offerings.

In derivatives, the firm has experience in accelerated stock repurchases, open market repurchases, swaps, options and futures. Often the firm will also advise on related regulatory issues.

In investment funds the firm advises financial institutions with closed and open ended fund formation. It also advises in the formation of alternative funds including real estate, high frequency trading, exchange and hedge funds as well as ETFs.

The M&A team represents strategic acquirers and sellers in acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures.

There is also a dedicated private equity team that advises private equity firms on acquisitions, both on the buy and sell side. It also advises private equity clients in investments.

The restructuring and insolvency team advises property landlords, creditors and debtors in financial restructuring, distressed sales and Chapter 11 and 15 proceedings.

Key clients

Key clients for the firm include Mayo Clinic, Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Sinclair Broadcast Corporation, Hitachi, Stella Point Capital, Onex, Citibank, Under Armour, Merck & Xo, Bank of America Securities, Clarivate Analytics, Deutsche Bank, Simply Good Foods Company, Wells Fargo, Grupo Televisa, Invesco, T-Mobile, Bain Capital, Brookfield Asset Management, Blackrock, Permira, Seritage Growth Properties, Solace Capital Partners and Lewis Frankfort. 

Research period review: 30th edition (2019/2020)

During the research period the banking team represented an equal mix of both borrowers and lenders in loan and credit facility agreements used for mostly acquisition finance and refinancing. 

The debt capital markets team worked on an assortment of investment grade and high yield bond issuances while the equity capital markets team worked on share offerings.

The derivatives work was all confidential, but was rooted in swaps, options, accelerated stock repurchases and open market repurchases.

The investment funds group represents numerous financial institutions in the formation of open funds, closed funds and alternative funds, especially in real estate.

The M&A team, along with the private equity team, advised private equity and strategic firms in high value acquisitions on both the buy and sell side.

The restructuring and insolvency team worked largely on Chapter 11 restructuring and bankruptcy proceedings, representing creditors and property landlords. 

In terms of lateral moves, partner Stuart Barr joined the DC capital markets practice from Hogan Lovells. Matthew Roose left the restructuring practice at the firm to join the partnership at Ropes & Gray.

Deal highlights: 30th edition (2019/2020)

Blackstone acquisition of Great Wolf Resorts

Merck & Co $5 billion quadruple tranche 2.9%, 3.4%, 3.9% and 4% bond issue

Onex $2.69 billion acquisition financing for WestJet Airlines

Sears Chapter 11 proceedings

Sinclair Broadcast Group $10.6 billion acquisition of 21 regional sports networks and Fox College Sports

Tradeweb Markets Nasdaq IPO