Brent Pietrafese

Practice Areas

Corporate and Finance

Mergers and Acquisitions, Divestitures and Sales

Wealth Management Law

Family Offices

Private Equity

Business and Fund Formation

Corporate Succession Planning

Commercial Contracts

Aviation Law

Emerging Companies and Venture Capital

Investment Management

Charitable Giving

Career

Brent helps clients consummate mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, and restructurings for a wide range of companies and industries. He has developed particular expertise in representing private equity firms, family offices and other financial investors in leveraged buyouts, investments and dispositions.

Brent's experience with private equity firms, family offices and investment funds helps him assist clients in capital formation matters, including venture and mezzanine capital and other private equity financing matters.

In addition, Brent provides day-to-day general corporate counseling to his clients and has extensive experience counseling clients on complex contract law matters, distributor and sales agent agreements, sales and purchasing contracts, and related terms and conditions of sale and purchase.

Brent joined Calfee in 2003, and he was elected Partner in 2012. He served as Vice Chair of the Corporate and Finance practice group (2022) and currently serves as Co-Chair of the Corporate and Finance practice group (2023-present).

Professional Memberships

Northeast Ohio Trusted Advisors Network, a professional networking group, Executive Committee Member

Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Member

Julie Billiart School, Emeritus Director, Past Chairman of the Board of Directors (2015-2019)

Claire’s Crusade, Executive Board Member

Investment Committee for Blue Coats, Member

Publications

"Steps to Help Initiate a Seamless and Profitable Sale," Crain's Cleveland Business (January 2019)

"Capturing Enterprise Value, Creating Legacy Through Business Transitions," Panelist (February 2019)

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Ohio

Experience

Represented a portfolio company of a private equity firm in its 2024 acquisition of a leading designer and manufacturer of rod ends and spherical bearings serving the aerospace, defense, and industrial markets.

Represented a multi-billion investment advisory firm in the 2024 sale of its business to a multi-billion dollar investment advisory firm.

Represented a private equity firm client in its 2024 acquisition of a leading manufacturer of customized, extruded elastomeric profiles for the automotive, heavy truck, and industrial markets owned by an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, which added legal and regulatory complexity to transaction documentation, structuring and negotiation. Due to significant equity co-investment by the lender to the transaction, closing the transaction required the drafting and negotiation of a bespoke agreement to govern the equity arrangements of the business on a go-forward basis. Equity documentation and structuring accommodated additional equity investment from outside the client's fund via a sidecar equity vehicle.

Represented a private equity firm in the 2023 acquisition of a custom plastic injection molder specializing in small, tight-tolerance parts and a technical injection molder serving the medical device, general industrial, defense, and green energy industries.

Served as lead counsel for a Fortune 1000 publicly owned food industry manufacturing company in its 2023 $60 million sale of a business to a publicly owned company.

Represented a portfolio company of a private equity firm client in a strategically significant acquisition in 2023 of an overhead door manufacturing leader that provided the client a foothold in the Western U.S. As part of the deal, Calfee also successfully negotiated a multi-lender financing, which required coordinating with the owners of seven leased distribution centers across four states.

Represented a portfolio company of a private equity firm in its acquisition of a designer and manufacturer of Ball Bearing Control (push-pull) cables and control systems based in the Northwest.

Represented a general aviation company in its 2023 sale of all equity interests of a business line to a private equity investment firm.

Represented an aviation company in its 2023 acquisition of a leading manufacturing company.

Education

Awards