ABOUT
Mark Johnson counsels US and international companies on corporate and securities matters as a Partner at K&L Gates. His practice focuses on corporate finance, corporate governance, and mergers and acquisitions.
Corporate Finance
Mr. Johnson has extensive experience representing issuers, underwriters and placement agents, and investors in financings by companies in a variety of industries, with a recent focus on information technology. His public offering experience includes initial public offerings, follow-on equity offerings and secondary offerings by principal stockholders, as well as registered offerings of convertible, investment grade and high-yield debt. He has completed approximately 125 public offerings of equity and debt securities, including more than 30 initial public offerings. His public offering experience includes representation of many leading investment banks, including Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P.Morgan and Morgan Stanley. He also has acquired considerable experience in private placements of equity and debt securities, including not only venture capital and private equity placements but also PIPE, Rule 144A and Regulation S offerings.
Corporate Governance
Mr. Johnson plays an active role in providing ongoing advice to assist clients in complying with existing corporate governance requirements and implementing appropriate best practices. He assists each of his clients in addressing newly issued or emerging corporate governance requirements through board and management presentations targeted to the client’s specific needs. For example, he leads periodic management “teach-ins” in which he and other firm attorneys address trending issues (recently, issues under the Dodd-Frank Act, the JOBS Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act), as well as employee information sessions addressing concerns such as social media usage and securities trading.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Mr. Johnson also has broad experience in counseling public and private companies in a variety of M&A transactions, including stock mergers, cash mergers, asset sales, management buy-outs and proxy contests. His experience includes more than 75 buy- and sell-side M&A transactions.
