M&A Trends After the 2017 Tax Reform

David Birke serves as co-chair of Akerman’s M&A and Private Equity Practice Group. David’s practice focuses on representing private equity funds, family offices and their portfolio companies in complex acquisitions, divestitures, recapitalizations, restructurings, growth capital investments, and debt and equity financings. Prior to joining Akerman, David was a member of the corporate group of an international law firm, where his practice focused on mergers and acquisitions, primarily for private equity firms and their portfolio companies. Before practicing law, David was a certified public accountant with Arthur Andersen, where he advised clients in the healthcare, waste management, technologies, manufacturing, and hospitality industries.

Mr. Shows is a member of Houlihan Lokey’s Transaction Advisory Services practice, specializing in M&A tax services. He is a transactional attorney with experience in domestic and cross-border tax due diligence, tax structuring for both private equity and corporate clients, and  bankruptcy/restructuring tax planning.

Before joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Shows was in the M&A tax groups of Ernst & Young, LLP and KPMG, LLP, where he was a member of due diligence teams and worked closely with corporate and tax counsel to resolve acquisition structure and deal issues. Through his work at both Ernst & Young and KPMG, Mr. Shows has significant experience in transactional tax planning. 

 Mr. Shows holds a B.B.A and J.D. from the University of Mississippi and an LL.M. (Tax) from the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas.

Brian co-founded Harbor Beach Capital in 2016, a private equity firm focused on investments in the lower middle market. He has over 20 years of investing, merger & acquisition and corporate finance experience. Prior to founding Harbor Beach Capital, Brian served as Managing Director at Sun Capital Partners, a global private equity firm focused on investing in lower and middle market companies. While at Sun Capital, Brian completed over 25 transactions for businesses across multiple industries, including industrial, consumer, retail, services, automotive & heavy-duty, financial services, packaging, chemicals, and healthcare. His investment activities included control buyout transactions, as well as non-control recapitalization transactions. Brian also completed ongoing work with portfolio companies, including the strategic planning, operational reviews, management recruiting, serving on the boards of directors, financing and restructuring needs, add-on acquisitions and exit transactions. Prior to Sun Capital, Brian was a Vice President in the Corporate Finance group at Stephens, Inc., where he led a number of capital raising and merger & acquisition transactions. Prior to Stephens, Inc., Brian served as a Vice President with the investment banking group at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., and as Manager of Corporate Development with AutoNation, Inc.

Ryan is a Managing Director in H.I.G. Capital’s Miami office. He is responsible for all aspects of the investment process including sourcing, transaction structuring, financing and executing post-closing growth, operational, and add-on acquisition strategies.

Ryan has over ten years of private equity and investment banking experience. Prior to joining H.I.G., Ryan was an Associate and then Vice President at the middle-market private equity firm Quad-C Management. He began his career as an Analyst in the Financial Sponsors Group at Credit Suisse.

Ryan received his B.B.A. from the University of Michigan and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.