Steven E. Siesser — Chair of Specialty Finance Group at Lowenstein Sandler

Mr. Steven Siesser serves as the Chair of Specialty Finance Group at Lowenstein Sandler LLP. Mr. Siesser is Co-Head of the Firm's New York City Office and is Chairman of the Firm's Specialty Finance Group, through which he represents investment funds, including private equity, mezzanine and hedge funds, in handling their transactional work, and investment banks, where they act either as agent or investor. Mr. Siesser is ranked among industry leaders and frequently serves as a media spokesperson for ongoing market trends and SEC regulatory updates. His commentary has appeared in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Investment Dealers' Digest, Dow Jones, Bloomberg, Fortune.com, Absolute Return, and International Financing Review, among other news outlets. Mr. Siesser has also served as a legal commentator on CNBC's On the Money, Bloomberg News and Fox News. Mr. Siesser is listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, which in 2011 cited sources who praised, 'We respect his creative thinking and domain expertise - he knows the structured equity platform better than anybody, and in 2010 noted: He doesn't take his eyes off the big picture ' he knows which issues to focus on, and where to compromise 'He has an unbelievable head for business, and is creative, bright and practical. In 2008, LawDragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America ranked Mr. Siesser among the nation's top 500 corporate attorneys. The institutional investor segment of Mr. Siesser's practice has enabled him to develop extensive fund-specific experience in private debt and equity financing transactions, senior secured and mezzanine debt financing, control acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, and most notably in Private Investments in Public Equities (PIPEs), Registered Direct Placements (RDs), and reverse mergers. Lowenstein Sandler's Specialty Finance Group continually ranks in the top three nationwide for its representation of investment funds and investment banks in PIPEs and RDs. He also represents issuers in these transactions, and regularly interacts with and is consulted by the Staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the NASDAQ Stock Market and the American Stock Exchange, on capital market aspects of PIPEs, RDs, and reverse merger transactions. Mr. Siesser also has recently been involved in some of the firm's largest private equity sponsored LBO transactions, representing the lead equity sponsor or their portfolio companies. Most of these transactions have been in the communications, business services, media and publishing industries. Mr. Siesser also serves as outside general counsel to public and large private, often family-owned, companies, with an emphasis on representing companies in the manufacturing, distribution and services industries, and a particular focus on companies in the consumer products, food and healthcare industries. He currently serves as outside general counsel to the third largest wholesale grocery supplier in the New York metropolitan area and one of the largest regional consumer products sales and marketing companies in the U.S. While his work as general counsel requires Mr. Siesser to be conversant across a broad spectrum of legal practice areas, his specific experience is in corporate transactional work and securities law, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate finance, and general commercial relationships. Mr. Siesser has represented both public and private buyers and sellers in merger and acquisition transactions valued in excess of $15 billion. In his representation of public companies, Mr. Siesser advises senior management and boards of directors on fiduciary matters and securities law compliance. He also has assisted many of these companies with public and private debt and equity transactions valued at over $10 billion. He has served as an Adjunct Professor of Mergers and Acquisitions at Seton Hall University School of Law. He serves as a Trustee at Englewood Hospital & Medical Center.