Answers in the short run. Vision for the long haul.

Sports and Sports Facilities Partner Daniel H. Render led a Katten team in representing the new majority owners of the Charlotte Hornets in their acquisition of a controlling interest in the team from basketball superstar Michael Jordan. The complex, high-value, high-stakes transaction meant the end of Jordan's 13-year majority ownership of the team.

The buyer group was led by Gabe Plotkin, a hedge fund founder and manager, and Rick Schnall, a private equity firm president, and included rapper J. Cole and country music artist Eric Church, as well as Dan Sundheim, Chris Shumway, Ian Loring, Dyal HomeCourt Partners, Andrew Schwartzberg and local Charlotte-based investors Amy Dawson and Damian Mills.

In June of 2023, Northbrook, Illinois-based Pinstripes Inc., which at the time had 13 locations in eight states and Washington, DC, announced plans to go public with a large-scale expansion of its experiential dining and entertainment brand combining bistro, bowling, bocce and private event space. As part of its growth strategy, Pinstripes is filling holes left by disappearing big-box shopping mall anchors, revitalizing retail spaces with its brand of dining and entertainment and hosting events that range from company outings and birthday parties to weddings.

Tapped by Partner Christopher Atkinson, Co-Chair of Katten's Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice, Capital Markets Partner Mark Wood led the legal team that helped Pinstripes go public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Banyan Acquisition Corporation (Banyan). The deal, which closed at the end of 2023, valued Pinstripes at approximately $380 million, based upon a value of $10 ascribed to each SPAC share. The transaction included an equity investment of over $20 million directly in Pinstripes by Middleton Partners, a Chicago-based investment firm, and a debt investment of $50 million in the combined company by Oaktree Capital Management. The deal closed on schedule, with Pinstripes' common stock commencing trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on January 2, 2024.

Financial Markets and Funds attorneys Carl Kennedy, James Brady, and Gary DeWaal led the team successfully guiding KOR — a trade data processing and management platform for derivatives markets — in its registration application with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The approval marked several firsts, the first registration for an independent and cloud-native swap data repository (SDR); the CFTC's first SDR registered in eight years; and the first SDR registration approval by the CFTC since the agency amended its SDR rules in 2020. The registration enabled KOR to provide full SDR service for all asset classes and client segments.

KOR claims it has created a uniquely modern, user friendly approach to complying with reporting obligations.

Zia F. Modabber, Managing Partner of Katten’s California offices and leader of Katten’s Entertainment and Media Litigation practice, Partner Tami Kameda Sims and Associate Leah E.A. Solomon, along with co-counsel at Kinsella Weitzman and Greines Martin, successfully represented Michael Jackson’s Estate in a seven-year long dispute over royalties from Jackson’s albums Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad.