Back to News
Mergers & Acquisitions

Drinks With The Deal: Squire Patton Boggs' James Barresi

|
Published: November 18th, 2021
James Barresi, who heads the firm's financial services practice, explains how his time as an in-house lawyer at US Bancorp in the 1990s has shaped his approach to private practice and how he works with clients considering a deal.

A stint as an in-house lawyer at US Bancorp (USB) in the 1990s shaped the way James Barresi thinks about financial services M&A, he said on this week’s Drinks With The Deal podcast. Barresi, who heads the financial services practice at Squire Patton Boggs LLP, said that former US Bancorp CEOs Jerry Grundhofer and Richard Davis taught him about “the business side of those transactions and understanding the strategic importance of evaluating a transaction, and that the hard work begins after closing when you have to integrate.”

Barresi, who worked with Sterling Bancorp (STL) earlier this year on a pending $10 billion merger of equals with Webster Financial Corp. (WBS), has brought those lessons to his work as an outside adviser. He’s built his team of lawyers at Squire Patton Boggs to include people with in-house and regulatory experience, and the group is “very much focused on becoming part of the internal team,” which includes doing due diligence with an awareness of the client’s concerns and what issues may be especially important in post-closing integration.

“You have to be careful about what deals you do in this space, because you don’t have an unlimited supply of arrows in your quiver,” Barresi said. “Regulators will only allow you to grow so far so fast. So it’s very, very important in analyzing a strategic transaction to understand how it fits into your strategic plan and what it might do to disqualify you from a future deal.”

Here’s the podcast:

More podcasts from The Deal are available on iTunesSpotify and on TheDeal.com.

More From Mergers & Acquisitions

Mergers & Acquisitions

Dow Considers Options for Infrastructure Assets

By Tom Terrarosa
|
Published: December 6th, 2023
The company is working with two bulge-bracket advisers to build a potential sale process around Gulf Coast infrastructure that sources said could amount to around $5 billion.
Mergers & Acquisitions

Resetting Expectations for IFF's Pharma Exit

By Tom Terrarosa
|
Published: December 5th, 2023
The chemicals conglomerate is said to need a deal for its pharma business, but the market may deliver it a disappointment on valuation.
Mergers & Acquisitions

Talking M&A: Competition Complexities

By The Deal Contributors
|
Published: November 20th, 2023
Following a number of crackdowns from global competition regulators, Baker McKenzie partners Duffy Lorenz and Creighton Macy share their experiences, insights and advice for clients looking to run a smooth deal process and minimize unexpected antitrust curveballs.