Jon Ballis focuses his practice on leveraged buyouts of private and public companies, strategic mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, and venture capital and PIPE investments, with emphasis on corporate, structuring and tax aspects. Jon has handled matters on behalf of Bain Capital, The Blackstone Group, Centerbridge, Citadel Investment Group, Madison Dearborn Partners, The Pritzker Group, and THL Partners.
Jon is member of the Firm's Finance Committee, as well as the office's Hiring Partner.
Representative Matters
Archipelago in formation of electronic trading joint venture with Goldman Sachs and E*Trade (which subsequently acquired the New York Stock Exchange) Bain Capital in numerous transactions, including:
leveraged buy-out of NXP Semiconductors from Philips Electronics
leveraged buy-out of Air Medical Group
leveraged buy-out of Physio Control from Medtronic
leveraged buy-out of Guitar Center
sale of FCI Burndy to Hubbell
restructurings of M/C Communications and Contec
Blackstone in leveraged buy-out of Vistar
BWAY Corporation in leveraged buy-out by Kelso
Centerbridge in numerous transactions, including:
acquisition and restructuring of Aquilex
acquisition and restructuring of Reddy Ice
sale of Specialty Repair and Overhaul to AZZ Incorporated
Citadel Investment Group in formation of credit default swap clearing platform with Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Clear Channel Communications in numerous financings
Special Committee of FTD.com in squeeze-out merger by FTD Corporation
Heinz Corporation in acquisition of Anchor Foods
Madison Dearborn in numerous transactions, including:
sale of Milnot to Hero AG
investment in EVO Payments
The Pritzker Group in numerous transactions, including:
leveraged buy-out of Intersystems
leveraged buy-out of Peco Pallets
leveraged buy-out of Clinical Innovations
leveraged buy-out of Carter-Waters
leveraged buy-out of Impact Products
leveraged buy-out of Signicast Corporation
more than 20 growth equity investments
Thorne family in acquisition of AirCell (operator of Go-Go in-flight internet broadband service)
Youbet in merger with Churchill Downs
Education
Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude, 1994
Lehigh University, B.A., High Honors, 1991
Soviet Studies Major
Phi Beta Kappa
Phi Eta Sigma