MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS • CORPORATE, BUSINESS & BANKING • FOOD & BEVERAGE
Kenneth R. Charette stands out as the chair of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions (“M&A”) and Food & Beverage groups. As chair of the M&A group, clients rely on Ken to guide them through complex business transactions, including, without limitation, “Buy-Side” and “Sell-Side” matters, investment transactions, strategic partnerships, and other similar matters. Clients value his practical, business-focused, approach that emphasizes efficiency and facilitation of the transaction while working to protect his clients’ interests. He routinely represents privately held businesses in eight and nine-figure strategic and/or private equity transactions. He also represents private equity/venture capital firms, family offices, angel investors and emerging brands in various investment and/or capital raise matters. His clients span a variety of industries, with a particular focus on food and beverage.
Outside of his M&A focus, Ken also regularly serves as “outside in-house counsel” to his clients regarding various contractual or transactional matters, allowing him to better serve those clients by gaining a greater understanding of their respective businesses. This consolidated role allows him to leverage his comprehensive legal experience to support clients’ strategic goals and navigate complex legal landscapes.
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
- Represented a leading supplier of electrical motors and generators to the US Military in connection with the strategic acquisition of a key vendor
- Represented a strategic investment group in connection with an investment in a sports hydration brand that is affiliated with various PGA and LPGA athletes
- Represented a cryogenic instrument, vessel, and piping company in connection with the sale of its business to an internationally recognized strategic buyer
- Represented an innovative venture capital firm, with a one-of-its-kind “scale-up” facility that was purposefully built for food, beverage and pet companies in connection with numerous portfolio company investments and general transactional matters
- Represented a prominent wood pallet manufacturing and recycling provider in connection to the sale of the business and related real estate to a national, private-equity-backed, buyer
- Represented a private equity group in connection with updating its organizational documents and implementing an equity incentive plan
- Represented an engineering firm in the sale of the business to a national acquirer
- Represented an investment advisory firm in the sale of the business to a national acquirer
- Represented Hidden Meadows on the Ridge Senior Living Community in connection with the sale of its personal care and memory care facilities
- Represented various emerging brands in connection with the negotiation of endorsement arrangements with various celebrities and professional athletes, including, without limitation, recording artists, professional basketball players, professional football players, professional soccer players, professional golfers, Olympic athletes, collegiate athletes, and social media influencers
- Represented an innovative confectionery company in connection with multiple capital raises and general transactional matters
- Represented Computer Designs, Inc. (and various affiliated entities) in the sale of its thermoforming business to Nelipack Corporation, which involved facilities in three states and Puerto Rico
- Represented Signallamp Health Inc., a pioneer in providing remotely embedded nurse care managers to physicians, in connection with the structuring, negotiation, and completion of: (i) its Series A financing with Sopris Capital, a venture capital firm; and (ii) its Series B financing with a prominent regional health network
- Represented physicians in the acquisition of a multi-specialty pain management practice and related real estate
- Represented the buyer in connection with the acquisition of two FCC-licensed A.M. radio stations
- Represented a regional early learning company in the sale of its multi-location business to an international, private equity-backed, strategic buyer
- Represented a regional food production company in connection with the sale of its business, and related real estate, to a private equity-backed strategic buyer
- Represented an internationally recognized camera and medical device company with multiple tax-free internal reorganizations
- Represented a regional health network in connection with forming a hospital-physician joint venture ambulatory surgery center (ASC) project. The ASC project involved, among other items, providing advice with transaction structure, helping the client navigate a complex regulatory framework, and conducting a private equity raise pursuant to Regulation D, Rule 506
- Represented a strategic investment firm in connection with a Seed-Preferred Investment in a Canadian corporation
- Represented numerous clients in connection with selling or acquiring various franchise businesses (e.g., automotive vehicle dealerships, restaurants, etc.)
- Represented Signallamp Health, Inc., a leading provider of remote chronic care management services to the healthcare industry, in its merger with Accuhealth, a Sunstone Partners portfolio company
- Represented BioMed Sciences, Inc., a wound care and scare management company, in the sale of its manufacturing assets and know-how to Wacker Chemical, a German multinational company
- Represented a distributor of underground, pole line and aerial tools, fiber optic cable, and materials to customers in the telecommunications, fiber optic, construction and maintenance industries to a national strategic buyer
EDUCATION
- The University of Cambridge, LL.M (Cambridge, England)
- Member of the University’s BUIHA Division 1 Ice Hockey Team
- The Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law, J.D., summa cum laude
- Comments Editor: The Penn State Law Review
- Woolsack Honor Society
- Michigan State University, B.A. (East Lansing, MI)
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
HONORS & AFFILIATIONS
- Named one of “Forty Under 40”, Lehigh Valley Business, 2020
- Selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers – Rising Star Edition, 2019 – 2023
CLERKSHIPS
- Summer Law Clerk for Chief Justice Robert P. Young, Jr., The Michigan Supreme Court (Detroit, Michigan)
- Legal Intern at The United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (The Hague, Netherlands)
- Legal Intern at the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, Bureau of Consumer Protection (State College, Pennsylvania)
COMMUNITY ACTIVITY
- Phoebe Ministries, Treasurer, Board of Directors, 2023 – Present
- Phoebe Ministries, Chair, Audit, Finance and Investment Committee, Member, 2019 – Present
- Center for Humanistic Change, Inc., Board of Directors, Past Member and Vice-President
CALL DIRECT
610-797-9000, ext. 366
ASSISTANT INFORMATION
Michele Novak
610-797-9000, ext. 310
