William E. Doran

Counseled and assisted numerous public and private companies, having sales ranging from $1 to $700 million, as their primary legal advisor dealing with a wide variety of business, legal, regulatory and financial matters.

Represented HighTower, one of the nation’s largest Registered Investment Advisors, in a recapitalization agreement under which private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (THL) acquired a significant stake in HighTower, and certain existing institutional investors sold their equity interests in HighTower. THL also committed to investing an additional $100 million of new growth equity capital after the closing.

Structured the formation and dismantling of domestic and international joint ventures and alliances.

Representing HighTower Holding in its acquisition of Wealth Trust, a Houston-based RIA aggregator, with over $6 billion in client assets.

Represented SpringBig Holdings, Inc. (“springbig”) (NASDAQ: SBIG), a leading provider of SaaS-based marketing solutions, consumer mobile app experiences, and omnichannel loyalty programs to the cannabis industry, in the closing of a public offering of 13,061,014 shares of its common stock at an at-the-market public offering price of $0.3037. The offering raised approximately $3 million in gross cash proceeds and, in addition, approximately $1.0 million of existing convertible notes were cancelled in exchange for shares in the offering at the public offering price, which springbig intends to use for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Represented springbig, the largest loyalty and marketing automation platform to serve the cannabis Industry, in entering into a definitive agreement for a $500 million de-SPAC transaction resulting in springbig being listed on Nasdaq through a merger with Tuatara Capital Acquisition Corporation. The merger accelerated springbig’s visions to serve cannabis brands by consolidating a highly fragmented cannabis technology ecosystem across loyalty, data analytics, advertising, and other areas influencing consumer experience and marketing effectiveness.

Represented California cannabis company The Parent Co. its acquisition of dispensary and delivery company Coastal Holding Company for stock consideration. 

Represented the buyer in its acquisition of a controlling interest in a manufacturer of dietary supplements.

Represented the Seller in its stock sale of its broker-dealer and registered investment advisory business to a leading independent private financial services firm.

Represented Panopta, a SaaS provider of network monitoring, in its sale to Fortinent (NASDAQ: FTNT).

Represented a Missouri and California cannabis operator in a $25 million equity private placement.

Represented a Midwest regional vertically integrated cannabis operator in numerous acquisitions and joint ventures.

Represented Caliva, a leading California vertically integrated cannabis company, it its combination with Subversive Capital Acquisition Corp. (NEO:Gram.U), the largest cannabis SPAC and largest Canadian SPAC to date.

Represented PharmaCann, one of the country’s largest vertically integrated cannabis companies, as lead counsel on a $25 million senior secured convertible loan facility secured by Illinois medical and adult use dispensary assets.

Represented Caliva, a direct-to-consumer cannabis brand, as real estate counsel in its acquisition of multiple licensed cannabis operations and several newly awarded dispensary licenses, all in California.

Represented Umpqua Holdings Corporation in the sale of its wealth management business operated through Umpqua Investments, Inc. to Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC.

​Represented Millpond Equity Partners in its acquisition of Futuri Media, a provider of SaaS technology offering end-to-end audience engagement and sales tools for radio broadcasters, TV stations, and publishers.

​Represented Slate Capital in its acquisition of Horizon Facilities, a provider of staffing services to rental car companies.