Merger adds Midwest to Ballard Spahr's footprint

CHICAGO – Ballard Spahr LLP will add a Midwest presence to its national footprint by joining forces with Lindquist & Vennum LLP.

The firms announced Tuesday plans to merge effective January 1. The combined firm will employ 650 attorneys, including 110 from Lindquist, with offices in 15 states. It will carry the Ballard Spahr name.

ballard spahr mark stewart
Mark Stewart

Philadelphia-based Ballard has about 40 public finance attorneys that work from the firm’s headquarters and other offices in Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and other offices in Delaware and New Jersey.

The firm ranked 8th among bond counsel for the first half of the year, credited by Thomson Reuters with 32 deals valued at $4 billion, and ranked 10th among underwriters’ counsel advising on 45 deals valued at $2.2 billion.

The merger extends Ballard's physical presence to Minneapolis and Sioux Falls, S.D.; it will expand its Denver office.

Lindquist has a small public finance group based in Minneapolis. The firm provides advice in corporate, mergers & acquisitions, and litigation matters and “acts as counsel for issuers, borrowers, trustees, banks, and underwriters in connection with general obligation and utility, industrial, housing, health care, lease, and sales tax revenue bonds and certificates of participation in municipal leases,” according to its website.

Lindquist had been courted by a number of firms. The Minneapolis office will be Ballard Spahr’s largest outside of Philadelphia.

“This merger will add a sizable group of experienced corporate partners to our Business and Finance Department and significantly increase our M&A capabilities, particularly in the private equity space,” said Ballard Spahr Chair Mark Stewart. “Our two firms share strength in financial services, litigation, energy, and family wealth management.”

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Tax-exempt bonds M&A Career moves Pennsylvania Minnesota
MORE FROM BOND BUYER