Willding's Move to Stinson Highlighted in The Texas Lawbook

06.14.2024

Stinson LLP Partner John Willding is featured in a Texas Lawbook article, "Dallas Dealmaker John Willding Jumps to Stinson." The article highlights Willding's decision to join the firm's corporate finance practice, recent deals he's handled as well as current trends in middle-market mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

"I joined Stinson because of its world-class corporate finance practice and great Midwest culture. Stinson has the talent and client base of a Wall Street firm yet is purposefully 'mid-sized' with about 450 lawyers," Willding said. "We are able to execute on sophisticated deal work at competitive rates, which is why we are the firm of choice for national companies' most critical matters."

Willding also highlights trends, including the significant pickup in middle-market M&A deals across industries like technology, manufacturing and health care, as well as increased fund formation and real estate joint venture work. In addition, Willding outlines his expectations for deal activity for the rest of the year.

"I'm optimistic because the pipeline of deals is growing across multiple industries despite this being a presidential election year, which typically causes some sellers to pause, wait and see where tax and monetary policy goes," Willding noted. "This time, however, interest rates are so high that alternative deal structures have been tried and established and that, along with more realistic seller expectations on valuations, have allowed deals to move forward as most believe that rates are going to come down instead of go up for the first time in recent years."

Willding has more than 20 years of corporate and securities experience, including significant experience advising boards of directors with respect to corporate governance and fiduciary duties. He frequently serves as lead counsel for buyers and sellers in mergers and acquisitions and assists clients with the establishment and operation of private equity funds. Willding also has extensive experience representing investment managers and their sponsors and advising real estate developers and their capital partners in the negotiation of joint venture agreements.

News of Willding's move to Stinson is also featured in recent Law360 and Texas Lawyer articles.

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