Michael C. Cohen is a partner in Morrison & Foerster’s Los Angeles office and head of the office’s Corporate Practice Group. His practice involves a broad range of corporate, real estate and other business transactions, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, private equity, general outside counsel representation, and real estate transactions.
Mr. Cohen’s corporate practice includes the general representation of well-established companies as outside general counsel, as well as emerging growth companies. He represents these companies in a variety of matters, including equity and debt financing transactions, venture capital and private equity transactions, stock option plans, executive compensation and employment-related matters, strategic alliances, and mergers and acquisitions.
Real estate is also an area of practice for Mr. Cohen, including substantial experience in a variety of transactions such as complex acquisition, disposition and financing transactions; real estate development partnerships and joint ventures; construction projects; leasing arrangements; and sale-leaseback transactions.
Mr. Cohen’s industry experience includes branded apparel and consumer products, cable television, print media (newspapers), professional service companies (including the country’s largest executive recruitment firm and the country’s largest commercial brokerage firm), oil, gas, ethanol and mining investments and joint ventures, technology, real estate, hotels and resorts, and professional sports (including professional motorsport racing).
Mr. Cohen has been recommended as a leading lawyer by Best Lawyers in America in the field of Corporate Law for 2009 and 2010. Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster in 1998, Mr. Cohen was Managing Partner of the Los Angeles office of Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine, and a member of that firm’s Executive Committee. Mr. Cohen received his B.A. degree in 1969 from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his J.D., magna cum laude, in 1972 from Loyola University School of Law, where he was an Editor of the Loyola Law Review.
Representative Experience Includes:
Mergers & Acquisitions
Moda Nicola International LLC, owner of the Robert Rodriguez Collection, in the sale of 100% of its ownership interest to Jones Apparel Group, Inc.
Rea Laccone and Christopher LaPolice, members of the CRL Group, LLC, in the acquisition of the CRL Group, LLC, owner of the Vince brand, a women’s apparel designer and manufacturer, by The Kellwood Company, an NYSE-listed women’s apparel manufacturer.
Velvet, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of upscale apparel brands, in the partial sale of its business to the Snow Phipps Group, LLC, a private equity firm.
HPH Holdings, Inc. (formerly known as Kooba, Inc.), a premium contemporary designer of women's luxury handbags, accessories, and apparel, in its sale of a majority interest of its business to a San Francisco-based private equity firm.
SLL, Inc. (formerly operating under the name Not Your Daughter’s Jeans and Tummy Tuck Jeans), in its sale of a 50% interest of its business to a an investing entity formed by Falconhead Capital, LLC a New York-based private equity firm.
Korn/Ferry International, the leading executive search firm, in numerous acquisitions of various privately-held executive search companies throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia, and in the acquisition of an online job recruitment service for college graduates.
libdenos y Metales S.A., in its $390 million investment in Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP), a rare earth minerals mining company.
Alleghany Corporation, in connection with its joint venture with Laredo Oil, Inc., formed for the purpose of acquiring mature oil fields and recovering stranded oil from those fields using enhanced oil recovery methods.
Jack Kent Cooke Incorporated affiliates over a period of years, in connection with the acquisition in separate transactions of the cable television businesses of McCaw Communications, Rigas Holdings, Falcon Holdings and others, serving communities in Oregon, Washington, California, Alaska, Hawaii, Arizona, Tennessee, Kentucky and the Southeastern United States.
Jack Kent Cooke Incorporated, in several transactions, in connection with the $1.5 billion sale of cable television companies and assets to a syndicate of buyers lead by Tele-Communications, Inc.
Cooke Media Group Incorporated, in connection with the acquisition of the Daily News of Los Angeles newspaper from The Tribune Co. and later its sale to Garden State Newspapers.
Curtiss-Wright Flight Systems, Inc., in connection with its acquisition of G. L. Collins Corporation, a manufacturer of LVDT linear motion transducers for aerospace, military, industrial and commercial applications.
Real Property Transactions
Alleghany Properties, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Allegheny Corporation, headquartered in Sacramento, California, in connection with various real estate sales and development transactions, including the sale of over 150 parcels of residential and commercial land in Northern California in separate transactions.
Alleghany Properties, Inc., in connection with its development of “Natomas Crossing”, a master-planned office, retail, hotel and residential community located in Northern Sacramento County, California, including the construction of major infrastructure improvements and the sale to date of over 450 residential lots and multi-family sites, accommodating more than 270 apartment units, and three hotel sites.
The KBH Company, in its acquisition of the Kapalua Bay Hotel and related resort facilities in Kapalua, Maui in Hawaii.
Santa Monica Hotel Properties, Inc., the developer of “Shutters On The Beach” hotel on Santa Monica Beach, California, in connection with the land acquisition, construction and financing of this luxury hotel development.
JKC Realty, Inc., a Jack Kent Cooke affiliate, in connection with the acquisition of The Rosenzweig Center, a multi-use complex of office buildings, retail space and hotel and convention facilities in Phoenix, Arizona.