Capital markets lawyers Doug Lionberger and James Brown joined Holland & Knight as partners in the firm’s Houston office, according to their LinkedIn pages. They were previously at Winston & Strawn.
The move represents a return of sorts to their former law firm, Thompson & Knight, where they were for a brief period after leaving Vinson & Elkins.
Lionberger and Brown focus their practice on securities offerings, private equity, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate representation.
Their capital markets experience includes representing issuers and underwriters in initial public offerings as well as public and private offerings of equity and debt securities. They also work with private equity investors, their portfolio companies and other public and private companies in connection with mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and strategic investments.
Lionberger was part of the team advising Chart Industries Inc. on its acquisition of UK-based industrial equipment maker Howden from private equity firm KPS Capital Partners for $4.4 billion in cash and preferred stock, a deal that doubled its revenue and earnings.
The attorney also worked on Prime Number Acquisition I Corp.’s IPO last year (with Brown) and Nauticus Robotics’ merger with SPAC CleanTech Acquisition Corp., Echo Global Logistics’ sale to the Jordan Co. for $1.3 billion and Eurasian cryptocurrency miner SAITECH’s merger with SPAC TradeUp Global Corp., all in 2021. He was also part of the group advising Calvin Gin on its plan to buy the Luby’s Cafeteria restaurant business for $28.7 million, also in 2021.
Lionberger graduated from the University of California Berkeley School of Law, while Brown did so from the University of Houston Law Center.