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Experience and Background
Craig L. Godshall is a partner in the corporate and securities, private equity, and mergers and acquisitions groups. He handles public and private transactions across a wide range of industries, including healthcare, industrial, and utilities. Mr. Godshall represents strategic buyers and sellers such as American Water Works, AmerisourceBergen Corporation, Arkema, and Interlogix. In addition, he structures complex domestic and international transactions on behalf of leading private equity fund sponsors, like Court Square Capital Partners II, L.P. and Citigroup Venture Capital Equity Partners, L.P., with a focus on accomplishing successful exits. In many cases, Mr. Godshall represents the portfolio companies of his fund sponsor clients, including Arizant, MSX International, IWCO Direct, and Palomar Technologies, in their add-on acquisitions, divestitures, and financings. In addition, he has advised SPACs and potential sellers to SPACs on the dynamics and issues in selling to a SPAC.
In addition, Mr. Godshall is actively involved in developing Dechert's Asian corporate and securities practice, working closely with lawyers in our Hong Kong and Beijing offices. His primary areas of concentration are private equity and mergers and acquisitions with a particular focus on cross-border transactions involving the United States.
Mr. Godshall has been designated a top lawyer in corporate/M&A and private equity transactions in the 2007, 2008, and 2009 editions of Chambers USA, a referral guide to leading lawyers in the United States, which has cited him for his "all-around knowledge of corporate transactions" and the "quality of his intellect and argument." He has also been listed in The Legal 500 (U.S.) and in The Best Lawyers in America.
Bar Admissions
- Member, Pennsylvania Bar
- Registered Foreign Lawyer, Hong Kong
Significant Representations
Notable transactions Mr. Godshall has handled on behalf of strategic and private equity clients include:
-- Citigroup Venture Capital Equity Partners, L.P. in its $1.05 billion sale of Euramax International Inc. to Goldman Sachs Capital Partners
-- AmeriSource Health Corp. in its $3.7 billion merger of equals transaction with Bergen Brunswig Corp. to form AmerisourceBergen Corp.
-- Court Square Capital Partners II, L.P. in its acquisition of Mosaic Sales Solutions from JLL Partners Funds IV, L.P.
-- Arkema SA in its 111 million Euro sale of Cerexagri Group to India-based United Phosphorus Ltd
-- Shermen WSC Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), in its $268 million acquisition of the Westway bulk liquid storage and liquid animal supplement businesses of ED&F Man Holdings Limited
-- Citigroup Venture Capital Equity Partners, LP in its $410 million acquisition of Southern Graphic Systems from Alcoa and its $380 million acquisition of Western Dental Services, Inc.
Mr. Godshall has participated in securities offerings of both equity and debt. Representative transactions include:
-- AmerisourceBergen Corporation in its $900 million Rule 144A offering of senior notes
-- MSX International, Inc. in its $205 million Rule 144A offering of senior secured notes issued by its French, German, and UK subsidiaries
-- Euramax International, Inc. in its $200 million Rule 144A offering of senior subordinated notes
-- SGS International, Inc. in its $200 million Rule 144A offering of senior subordinated notes
Mr. Godshall has also handled debt tender offers in connection with corporate restructuring for companies, including AmerisourceBergen Corporation, Euramax International, and Royster-Clark.
Education
Columbia College, B.A., 1980, Phi Beta Kappa
University of Michigan, J.D., 1983, M.A. in economics, 1985, Order of the Coif, member of the University of Michigan Law Review
Publications and Lectures
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