Brian McKenna provides sophisticated transactional counseling to public and private companies, private equity and venture capital investors, financial institutions, family offices, and sovereign wealth funds on a global basis.
Brian’s practice emphasizes M&A and investment transactions, from public and private M&A to private equity-driven leveraged buyouts, add-ons, secondaries, and co-investment transactions. Over the course of his career, he has advised many market-leading sponsors, including Apollo Global Management, Clayton Dubilier & Rice, D.E. Shaw, HarbourVest, One Equity Partners, Palladium Equity Partners, Raine, Stone Point Capital and Temasek, among others, on investments and portfolio company matters in a range of sectors, including financial services, technology, media, industrials and industrial technology, and agriculture. He is well-versed in cross-border transactions, having spent several years resident in Hong Kong leading significant deals across Asia and Europe.
He is especially fluent in the financial services industry, drawing on substantial experience advising regulated incumbent financial institutions, high-growth companies, and sector-focused investors across specialty finance, insurance and insurance services, marketplace lending and loan origination platforms, wealth management and registered investment advisors, consumer reporting, payments, and strategic investments by regulated depositories. And he has been immersed in fintech issues for more than a decade, counseling established financial services firms and disruptive innovators alike.
Brian’s professional background includes serving as outside general counsel for a publicly traded company, including through a merger with a financial technology company. This experience informs Brian’s practical, wide-lens approach to problem-solving, ability to distill complex issues, and solutions-oriented support of in-house clients.
- Sembcorp Marine Ltd. in its US$6.29 billion merger with Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd.
- Support.com (NASDAQ: SPRT) in its stock-for-stock merger with Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc.
- Atlas Copco Group AB in its acquisition of Perceptron, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRCP)
- Wilbur-Ellis in its acquisition of F.L. Emmert
- Financial investor in The Carlyle Group’s US$1.8 billion acquisition of a controlling interest in Fortitude Re from AIG
- Financial investor in its acquisition of a portfolio of financial technology assets in the loan origination and consumer reporting sectors
- Global payments company in its acquisitions of payment processing and financial technology businesses
- Insurance technology business in matters relating to the digital distribution of third-party financial products
- Real estate-focused private equity sponsor in its sale of a significant stake in itself to a financial services-focused private equity sponsor
- A merchant bank in the formation of media-focused investment platform
- Alibaba Group in its sale of a US$1.6 billion stake to investors including Silver Lake, DST Global, and Temasek
- American International Group and AIA Group Limited in AIA’s spin-off from AIG and US$20.5 billion initial public offering
- Global investment bank in its strategic arrangements with a financial technology company
- Raine Group as the lead financial advisor in the US$21+ billion merger between WWE and Endeavor Group
Admissions
Bar Admissions
- New York
- Hong Kong (Registered Foreign Lawyer)
Education
- Cornell Law School, J.D., 2005
- Brown University, B.A., Philosophy and History, 2001; magna cum laude, with honors