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Results define us.

As Americans enter the "Great Wealth Transfer," with an estimated $84 trillion or more expected to pass to younger generations over the next two decades, family business owners face critical decisions regarding business succession and continuity. Here we outline four principal strategies for family business succession planning.

Financial Markets and Funds Global Chair Lance Zinman and Investment Management and Trading Co-Chair Christopher Shannon led the Katten team representing premier global financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald in its milestone acquisition of the renowned multi-strategy hedge fund platform UBS O'Connor.

In 2025, the deal environment in the UK and Europe re‑established a firmer footing, with values improving even as volumes lagged pre‑2021 highs. If macro stability and rate normalization persist, we anticipate a more active 2026. Periods of falling inflation and reduced volatility last year created capacity for dealmakers to re‑engage, and we expect that dynamic to carry forward into 2026, with greater confidence around financing, valuation bridges and buyer appetite. Against that backdrop, we set out below six themes we expect to define UK and European mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in 2026.

A Katten team led by Private Equity and M&A Partners Mark S. Solomon and Peter A. Bogdanow advised Highlander Partners, LP (Highlander), a Dallas-based private investment firm, in its acquisition of Tapatio, an iconic hot sauce brand.  Katten has a long-standing relationship with Highlander and has represented them in a number of acquisitions, including in the food and beverage manufacturing and distribution space.

Fashion houses trade in dreams, and often in names. But what happens when a famous designer leaves the label, and the business keeps using the designer’s surname as a trade mark?

The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in PMJC confirms that the continued use of a designer's surname as a trade mark by a successor company remains permissible following the designer's departure, provided that the way the trade mark is used does not mislead consumers into believing the designer is still creatively involved. While the mere separation of a designer from their eponymous brand is not, by itself, deceptive, the court emphasised that context matters. Advertising, visual presentation and the appropriation of a designer’s distinctive aesthetic, particularly where the designer’s copyright is infringed, may create a sufficiently serious risk of consumer deception.