Steven R. Shoemate is a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Mr. Shoemate is a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee, and previously served as Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Private Equity Practice.
Mr. Shoemate is a corporate transactional lawyer whose practice includes extensive private equity and public and private mergers and acquisitions representations, growth equity investments, public and private securities offerings, corporate governance and general corporate counseling. He is ranked among the top private equity and mergers and acquisitions lawyers by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Legal 500 and The Best Lawyers in America®. He was also named as one of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America. In Chambers USA, Mr. Shoemate is noted as an “expert in corporate, M&A and securities matters” who is “a very savvy lawyer and highly commercial – having him on your side is incredibly productive”; he has the “rare ability to present a balanced perspective and find a way to negotiate a fair outcome”; his approach is “practical, thoughtful and creative when it comes to problem solving”; and he “gives a unique view on critical issues,” “excels at balancing competing interests in the most complicated deals,” is “able to marshal the experts within his firm” and is “an exceptionally good negotiator and he has a good understanding of the business side of things.”
Mr. Shoemate’s private equity investor representations include L Catterton, TPG, Trilantic Capital Partners, Oaktree Capital Management, Morgan Stanley, Verlinvest, Eurazeo and Harkness Capital, among others. Transactions for private equity clients include leveraged acquisitions, going-private transactions, club deals and recapitalizations.
Mr. Shoemate’s corporate clients include General Electric, Marsh & McLennan, Coeur Mining, Monro, Inc, Summit Materials and Noodles & Company. Transactions for corporate clients include public mergers, tender offers, exchange offers, joint ventures and a variety of cross-border transactions.
Mr. Shoemate received his Juris Doctor with high honors in 1988 from Duke University, where he was a member of the Duke Law Journal and the Duke chapter of the Order of the Coif. Mr. Shoemate received his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting, graduating cum laude from Lehigh University in 1985.
Mr. Shoemate is a member of the New York Bar.
Representative Transactions
- L Catterton in connection with:
- its sale of StriVectin, an independent prestige skincare company, to Crown Laboratories.
- Its “PIPE” investment in NCL Corporation Ltd., a subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.
- its $150 million strategic minority investment in Function of Beauty, a leading creator of customizable hair, skin and body care products.
- its acquisition of Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group in a going-private transaction.
- its acquisition of Uncle Julio’s, a chain of casual Mexican restaurants.
- its sale of Ferrara Candy Company to The Ferrero Group, a global chocolate confectionary company.
- its sale of Baccarat, a designer and manufacturer of luxury crystal products.
- its sale of ClearChoice, a national network of providers delivering same-day dental implant services, to Sun Capital Partners.
- its acquisition of MedCenterDisplay, a provider of digital signage, mobile apps and digital marketing solutions for hospitals, by portfolio company PatientPoint LLC.
- the sale of its remaining stake in portfolio company Nature’s Variety, a provider of premium natural pet foods, to Agrolimen, a manufacturer of consumer goods in the food and pet food industries.
- its acquisition of John Hardy, a luxury designer jewelry brand.
- TPG Growth Partners in connection with:
- its acquisition of Q-Centrix, a provider of outsourced data management solutions for hospital and healthcare providers, from Sterling Partners, an investment management firm.
- its acquisition of Dreambox Learning, an online software provider focused on mathematics education at the elementary and middle school levels, by TPG Growth Partner’s RISE Fund, and its subsequent sale to Evergreen Coast Capital Corp.
- Oak Hill Capital Partners in connection with its $750 million sale of portfolio company Jacobson Companies, a third-party logistics firm, to Norbert Dentressangle, an air, sea and land transportation and logistics company.
- Trilantic Capital Partners in connection with:
- its acquisition of Sunbelt Transformer, a provider of power solutions, equipment and services to commercial industrial and utility end markets, from Solomon Corporation.
- its $475 million sale of United Subcontractors Inc. to TopBuild, an installer and distributor of insulation products to the construction industry.
- its equity investment in United Subcontractors, Inc.
- its acquisition of a minority interest in Highgate Hotels.
- Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. in connection with:
- its acquisition of Huron’s life sciences strategy consulting practice, by Oliver Wyman, a business unit of Marsh & McLennan.
- its sale of Marsh ClearSight, a provider of risk, safety and claims software and services and a business unit of Marsh & McLennan, to Riskonnect, a developer of integrated risk management solutions.
- its acquisition of Wortham Insurance, an independent insurance brokerage firm.
- its acquisition of Dovetail Insurance, a developer of a cloud-based technology platform enabling insurance solutions.
- its acquisition of SeaFire Insurance Services, an underwriter of property/casualty insurance for the auto dealership and auto repair market.
- its acquisition of International Catastrophe Insurance Managers (ICAT), a managing general agent which provides property catastrophe insurance to businesses and homeowners.
- its acquisition of Torrent Technologies, a service provider to Write Your Own (WYO) insurers participating in the National Flood Insurance Program.
- Eurazeo North America Inc. in connection with:
- its acquisition of Waterloo Sparkling Water Corporation, a manufacturer of flavored sparkling water products.
- its investment in Q Mixers, a premium carbonated mixer brand.
- its growth equity investment in Bandier Holdings, a women’s luxury activewear retailer.
- Morgan Stanley’s Tactical Value Fund in connection with its investment in NN Inc., a diversified industrial company.
- U.S. Concrete, Inc., a leading supplier of aggregates and ready-mixed concrete, in connection with its $1.29 billion merger with Vulcan Materials Company, a leading producer of construction aggregates.
- its acquisition of Day Concrete Block Company, a manufacturer of cement block products, and Hodges Materials, a ready-mix concrete company.
- its acquisition of Price Construction & Laredo Paving, an aggregates, asphalt and construction services company in the West Texas region.
- its acquisition of Mertens Construction Company, a pure-play aggregates and ready-mix concrete company.
- its acquisition of Metro Ready Mix, an aggregates and ready-mix concrete company.
- its acquisition of Great Southern Ready Mix, Great Southern Stabilized and Southern Cement Slurry.
- its acquisition of Glasscock Company and Glasscock Logistics.
- its acquisition of Columbia Silica Sand and Columbia Aggregates.
- its acquisition of Ready Mix Concrete of Somerset, a cement and concrete manufacturer.
- its acquisition of Sandidge Concrete, a ready-mix concrete business.
- Heineken N.V. in connection with:
- its acquisition of The Lagunitas Brewing Company, a California-based craft brewer.
- its sale of its packaging business, Empaque, to Crown Holdings, a manufacturer of consumer packaging for food and beverage products.
- General Electric Capital Corporation in connection with:
- its sale of an approximately $1 billion portfolio of energy infrastructure assets to funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management.
- its $1.1 billion sale of GE’s equipment lending and leasing business in Mexico to Linzor Capital Partners.
- its $16 billion sale of GE Capital Bank’s U.S. online deposit platform to Goldman Sachs Bank USA.
- its $7.5 billion acquisition of the U.S. retail deposit business of MetLife by GE Capital’s wholly-owned bank affiliate, GE Capital Financial.
- Coeur Mining, Inc. in connection with:
- its acquisition of the Lincoln Hill Project, Wilco Project, Gold Ridge Property and other claims from Alio Gold, a gold mining company.
- its acquisition of Northern Empire Resources, a gold exploration and development company.
- the sale of Empresa Minera Manquiri, the owner and operator of the San Bartolome Mine and processing facility in Bolivia, to Argentum Investments.
- its acquisition of the Wharf Mine in South Dakota, from Goldcorp.
- its acquisition of Paramount Gold and Silver Corporation.
- its acquisition of Orko Silver, a gold and silver mining company.
- Altour International, Inc., a travel management company, in a sale to Travel Leaders.
- Verlinvest S.A. in connection with its sale of Sir Kensington’s, a food and condiment manufacturer, to Unilever North America.
- PatientPoint LLC in connection with its merger with Outcome Health.
- Alert 360 in connection with its merger with My Alarm Center.
Capabilities
Credentials
Education:
- Duke University - 1988 Juris Doctor
- Lehigh University - 1985 Bachelor of Science
Admissions:
- New York Bar