Richard B. Holbrook Jr., Partner Washington, D.C.
rholbrook@crowell.com
Phone: +1 202.508.8779
1001 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20004-2595

Richard B. Holbrook, Jr. is a partner in Crowell & Moring's Corporate Group. Mr. Holbrook represents financial institutions, high-tech companies, government contractors and other corporations on mergers and acquisitions, investments, joint ventures, and corporate transactions. He also has extensive experience with the formation of and investments into investment funds (both sponsors and limited partners) and a wide variety of commercial and corporate agreements, including joint venture agreements, IT-related services agreements, supply agreements and trademark licenses. Mr. Holbrook advises on matters relating to commodity futures law, including relating to commodity pool operators and commodity trading advisors.

Representative transactions that Mr. Holbrook has handled or assisted with include:

M&A and Joint Ventures

  • ForceX, a government contractor, in its sale to L-3 Communications.
  • A government contractor in connection with the formation of several joint ventures.
  • OpenText Corporation, a NASDAQ and Toronto Stock Exchange listed provider of information technology, in connection with its acquisitions of EasyLink Services International Corporation (a NASDAQ-listed provider of business messaging and transaction services), Informative Graphics Corp., Global360, MetaStorm and Streamserve.
  • Nortel Networks in its sale of its worldwide Alteon Layer 4-7 business.
  • Nortel Networks in its acquisition of PEC Solutions.
  • Citigroup in its acquisition of Lava Trading Inc.
  • BAE Systems in various M&A transactions.
  • SecureWave, a Luxembourg company, in its sale to PatchLink Corporation (now Lumension).
  • A software company in its acquisition of assets and the formation of a joint venture to develop software for the public health sector.
  • A NYSE-listed insurance company in its acquisition of a health management company.
  • A NYSE-listed insurance company in its buy-out of a specialty pharmacy joint venture with another NYSE-listed company.
  • A London Stock Exchange-listed company in its acquisition of a commodity futures and OTC financial products company.
  • Kobe Steel and Kobelco Construction Machinery in a global alliance and related asset and share acquisitions and dispositions, technology licensing arrangements, joint venture arrangements and supply arrangements with another construction equipment manufacturer in a transaction spanning Japan, the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, Australia, The Netherlands, Germany, Shanghai and Singapore.
  • A luxury goods manufacturer in a joint venture with a Japanese trading company, including with respect to trademark arrangements, joint venture arrangements, share purchase arrangements and production and supply arrangements in Japan.
  • An information provider in a joint venture-like arrangement and database licensing arrangement in the Japanese OTC pharmaceutical market.
  • An Asian sovereign and several state-owned corporations vis-à-vis a syndicate of international banks in connection with the restructuring of a syndicated loan and the settlement of related arbitration.
  • A consortium of major specialty plastics manufacturers in the United States and Europe in the formation of a joint venture for online sales of specialty plastics.

FinTech, RegTech, Market Structure and Financial Services

  • JPMorgan and Euclid Opportunities (NEX) in their investment in OpenFin.
  • Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Pivot Investment Partners and DRW Holdings in their investment in Droit Financial Technologies.
  • Goldman Sachs in connection with the spin-off of its REDI business (a software-based execution management system business) and the related investment by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Bank, Citadel Securities, BNP Paribas, and Lightyear Capital into REDI.
  • Outside corporate counsel to The Green Exchange, a designated contract market (futures) that was a consortium among the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and other major market participants, including in connection with the sale of The Green Exchange to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
  • Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, Citadel Securities, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, TD AMERITRADE and UBS in their proposed purchase of a significant equity interest in NYSE Amex options, an options exchange operated by NYSE Euronext.
  • Goldman Sachs and Vernon & Park in their investment in UNX Holdings LLC.
  • NYSE Euronext in its acquisition of Wombat Financial Software, Inc.
  • Goldman Sachs in its investment in LinkedIn Corporation.
  • Goldman Sachs in its investment in FTEN, Inc.
  • Goldman Sachs in its investment in J.L. McGregor & Co.
  • Goldman Sachs in its investment in Quantitative Services Group, LLC.
  • Goldman Sachs in its investment in TrimTabs Investment Research, Inc.
  • Goldman Sachs in its investment in APX, Inc.
  • Goldman Sachs in its investment in Epocrates, Inc.
  • A secured lender during the out-of-court work-out of a NYSE listed computer equipment leasing company.

From 1998 until 2004, Mr. Holbrook was associated with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. While at Cleary Gottlieb, Mr. Holbrook spent more than three years in their Tokyo, Japan office. AsiaLaw recognized Mr. Holbrook as a leading lawyer in Japan for M&A and Corporate Finance in AsiaLaw's Leading Lawyers 2003.

Mr. Holbrook clerked for the Honorable Emilio M. Garza on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1997 to 1998. Mr. Holbrook is proficient in oral and written Japanese. He has lived and worked in Japan for more than five years.


Affiliations

Admitted to practice: District of Columbia, Georgia (inactive)



Highlights, News & Knowledge

Speeches & Presentations

  • "Coming to America: Corporate Law Considerations Applicable to Investments in the United States," International Law Institute (October 23, 2017). Speakers: Richard B. Holbrook Jr. and Jonathan Nesher.
  • "Selling Your Business: From Founding to Managing Sale Proceeds," Crowell & Moring Webinar (May 19, 2017). Presenters: Richard B. Holbrook Jr., David B. Robbins, Sam Garbia, Marc Marlin, and Rick Schultz.
  • "Private Equity in the Fintech Sector," Family Office & Private Equity Dealmakers Breakfast Series, New York, NY (October 6, 2016). Participants: Richard B. Holbrook, Jr. and Mitchell L. Rabinowitz.

Publications

  • "Proposed Margin Rules For Uncleared Swaps Will Be Costly," Law360 (October 14, 2014). Co-Authors: Richard B. Holbrook Jr., Jenny E. Cieplak, and Eric Edwards.
  • "Uncleared Swaps Margin Proposals: Issues for CCOs To Consider," Institutional Investor's Compliance Reporter (October 6, 2014). Co-Authors: Richard B. Holbrook Jr., Jenny E. Cieplak, and Mike Gill.
  • "Over a Barrel: Strategic Considerations for Investment Funds at the Crossroads of Antitrust and Securities Law," Bloomberg BNA – Antitrust & Trade Regulation Report, Vol. 103, No. 2579 (December 2012). Co-Authors: Richard C. Holbrook, Jr., Kelly G. Howard, Ryan Tisch, and Christie Stahlke.

Client Alerts & Newsletters


Firm News & Announcements

Oct.14.2016 Crowell & Moring Named a Top Firm for Serving Latin America by Latinvex
May.05.2016 Deal Note: Crowell & Moring’s Team Represents OpenText in its $100 Million Dollar Acquisition of ANXe Business Corp.
Oct.16.2015 Crowell & Moring Named a Top Arbitration Firm in Latin America by Latinvex