Corporate & Commercial Transactions

Wilkinson Barker Knauer provides its telecommunications, media and Internet clients with a full array of corporate and transactional legal services. The various sectors of the communications field are in a state of constant transition as companies consolidate, merge, divest and restructure to meet changing business and financial objectives and to respond to legal, regulatory and economic challenges. The firm provides counsel in connection with the following types of transactions with a focus on enabling clients to meet their goals, objectives and challenges:

  • mergers and acquisitions;
  • management, operational and inter-carrier agreements;
  • joint ventures and strategic alliances;
  • sales of distressed assets;
  • financing;
  • transactions implicating the FCC’s rules on foreign ownership;
  • outsourcing and government contracting;
  • deals involving new technologies;
  • real estate;
  • designated entity structures, operational relationships and exit strategies; and
  • general corporate work in the areas of corporate formation and governance, employment, and litigation/pre-litigation support.

The firm also assists clients in obtaining necessary federal and local governmental approvals for these transactions. A more detailed description of our expertise may be found at our Practice Group Experience page.

Wilkinson Barker provides clients with assistance at all stages of a transaction, from due diligence to letters of intent, providing advice regarding legal and regulatory restrictions, structuring the transaction, documenting agreements, securing regulatory approvals, to closing and post-closing matters.  Our attorneys routinely work closely with carriers, investment bankers, lenders, securities advisors, in-house counsel and SEC counsel in connection with various transactions.

The firm provides representation that combines commercial transactional expertise with specialized communications law subject matter expertise, which assists clients in identifying and addressing regulatory issues.  This expertise enables us to assist companies with complex transactions that implicate the FCC’s foreign ownership limitations, licensing and designated entity rules, as well as intercarrier arrangements that have a direct impact on carriers’ bottom lines, such as contracts for traffic exchange, roaming, infrastructure sharing, spectrum leasing, equipment supply, interconnection and transport services with domestic and international service providers.

Wilkinson Barker has played an integral role in many of the largest mergers and stock/asset transactions to occur in the wireless, wireline and media industries in recent years.  In addition, the firm regularly assists clients with strategic acquisitions and the disposition of core regulated assets.

Representative clients include:

  • AT&T
  • American Messaging Services
  • ATN International, Inc
  • Bank of America
  • Bonneville International Corporation
  • Centennial Communications
  • Citigroup
  • CoBank
  • Comcast
  • Crossroads Wireless
  • Equinix
  • Global Tower Partners
  • Grant Communications
  • Intel
  • Iridium
  • Lazard Alternative Investments
  • Merrill Lynch
  • Mobilitie
  • NBC Universal
  • NENA
  • Palladium Equity Partners
  • Providence Equity Partners
  • Samsung
  • T-Mobile
  • Velocita Wireless
  • Verizon Wireless
  • Wachovia Bank
  • Windstream