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Zachary Turke

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Zachary Turke is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group of the firm’s Los Angeles office. He is head of Sheppard’s Mergers & Acquisition team and its Government Business Group, which encompasses Sheppard’s aerospace & defense practice.

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The term “Acqui-hire” is commonly used to describe an M&A transaction where the buyer is predominantly interested in acquiring key employees of the target and not specifically the underlying business and/or assets. This type of transaction is particularly common in the technology and software industries, where key talent can often be more valuable than the underlying product or service, although it has become more prevalent in other industries as well. For the target employees and founders, such an acquisition may represent a “soft landing” in the event that they find that their organization won’t scale in the way that was previously imagined or if their funding sources have dried up.Continue Reading What You Need to Know about Acqui-Hires

The past few years have seen dramatic shifts for mergers and acquisitions involving automotive dealerships. It has been estimated that approximately 3% of dealerships undergo a change of ownership in an average year. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, deal flow in this sector nearly came to a complete halt due to the nationwide lockdown and a lack of demand. By early 2021, the industry had effectively made a full recovery in spite of supply chain and inventory challenges and M&A activity in this space rebounded accordingly, with a record 383 transactions completed in 2021, and an estimated 374 transactions completed in 2022. Despite larger U.S. economy macroeconomic headwinds and leveling consumer demand, buy/sell activity in the auto dealer sector is expected to remain robust in 2023 and beyond as several prominent acquirors continue to deploy their capital and more sellers coming to market due to a variety of reasons, including estate planning and general uncertainties about the larger economy.Continue Reading The Art of the Dealership: A Legal Road Map for Buying and Selling Automotive Dealerships

Technology solutions for the transfer, storage and management of electronic files and other digital content is vitally important for organizations to meet compliance obligations, ensure adequate data security and to administer company data generally.  Companies that provide solutions in this space – including in managed file transfer (MFT), file transfer protocol (FTP), cloud content storage and management and file sync-share, among others – are therefore very attractive targets for buyers in the “software-as-a-service” space.  Given that these businesses are charged with safeguarding their client’s precious data, however, there are unique issues in doing deals involving these types of businesses, which both potential buyers and sellers must be aware of.Continue Reading Buying and Selling a File Management, Storage and Transfer Business

This article originally published on Food Manufacturing.com on June 1.

2020 was an up-and-down year for mergers and acquisitions in the food and beverage industry.  With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of the year, deal making activity was largely put on hold.  In the second half of the year, however, M&A activity resumed in force such that the total number of food and beverage transactions for 2020 actually ended up slightly exceeding 2019.  And with private equity firms sitting on a large amount of cash that needs to be deployed and strong corporate balance sheets for strategic buyers, 2021 looks like it should be a banner year for food & beverage M&A.  However, buying and selling food & beverage companies presents a unique set of challenges.  This article provides an overview of certain legal considerations for parties engaging in M&A transactions in this sector to be aware of with the goal of providing actionable advice to maximize value.
Continue Reading Keys to Maximizing Value in Food & Beverage M&A Transactions

As anyone who follows the industry can tell you, mergers and acquisitions activity in the aerospace and defense industry has remained robust over the past decade.  In 2019 alone, there were 460 corporate acquisitions in this sector.  And while a slowdown in 2020 deal activity is certainly expected as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, results for at least the second quarter remained strong, with 84 deal closings.  Further, analysts project that activity in certain subsegments of the industry, including defense, space technology and cyber security, will remain vigorous for the foreseeable future, at least partially offsetting any declines in commercial aerospace transactions.
Continue Reading M&A Pre-Flight Check: Avoiding Common Issues in Aerospace & Defense Acquisitions

As anyone who has been through a corporate sale process can tell you, there is no such thing as a “standard” M&A transaction.  Every deal is different and presents a unique set of challenges.  This is especially true of transactions involving lead generation companies, which can be very different than businesses in other industries.  Amongst other differences, companies in this space utilize a wide variety of customized commercial arrangements and are subject to numerous industry-specific regulatory requirements that buyers need to be aware of before making an investment in this space.  In this article, we highlight the top 10 issues that buyer should diligence when considering acquiring a lead generation company.  Sellers in this space should focus on eliminating any issues in these areas as well to make them a more attractive acquisition target.
Continue Reading Top 10 Diligence Issues in Lead Generation Mergers and Acquisitions