Sadis & Goldberg LLP is one of New York’s leading financial services-focused law firms. The Financial Services Group is headed up by partner Ron Geffner (pictured) and consists of a team of 13 seasoned legal professionals. They routinely handle a diverse range of enquiries providing legal counsel to several hundred investment advisers, broker-dealers and commodity pool operators running hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds and separately managed accounts.
Reflecting on 2014, Geffner says that the matters undertaken in the Financial Services Group were more complex in nature when compared to prior years. “We believe this a direct result of the increased sophistication of our clients. While the commercial terms continue to evolve, the regulatory requirements continue to increase and investors have become more sophisticated,” says Geffner.
The Firm enjoyed further business growth last year from a variety of sources: assisting in corporate acquisition and divestiture, support for family office clients, risk reviews, documentation enhancements and agreements with principals and employees. Sadis & Goldberg’s client roster also grew, attracting a number of emerging and institutional managers, family offices and institutional investors.
In addition to the Financial Services Group, Sadis & Goldberg provides a full range of sophisticated legal services, including corporate transactions (acquisitions and divestitures), regulatory and compliance, tax, commercial and employment litigation and arbitration, corporate governance and shareholder activism, fiduciary duty law to derivative transactions, M&A litigation and appraisal rights, as well as investor due diligence.
The Firm’s Litigation Group secured a major litigation victory last September by recovering 195 per cent above the merger price between Orchard Enterprises Inc. and Dimensional Associates for all cashed-out stockholders, one being a prominent merger arbitrage fund. Sadis & Goldberg secured an USD10.25m settlement.
“It was a major victory for Sadis & Goldberg, and one of the largest cash settlements obtained in Delaware M&A litigation in 2014. The Firm did it by pushing the case forward, forcing the defendants into a very large settlement on the brink of trial. By using our sophisticated financial expertise, the Firm can help clients achieve better outcomes and significant returns through litigation and trial,” explains Sam Lieberman, a partner in the Firm’s litigation group.
Similarly, Sadis & Goldberg recently represented an appraisal rights arbitrage fund in a trial that resulted in a post-trial judgment of 128 per cent above the merger price.
“Sadis & Goldberg’s recent litigation victories for merger and appraisal arbitrage funds show how the Firm gives our clients an edge in the toughest cases. The Firm understands our clients’ businesses in order to achieve their goals in litigation,” states Geffner.
There are various positive factors in hedge funds’ favour. Traditional asset classes are perceived by many investors to be either overvalued or fairly valued, so investors in hedge funds are less likely to miss strong bull markets in either equities or credit. Also, the reduced competition from bank proprietary trading has benefits for hedge funds. This in turn is benefiting the Financial Services Group.
“Sadis & Goldberg has not only been intimately involved with the creation of various investment products, but also with many of the distribution models including seed transactions, acceleration capital, creation of hedge fund platforms, joint ventures, and the retention of third party marketers. Working with over 800 funds, we are actively involved in the most current legal trends in the industry,” confirms Geffner.
