Session Details
Date:
1:30 PM
Where:
Hagood Atrium
More Information
Come hear our expert panelists - whose organizations combine middle-market and local expertise with global resources and perspective - discuss geopolitical, economic, regulatory and other factors affecting what deals will get done in 2020 and who will do them.
David Phillips - Eversheds Sutherland
Moderator David Phillips has more than 20 years of experience—both in private practice and as a senior legal officer for a large, publicly traded manufacturer of chemicals and building products. Mr. Phillips advises clients on a broad range of corporate governance matters and complex business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, strategic investments, capital formation, debt and equity restructurings, and securities offerings.
David’s extensive experience includes counseling companies operating in the manufacturing, technology and distribution sectors on their most strategically significant matters, including advising some of the nation’s leading chemical, building products and consumer goods companies in connection with their acquisitions and dispositions. He also regularly represents private equity funds in their portfolio investments as well as sponsors in connection with fund formation and regulatory matters affecting funds and fund sponsors.
Gary Denning
Panelist Gary Denning was most recently the VP of Corporate Development and M&A at Axiall Corporation, a $5 billion revenue Atlanta-based public company that produced chemicals and building products. As the head of the function reporting to the CEO, Gary was a member of the executive team that led the sale of the company to Westlake for $3.8 billion. Prior to the sale of the company, Gary led the refining of the portfolio by selling off four non-core divisions. Since the acquisition of Axiall, he has had several M&A consulting roles in the market. He was a corporate development consultant to the new owner Westlake for six months. He is currently leading the sale of three non-core divisions and helping PE groups on two buy-sides. Gary also worked with Lone Star Funds to acquire Arclin Inc., a $500 million industrial company in Roswell, GA and has been on the Board for the past two years. Prior to joining Axiall, Gary spent 17 years in investment banking at Chase Manhattan Bank, Bear Stearns and Houlihan Lokey. He has worked on over 170 M&A transactions over the past twenty-five years. Gary has a BA from Duke University, an MBA from Fordham University and a MA from Emory University.
Reese Henson - Cadence Bank
Panelist Reese Henson is a Senior Vice president with Cadence Bank. He has nine years of banking experience, the majority of which have been spent working with companies in the lower middle market. His primary focus at Cadence Bank is provide working capital and/or growth capital to companies with $50-500 million in revenue in a variety of industries. Reese has extensive experience with private equity sponsored transactions, cash flow lending, and acquisition financing.
Cardell McKinstry - Aprio, LLP
Panelist Cardell McKinstry is a partner in the Transaction Advisory Services group at Aprio, LLP. Cardell has over 15 years of tax consulting experience serving clients across a wide range of industries, including construction, distribution, financial services, manufacturing and telecommunications. Cardell focuses on advising financial and strategic clients on the tax aspects and structuring of taxable and tax-free transactions. These include mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, restructurings, leveraged buy-outs and recapitalizations. He has been involved in all aspects of due diligence, transaction structuring and reviews of transaction-related documents.
Phil Theodore - McGriff Seibels & Williams
Panelist Phil Theodore joined McGriff after practicing law as a transactional and corporate lawyer for more than 40 years. He practiced with King & Spalding in Atlanta from 1981 through 2003. After leaving King & Spalding, he served as the General Counsel of three well-known Atlanta public companies. During his career, Mr. Theodore participated in scores of public and private M&A transactions, either as outside counsel or as the General Counsel of his company. His experience includes buy- and sell-side transactions for public and private companies in a wide variety of industries.
Matt Welch - Regions Capital Markets
Panelist Matt Welch joined Regions Capital Markets in 2018 and is focusing on providing M&A advisory services within the Corporate and Leveraged Finance team. Prior to joining Regions, Mr. Welch was a Director in the M&A group at Wells Fargo Securities advising on multiple capital markets and advisory transactions in various areas, including food & beverage, healthcare services, consumer & retail, financial services, and energy & power. Mr. Welch also held M&A, investment banking, and commodity trading positions at Ridgecrest Capital Partners, Wachovia Securities, and Duke Energy, respectively. Throughout the course of his career, Mr. Welch has advised on numerous buy-side and sell-side M&A engagements and has executed several equity and debt offerings in these roles. Mr. Welch received his Masters of Business Administration from Duke University and his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University, graduating from both institutions with honors.
