Morrison & Foerster today announced that John A. Good and Justin R. Salon have joined the firm’s Corporate Finance practice in Washington, D.C. as partners. Mr. Good’s and Mr. Salon’s practices focus on securities offerings and other corporate finance matters, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and general representation of public and private companies and underwriters, with particular industry focus on real estate investment trusts (REITs) and business development companies (BDCs).
“John and Justin are key additions to our growing corporate finance practice,” said Brandon Parris, co-chair of the firm’s Corporate Department. “The firm’s corporate finance practice gained significant momentum last year with the addition of David Slotkin, a leading lawyer in the field who represents public and private companies in a wide variety of corporate and securities transactions with an emphasis on REITs. John’s and Justin’s experience complements that practice and strengthens our platform representing issuers and underwriters in IPOs, equity and debt offerings and other corporate finance transactions.”
Mr. Good has served as outside general counsel to 18 public companies since 2000, and since 2005 has served as underwriters’ or issuers’ counsel on more than 80 securities offerings, including 15 IPOs. He has served as underwriters’ counsel to Deutsche Bank Securities, JPMorgan, Friedman Billings Ramsey, UBS, Wachovia Securities, AG Edwards, Robert W. Baird and Raymond James. In addition, Mr. Good has an extensive M&A resume including the following transactions:
- National Commerce Financial Corporation in connection with a $7 billion merger with SunTrust Banks, and eight additional deals with a combined value of $2.5 billion.
- A special committee of board of directors of Quadra Realty Trust, Inc. in connection with its $650 million acquisition by Hypo Real Estate Group.
- Care Investment Trust in its $450 million UP-C restructuring transaction with Tiptree Financial Partners, L.P.
- Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. in its $450 million acquisition of Flournoy Development Company.
- AutoZone, Inc. in its acquisition of AutoAnything.com.
- A special committee of board of directors of Summit Hotel Properties, LLC in connection with its $100 million IPO rollup into Summit Hotel Properties, Inc.
Mr. Salon has represented both issuers and underwriters in connection with initial public offerings, primary and secondary offerings, private placements, senior and subordinated debt financings and tender offers. He regularly counsels companies with respect to corporate governance issues, securities compliance and general corporate matters. He has represented issuers and underwriters in $2 billion in equity offerings and $5 billion in debt offerings. His recent significant transactions include representing:
- AutoZone, Inc. $800 million in senior notes offerings.
- Underwriters, led by Robert W. Baird, Raymond James, Stifel Nicholaus and Oppenheimer & Co. in the $190 million IPO of Armada Hoffler Properties, Inc.
- A leading investment bank in the 144A offering of $750 million in exchangeable senior notes by an office REIT.
Both Mr. Good and Mr. Salon join Morrison & Foerster from Bass, Berry & Sims, where Mr. Good led the REIT and BDC/investment management practices.
“We are excited to join MoFo and further build its impressive national corporate finance practice,” Mr. Good said. “Our clients will benefit significantly from the global reach, outstanding expertise and tremendous depth of talent offered by MoFo. At the same time, the strategic combination of our and MoFo’s REIT and BDC practices propels MoFo to a market leading position in those industry areas.”
“Expanding our representation of public companies and growing the firm’s IPO practice are key priorities. John’s and Justin’s work for underwriters and issuers on a wide variety of offerings and securities transactions make them valuable additions to our team,” David Slotkin, co-chair of the firm’s Corporate Finance Practice, said. “The fact that they also bring deep REIT experience significantly enhances our bench strength and ability to provide the best corporate and securities advice to issuers and underwriters throughout the industry.”
