BKBH’s Commercial Law Practice Group Attorneys:
Commercial Litigation, Transactions and Taxation
BKBH offers a complete range of business and commercial services to our clients who are interested in conducting business or are actively involved in business ventures in the state, the region, and throughout the country. Our firm assists a broad range of corporate clients, representing both small, local businesses and large, publicly traded, multi-state and multi-national corporations. BKBH’s Commercial Group has seven attorneys who together have extensive experience in the following commercial law matters:
- Negotiating and drafting of a wide variety of contracts, leases, license and use agreements, financing, re-financing, and secured loans/transaction documents, real property transaction documents, and shareholder, member, partnership and employment agreements;
- Restructuring complex corporate debt and equity financings, re-financings, and bond issuances, negotiating and drafting the various legal documents to effectuate those transactions, and obtaining all necessary related regulatory approvals;
- Providing advice on and litigating issues of state and federal securities laws, securities and complex class action and derivative shareholder litigation, constitutional law challenges, protection of intellectual property litigation, oil and gas royalty payment class action litigation, and other types of commercial litigation;
- Performing business mergers and acquisitions, including conducting due diligence, working with shareholders and boards of directors, and drafting the related transaction documents, restructurings, transactions and litigation of various size, complexity and exposure for both small local businesses and large publicly held corporations;
- Advising and counseling clients with regard to state, local and federal tax applications and also assisting a wide range of tax-exempt entities and arrangements with formation and compliance matters;
- Advising on the formation of captive insurance companies, securing requisite regulatory approvals, and drafting all related formation, application, and solicitation documents, contracts, and materials;
- Advising, counseling and defending clients before a variety of state and local regulatory agencies and boards related to their business transactions, licenses and requirements; and
- Creating and implementing business succession plans in conjunction with estate planning for business owners, including farm and ranch operations.
BKBH’s Commercial Group is not limited to transactional work or a non-litigation focus. Rather, in order to meet client needs, the firm’s Commercial Group attorneys are also highly skilled litigators who appear in state and federal trial and appellate courts, and who have handled complex litigation, collectively having billions of dollars at stake, and many of which are cases of first impression in the state. The Commercial Group litigators handle employment and discrimination cases, contested case proceedings before a variety of state agencies and local boards, contract disputes, securities fraud, shareholder derivative actions, and a variety of class action litigation. BKBH’s commercial litigators also specialize in elections law, successfully challenging several ballot initiatives that adversely impacted business interests in Montana.
Sub-Practice Areas:
- Administrative Law & Regulatory Compliance
- Associations, Foundations & Charitable Activities
- Banking & Financial Institutions
- Business, Commercial, Securities & Transactional Law
- Federal & State Contracts
- Insurance Law & Captive Insurers
- Municipal Finance
- Municipal Liability
- Tax Controversies
Representative Matters:
- Represented a group seeking to purchase Montana’s electric and natural gas transmission and distribution utility in a potential acquisition valued in excess of $1 billion, assisting the group in retaining necessary experts, conducting due diligence and preparing the bid and related transaction documents.
- Assisted Montana’s largest hospital system through the transfer of its significant assets and liabilities to a new parent corporation as part of a corporate reorganization in a non-profit corporation setting.
- Served as Montana counsel in various refinancings exceeding $1 billion for a publicly traded regulated utility, reviewing transaction documents, issuing various opinions of counsel, and obtaining all required state regulatory approvals.
- Represented a large financial services company in its acquisition of a series of other smaller companies in its business sector, and ultimately when it itself was acquired by a larger financial service company. Special issues included consideration of employment matters and covenants not to compete involving the integration of professional staffs and separate shareholders, officers and directors.
- Assisted a large multi-million dollar family-owned construction company in developing an exit plan for its shareholders over the past 3 years which involved the restructuring, merger and sale of several subsidiary companies, addressing several issues related to the company’s deferred compensation plan, creating an infrastructure whereby the employees will purchase the company over time, and developing and updating an interrelated personal estate plan for the primary shareholders.
- Represented a group of cities, towns and school districts in its successful attempts to secure a supply of electricity from suppliers other than the state’s default supplier, assisting the group in its bid process, selection process, and with the negotiation and drafting of the related power supply contracts.
- Represented the first large producer of wind power in the state of Montana, assisting them with securing appropriate regulatory approvals, construction contracts, and financing agreements.
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